BIFURCATION AND CHAOS INDUCED BY A TIME-PERIODIC VECTOR POTENTIAL

The behavior of a classical charged particle moving between two coaxia l infinitely long cylinders is studied. The inner cylinder is a tightl y wound solenoid with a small radius carrying an oscillating current w ith frequency w(0). The outer cylinder carries no current and is forme d by a thin dielectric material. We study the regime w(0)/c << 1/b, wh ere b is the radius of the outer cylinder. We find that for low enough w(0) there is no chaos in the phase space of the particle. However, t he emergence of resonances and chaos can be observed as w(0) is increa sed above a threshold value. Also, chaos in the phase space is observe d as the magnitude of current is increased.