Can a local repulsive potential trap an electron?

Abstract

We study the classical dynamics of a charged particle in two dimensions, under the influence of a perpendicular magnetic and an in-plane electric field. We prove the surprising fact that there is a finite region in phase space that corresponds to the otherwise drifting particle being trapped by a local repulsive potential. Our result is a direct consequence of KAM-theory and, in particular, of Moser's theorem. We illustrate it by numerical phase portraits and by an analytic approximation to invariant curves.

4 pages RevTeX, 4 ps figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Letters

References in corpus (1)

• Integrability and Ergodicity of Classical Billiards in a Magnetic Field

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