Asymptotically quasiperiodic solutions for time-dependent Hamiltonians

Abstract

Abstract Dynamical systems subject to perturbations that decay over time are relevant in describing many physical models, e.g. when considering the effect of a laser pulse on a molecule, in epidemiological studies, and celestial mechanics. For this purpose, we consider time-dependent Hamiltonian vector fields that are the sum of two components. The first has an invariant torus supporting quasiperiodic solutions, and the second decays as time tends to infinity. The time decay is modelled by functions satisfying suitable conditions verified by a proper polynomial decay in time. We prove the existence of orbits converging as time tends to infinity to the quasiperiodic solutions associated with the unperturbed system. The proof of this result relies on a new strategy based on a refined analysis of the Banach spaces and the functionals involved in the resolution of suitable nonlinear invariant equations. This result is proved for finite differentiable and real-analytic Hamiltonians. Analogous statements for time-dependent vector fields on the torus are also obtained as a corollary. These results extend a previous work of Canadell and de la Llave, where only exponential decay in time is considered. The relaxation of the decay in time makes the results in the present paper suited for applications in many physical problems, such as celestial dynamics.