Long-Time-Tail Effects on Lyapunov Exponents of a Random, Two-Dimensional Field-Driven Lorentz Gas

Abstract

We study the Lyapunov exponents for a moving, charged particle in a two-dimensional Lorentz gas with randomly placed, nonoverlapping hard-disk scatterers in a thermostatted electric field, \(\vec E\). The low-density values of the Lyapunov exponents have been calculated with the use of an extended Lorentz–Boltzmann equation. In this paper we develop a method to extend theses results to higher density, using the BBGKY hierarchy equations and extending them to include the additional variables needed for calculation of the Lyapunov exponents. We then consider the effects of correlated collision sequences, due to the so-called ring events, on the Lyapunov exponents. For small values of the applied electric field, the ring terms lead to nonanalytic, field-dependent contributions to both the positive and negative Lyapunov exponents which are of the form ~e2ln~e, where ~e is a dimensionless parameter proportional to the strength of the applied field. We show that these nonanalytic terms can be understood as resulting from the change in the collision frequency from its equilibrium value due to the presence of the thermostatted field, and that the collision frequency also contains such nonanalytic terms.