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Abstract

We study planar classical scattering from an oscillating heavy target whose dynamics defines a five-dimensional phase space. Although the system possesses no periodic orbits, and thus topological chaos is not present, the scattering functions display a variety of structures on different time scales. These structures are due to scattering events with a strong energy transfer from the projectile to the moving disk resulting in low-velocity peaks. We encounter initial conditions for which the projectile exhibits infinitely many bounces with the oscillating disk. Our numerical investigations are supported by analytical results on a specific model with a simple time-law. The observed properties possess universal character for scattering off oscillating targets. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.