CHAOTICITY IN VIBRATING NUCLEAR BILLIARDS

We study the motion of classical particles confined in a two-dimension al ''nuclear'' billiard whose walls undergo periodic shape oscillation s according to a fixed multipolarity. The presence of a coupling term in the single-particle Hamiltonian between the particle motion and the collective coordinate generates a fully self-consistent dynamics. We consider in particular monopole oscillations and demonstrate that self -consistency is essential in order to induce chaotic single-particle m otion. We also discuss the dissipative behavior of the wall motion and its relation with the order-to-chaos transition in the dynamics of th e microscopic degrees of freedom. Analogous considerations can be exte nded to higher multipolarities.