Manipulation of dynamical systems by symmetry breaking.

Abstract

We propose an approach to manipulate and control transport in Hamiltonian systems which are characterized by a mixed phase space. The approach is based on symmetry breaking of the phase space structure by applying a zero-mean periodic force for a finite duration of time. This induces time and space reversal asymmetry, which modifies the internal dynamics of the system and leads to directed transport. It is shown that our strategy allows to perform manipulations both with individual particles and with statistical ensembles of particles.