Relaxation times for Hamiltonian systems (Q982466)

The authors of this interesting paper deal with the relaxation problem in the framework of the dynamical theory of Hamiltonian systems, in which the definition itself of a relaxation time is an open question. Given the unperturbed Hamiltonian \(H_0(p,q)\) that is even in the momenta and bounded from below. Consider a perturbation in the form \(-hA(p,q)\), with \(h>0\) and \(A\) even in the momenta. Suppose \(A\) and \(H_0\) are such that the following hypothesis \(\int_{M}dpdqe^{\delta A}\rho_0<+\infty \) and \(\int_{M}dpdqe^{-\delta A}\rho_0<+\infty \) hold. With \(B=[A,H_0]\), suppose that the following conditions are satisfied: \[ \|B^4\|_0<+\infty ; \;\;\;\;\|[B,H_0]^2\|_0<+\infty ; \;\;\;\;\|[B,A]^2\|_0<+\infty . \] Under these conditions it is shown that a lower bound to the relaxation time defined by proper way is given by the inequality \[ t_{\inf}\geq \sqrt{2}/\eta + o(1), \] as \(h\to 0\), where \(\eta \) is such that \(\|[B,H_0]\|_0<\eta \|B\|_0\). An application of this result is given to a concrete model of an interacting gas, in which the lower bound turns out to be of the order of magnitude of the relaxation times observed in dilute gases.