Ergodic properties of a kicked damped particle

We investigate a class of nonlinear dynamical systems describing the movement of a particle in a viscous medium under the influence of a kick force. These systems can be regarded as a generalization of the Langevin approach to Brownian motion in the sense that the fluctuating force on the particle is not Gaussian white noise but an arbitrary non-gaussian process generated by a nonlinear dynamical system. We investigate how certain properties of the force (periodicity, ergodicity, mixing property) transfer to the velocity of the particle. Moreover, the relaxation properties of the system are analysed.Address after October 1, 1989: Institut für Theoretische Physik, RWTH, D-5100, Aachen, FRG