Liapunov Multipliers and Decay of Correlations in Dynamical Systems

The essential decorrelation rate of a hyperbolic dynamical system is the decay rate of time-correlations one expects to see stably for typical observables once resonances are projected out. We define and illustrate these notions and study the conjecture that for observables in $C^1$, the essential decorrelation rate is never faster than what is dictated by the {\em smallest} unstable Liapunov multiplier

Extensive Properties of the Complex Ginzburg-Landau Equation

We study the set of solutions of the complex Ginzburg-Landau equation in $\real^d, d<3$. We consider the global attracting set (i.e., the forward map of the set of bounded initial data), and restrict it to a cube $Q_L$ of side $L$. We cover this set by a (minimal) number $N_{Q_L}(\epsilon)$ of balls of radius $\epsilon$ in \Linfty(Q_L). We show that the Kolmogorov $\epsilon$-entropy per unit length, $H_\epsilon =\lim_{L\to\infty} L^{-d} \log N_{Q_L}(\epsilon)$ exists. In particular, we bound $H_\epsilon$ by \OO(\log(1/\epsilon), which shows that the attracting set is smaller than the set of bounded analytic functions in a strip. We finally give a positive lower bound: H_\epsilon>\OO(\log(1/\epsilon))Comment: 24 page

Non-equilibrium steady states for chains of four rotors

We study a chain of four interacting rotors (rotators) connected at both ends to stochastic heat baths at different temperatures. We show that for non-degenerate interaction potentials the system relaxes, at a stretched exponential rate, to a non-equilibrium steady state (NESS). Rotors with high energy tend to decouple from their neighbors due to fast oscillation of the forces. Because of this, the energy of the central two rotors, which interact with the heat baths only through the external rotors, can take a very long time to dissipate. By appropriately averaging the oscillatory forces, we estimate the dissipation rate and construct a Lyapunov function. Compared to the chain of length three (considered previously by C. Poquet and the current authors), the new difficulty with four rotors is the appearance of resonances when both central rotors are fast. We deal with these resonances using the rapid thermalization of the two external rotors.Comment: Minor changes to reflect the published versio

Non-Equilibrium Statistical Mechanics of Strongly Anharmonic Chains of Oscillators

We study the model of a strongly non-linear chain of particles coupled to two heat baths at different temperatures. Our main result is the existence and uniqueness of a stationary state at all temperatures. This result extends those of Eckmann, Pillet, Rey-Bellet to potentials with essentially arbitrary growth at infinity. This extension is possible by introducing a stronger version of H\"ormander's theorem for Kolmogorov equations to vector fields with polynomially bounded coefficients on unbounded domains.Comment: ~60 pages, 3 figure

Strange Heat Flux in (An)Harmonic Networks

We study the heat transport in systems of coupled oscillators driven out of equilibrium by Gaussian heat baths. We illustrate with a few examples that such systems can exhibit ``strange'' transport phenomena. In particular, {\em circulation} of heat flux may appear in the steady state of a system of three oscillators only. This indicates that the direction of the heat fluxes can in general not be "guessed" from the temperatures of the heat baths. Although we primarily consider harmonic couplings between the oscillators, we explain why this strange behavior persists under weak anharmonic perturbations