English

Non-ergodicity and localization of invariant measure for two colliding masses

Chaotic Dynamics 2015-06-17 v1 Statistical Mechanics Mathematical Physics math.MP

Abstract

We show evidence, based on extensive and carefully performed numerical experiments, that the system of two elastic hard-point masses in one-dimension is not ergodic for a generic mass ratio and consequently does not follow the principle of energy equipartition. This system is equivalent to a right triangular billiard. Remarkably, following the time-dependent probability distribution in a suitably chosen velocity direction space, we find evidence of exponential localization of invariant measure. For non-generic mass ratios which correspond to billiard angles which are rational, or weak irrational multiples of pi, the system is ergodic, in consistence with existing rigorous results.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1309.7617,
  title  = {Non-ergodicity and localization of invariant measure for two colliding masses},
  author = {Jiao Wang and Giulio Casati and Tomaz Prosen},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1309.7617},
  year   = {2015}
}

Comments

4+ pages in RevTex with 5 figures