Geometry and dynamics of stable and unstable cylinders in Hamiltonian systems (Q753221)

The concept of phase space cylinders is developed and studied in detail for Hamiltonian systems in \({\mathfrak S}^ 1\times {\mathfrak R}^ 1\). Special attention is paid to systems with potential barriers, but the results presented in the paper are not limited only to the systems under consideration. Many nice, and sometimes surprizing, results have been obtained concerning the structure and the properties of these cylinders. A kinetic mechanism is established in a global way.