Energy diffusion and prethermalization in chaotic billiards under rapid periodic driving

Abstract

We study the energy dynamics of a particle in a billiard subject to a rapid periodic drive. In the regime of large driving frequencies $\omega$, we find that the particle's energy evolves diffusively, which suggests that the particle's energy distribution $\eta (E,t)$ satisfies a Fokker-Planck equation. We calculate the rates of energy absorption and diffusion associated with this equation, finding that these rates are proportional to $\omega^{-2}$ for large $\omega$. Our analysis suggests three phases of energy evolution: Prethermalization on short timescales, then slow energy absorption in accordance with the Fokker-Planck equation, and finally a breakdown of the rapid driving assumption for large energies and high particle speeds. We also present numerical simulations of the evolution of a rapidly driven billiard particle, which corroborate our theoretical results.