Map lattices coupled by collisions: hitting time statistics and collisions per lattice unit (Q2159081)

The authors study map lattices coupled by collision defined on finite boxes of \(L\) sites with periodic boundary conditions where the dynamics on each site is specified by a piecewise uniformly expanding map of the interval. The main goal of the paper is to understand the amount of chaos per lattice unit. They use spectral techniques of transfer operators to find a formula for the first collision rate with respect to the Lebesgue measure as well as a corresponding hitting time distribution for the system of \(L\) sites. Furthermore, they obtain an explicit formula for the first collision rate per lattice unit.