The dynamics of the kicked rotor, which is a paradigm for a mixed system, where the motion in some parts of phase space is chaotic and in other parts is regular, is studied statistically. The evolution operator of phase space densities in the chaotic component is calculated in the presence of noise, and the limit of vanishing noise is taken in the end. The relaxation rates to the equilibrium density are calculated analytically within an approximation that improves with increasing stochasticity. The results are tested numerically. A global picture is presented of relaxation to the equilibrium density in the chaotic component when the system is bounded and to diffusive behavior when it is unbounded.

• Received 28 October 1999

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.84.2837