We consider the prototypical "piston pump" operating on a ring, where a
circulating current is induced by means of an AC driving. This can be regarded
as a generalized Fermi-Ulam model, incorporating a finite-height moving wall
(piston) and non trivial topology (ring). The amount of particles transported
per cycle is determined by a layered structure of phase-space. Each layer is
characterized by a different drift velocity. We discuss the differences
compared with the adiabatic and Boltzmann pictures, and highlight the
significance of the "diabatic" contribution that might lead to a
counter-stirring effect.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, improved versio
