Periodic compression of an adiabatic gas: Intermittency enhanced Fermi acceleration

A gas of noninteracting particles diffuses in a lattice of pulsating scatterers. In the finite horizon case with bounded distance between collisions and strongly chaotic dynamics, the velocity growth (Fermi acceleration) is well described by a master equation, leading to an asymptotic universal non-Maxwellian velocity distribution scaling as v ~ t. The infinite horizon case has intermittent dynamics which enhances the acceleration, leading to v ~ t ln t and a non-universal distribution.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, to appear in EPL (http://epljournal.edpsciences.org/

A bouncing ball model with two nonlinearities: a prototype for Fermi acceleration

Some dynamical properties of a bouncing ball model under the presence of an external force modeled by two nonlinear terms are studied. The description of the model is made by use of a two dimensional nonlinear measure preserving map on the variables velocity of the particle and time. We show that raising the straight of a control parameter which controls one of the nonlinearities, the positive Lyapunov exponent decreases in the average and suffers abrupt changes. We also show that for a specific range of control parameters, the model exhibits the phenomenon of Fermi acceleration. The explanation of both behaviours is given in terms of the shape of the external force and due to a discontinuity of the moving wall's velocity.Comment: A complete list of my papers can be found in: http://www.rc.unesp.br/igce/demac/denis

Thermodynamics of a bouncer model: a simplified one-dimensional gas

Some dynamical properties of non interacting particles in a bouncer model are described. They move under gravity experiencing collisions with a moving platform. The evolution to steady state is described in two cases for dissipative dynamics with inelastic collisions: (i) for large initial energy; (ii) for low initial energy. For (i) we prove an exponential decay while for (ii) a power law marked by a changeover to the steady state is observed. A relation for collisions and time is obtained and allows us to write relevant observables as temperature and entropy as function of either number of collisions and time.Comment: 36 pages, 10 figures. To appear in: Communications in Nonlinear Science and Numerical Simulation, 201

A one-dimensional Fermi accelerator model with moving wall described by a nonlinear van der Pol oscillator

A modification of the one-dimensional Fermi accelerator model is considered in this work. The dynamics of a classical particle of mass $m$, confined to bounce elastically between two rigid walls where one is described by a non-linear van der Pol type oscillator while the other one is fixed, working as a re-injection mechanism of the particle for a next collision, is carefully made by the use of a two-dimensional non-linear mapping. Two cases are considered: (i) the situation where the particle has mass negligible as compared to the mass of the moving wall and does not affect the motion of it; (ii) the case where collisions of the particle does affect the movement of the moving wall. For case (i) the phase space is of mixed type leading us to observe a scaling of the average velocity as a function of the parameter ($\c{hi}$) controlling the non-linearity of the moving wall. For large $\c{hi}$, a diffusion on the velocity is observed leading us to conclude that Fermi acceleration is taking place. On the other hand for case (ii), the motion of the moving wall is affected by collisions with the particle. However due to the properties of the van der Pol oscillation, the moving wall relaxes again to a limit cycle. Such kind of motion absorbs part of the energy of the particle leading to a suppression of the unlimited energy gain as observed in case (i). The phase space shows a set of attractors of different periods whose basin of attraction has a complicate organization

Corrugated waveguide under scaling investigation

Some scaling properties for classical light ray dynamics inside a periodically corrugated waveguide are studied by use of a simplified two-dimensional nonlinear area-preserving map. It is shown that the phase space is mixed. The chaotic sea is characterized using scaling arguments revealing critical exponents connected by an analytic relationship. The formalism is widely applicable to systems with mixed phase space, and especially in studies of the transition from integrability to non-integrability, including that in classical billiard problems.Comment: A complete list of my papers can be found in: http://www.rc.unesp.br/igce/demac/denis

Fermi acceleration and suppression of Fermi acceleration in a time-dependent Lorentz Gas

We study some dynamical properties of a Lorentz gas. We have considered both the static and time dependent boundary. For the static case we have shown that the system has a chaotic component characterized with a positive Lyapunov Exponent. For the time-dependent perturbation we describe the model using a four-dimensional nonlinear map. The behaviour of the average velocity is considered in two situations (i) non-dissipative and (ii) dissipative. Our results show that the unlimited energy growth is observed for the non-dissipative case. However, when dissipation, via damping coefficients, is introduced the senary changes and the unlimited engergy growth is suppressed. The behaviour of the average velocity is described using scaling approach