2026-07-072026-07-07http://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/64180We consider non-isochronous, nearly integrable, a-priori unstable Hamiltonian systems with a (trigonometric polynomial) $O(μ)$-perturbation which does not preserve the unperturbed tori. We prove the existence of Arnold diffusion with diffusion time $ T_d = O((1/ μ) \log (1/ μ))$ by a variational method which does not require the existence of ``transition chains of tori'' provided by KAM theory. We also prove that our estimate of the diffusion time $T_d $ is optimal as a consequence of a general stability result derived from classical perturbation theory.34 pagesFunctional AnalysisDynamical Systems37J40, 37J45Drift in phase space: a new variational mechanism with optimal diffusion timetext