Dynamical properties for the problem of a particle in an electric field of wave packet: Low velocity and relativistic approach

Abstract

We study some dynamical properties for the problem of a charged particle in an electric field considering both the low velocity and relativistic cases. The dynamics for both approaches is described in terms of a two-dimensional and nonlinear mapping. The structure of the phase spaces is mixed and we introduce a hole in the chaotic sea to let the particles to escape. By changing the size of the hole we show that the survival probability decays exponentially for both cases. Additionally, we show for the relativistic dynamics, that the introduction of dissipation changes the mixed phase space and attractors appear. We study the parameter space by using the Lyapunov exponent and the average energy over the orbit and show that the system has a very rich structure with infinite family of self-similar shrimp shaped embedded in a chaotic region. (c) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.