Journal of Statistical Physics. Vol. 83, Nos. 1/2, 1996. p. 145-166.
We investigate decay properties of correlation functions in a class of chaotic billiards. First we consider the statistics of Poincare recurrences (induced by a partition of the billiard): the results are in agreement with theoretical bounds by Bunimovich, Sinai, and Bleher, and are consistent with a purely exponential decay of correlations out of marginality. We then turn to the analysis of the velocity-velocity correlation function: except for intermittent situations, the decay is purely exponential, and the decay rates scale in a simple way with the (uniform) curvature of the dispersing arcs. A power-law decay is instead observed when the system is equivalent to an infinite-horizon Lorentz gas. Comments are given on the behaviour of other types of correlation functions, whose decay, during the observed time scale, appears slower than exponential.