Lyapunov Spectra of Coulombic and Gravitational Periodic Systems

An open question in nonlinear dynamics is the relation between the Kolmogorov entropy and the largest Lyapunov exponent of a given orbit. Both have been shown to have diagnostic capability for phase transitions in thermodynamic systems. For systems with long-range interactions, the choice of boundary plays a critical role and appropriate boundary conditions must be invoked. In this work, we compute Lyapunov spectra for Coulombic and gravitational versions of the one-dimensional systems of parallel sheets with periodic boundary conditions. Exact expressions for time evolution of the tangent-space vectors are derived and are utilized toward computing Lypaunov characteristic exponents using an event-driven algorithm. The results indicate that the energy dependence of the largest Lyapunov exponent emulates that of Kolmogorov entropy for each system for a given system size. Our approach forms an effective and approximation-free instrument for studying the dynamical properties exhibited by the Coulombic and gravitational systems and finds applications in investigating indications of thermodynamic transitions in small as well as large versions of the spatially periodic systems. When a phase transition exists, we find that the largest Lyapunov exponent serves as a precursor of the transition that becomes more pronounced as the system size increases.