A nonvanishing Lyapunov exponent ${\lambda }_1$ provides the very definition of deterministic chaos in the solutions of a dynamical system; however, no theoretical mean of predicting its value exists. This paper copes with the problem of analytically computing the largest Lyapunov exponent ${\lambda }_1$ for many degrees of freedom Hamiltonian systems as a function of $\varepsilon =\frac{E}{N}$, the energy per degree of freedom. The functional dependence ${\lambda }_1\left(\varepsilon \right)$ is of great interest because, among other reasons, it detects the existence of weakly and strongly chaotic regimes. This aim, the analytic computation of ${\lambda }_1\left(\varepsilon \right)$, is successfully reached within a theoretical framework that makes use of a geometrization of Newtonian dynamics in the language of Riemannian differential geometry. An alternative point of view about the origin of chaos in these systems is obtained independently of the standard explanation based on homoclinic intersections. Dynamical instability (chaos) is here related to curvature fluctuations of the manifolds whose geodesics are natural motions and is described by means of the Jacobi-Levi-Civita equation (JLCE) for geodesic spread. In this paper it is shown how to derive from the JLCE an effective stability equation. Under general conditions, this effective equation formally describes a stochastic oscillator; an analytic formula for the instability growth rate of its solutions is worked out and applied to the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam $\beta$ model and to a chain of coupled rotators. Excellent agreement is found between the theoretical prediction and numeric values of ${\lambda }_1\left(\varepsilon \right)$ for both models.

• Received 19 July 1996

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.54.5969