Anomalous diffusion in two-dimensional potentials with hexagonal symmetry

The diffusion process in a Hamiltonian dynamical system describing the motion of a particle in a two-dimensional (2D) potential with hexagonal symmetry is studied. It is shown that, depending on the energy of the particle, various transport processes can exist: normal (Brownian) diffusion, anomalous diffusion, and ballistic transport. The relationship between these transport processes and the underlying structure of the phase space of the Hamiltonian dynamical system is investigated. The anomalous transport is studied in detail in two particular cases: in the first case, inside the chaotic sea there exist self-similar structures with fractal properties while in the second case the transport takes place in the presence of multilayered structures. It is demonstrated that structures of the second type can lead to a physical situation in which the transport becomes ballistic. Also, it is shown that for all cases in which the diffusive transport is anomalous the trajectories of the diffusing particles contain long segments of regular motion, the length of these segments being described by Levy probability density functions. Finally, the numerical values of the parameters which describe the diffusion processes are compared with those predicted by existing theoretical models. (c) 2000 American Institute of Physics.