Nonergodicity and localization of invariant measure for two colliding masses

作者:Wang Jiao*; Casati Giulio; Prosen Tomaz
来源:Physical Review E, 2014, 89(4): 042918.
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevE.89.042918

摘要

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 nongeneric mass ratios which correspond to billiard angles which are rational, or weak irrational multiples of pi, the system is ergodic, consistent with existing rigorous results.