Relaxation and Diffusion for the Kicked Rotor

Abstract

The dynamics of the kicked-rotor, that is a paradigm for a mixed system, where the motion in some parts of phase space is chaotic and in other parts is regular is studied statistically. The evolution (Frobenius-Perron) operator of phase space densities in the chaotic component is calculated in presence of noise, and the limit of vanishing noise is taken is taken in the end of calculation. The relaxation rates (related to the Ruelle resonances) to the invariant equilibrium density are calculated analytically within an approximation that improves with increasing stochasticity. The results are tested numerically. The global picture of relaxation to the equilibrium density in the chaotic component when the system is bounded and of diffusive behavior when it is unbounded is presented.