An example of Arnold diffusion for near-integrable Hamiltonians

Abstract

In this paper, using the ideas of Bessi and Mather, we present a simple mechanical system exhibiting Arnold diffusion. This system of a particle in a small periodic potential can be also interpreted as ray propagation in a periodic optical medium with a near-constant index of refraction. Arnold diffusion in this context manifests itself as an arbitrary finite change of direction for nearly constant index of refraction.