Lyapunov exponent of the random frequency oscillator: Cumulant expansion approach

Abstract

We consider a one-dimensional harmonic oscillator with a random frequency, focusing on both the standard and the generalized Lyapunov exponents, λ and λ* respectively. We discuss the numerical difficulties that arise in the numerical calculation of λ* in the case of strong intermittency. When the frequency corresponds to a Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process, we compute analytically λ* by using a cumulant expansion including up to the fourth order. Connections with the problem of finding an analytical estimate for the largest Lyapunov exponent of a many-body system with smooth interactions are discussed. © 2010 IOP Publishing Ltd.