Fundamental concepts of quantum chaos

We review the fundamental concepts of quantum chaos in Hamiltonian systems. The quantum evolution of bound systems does not possess the sensitive dependence on initial conditions, and thus no chaotic behaviour occurs, whereas the study of the stationary solutions of the Schrödinger equation in the quantum phase space (Wigner functions) reveals precise analogy of the structure of the classical phase portrait. We analyze the regular eigenstates associated with invariant tori in the classical phase space, and the chaotic eigenstates associated with the classically chaotic regions, and the corresponding energy spectra. The effects of quantum localization of the chaotic eigenstates are treated phenomenologically, resulting in Brody-like level statistics, which can be found also at very high-lying levels, while the coupling between the regular and the irregular eigenstates due to tunneling, and of the corresponding levels, manifests itself only in low-lying levels.     

Quantisations of Piecewise Parabolic Maps on the Torus and their Quantum Limits

For general quantum systems the semiclassical behaviour of eigenfunctions in relation to the ergodic properties of the underlying classical system is quite difficult to understand. The Wignerfunctions of eigenstates converge weakly to invariant measures of the classical system, the so-called quantum limits, and one would like to understand which invariant measures can occur that way, thereby classifying the semiclassical behaviour of eigenfunctions. We introduce a class of maps on the torus for whose quantisations we can understand the set of quantum limits in great detail. In particular we can construct examples of ergodic maps which have singular ergodic measures as quantum limits, and examples of non-ergodic maps where arbitrary convex combinations of absolutely continuous ergodic measures can occur as quantum limits. The maps we quantise are obtained by cutting and stacking.     

Quantum and classical spin clusters: disappearance of quantum numbers and Hamiltonian chaos

We present a direct link between manifestations of classical Hamiltonian chaos and quantum nonintegrability effects as they occur in quantum invariants. In integrable classical Hamiltonian systems, analytic invariants (integrals of the motion) can be constructed numerically by means of time averages of dynamical variables over phase-space trajectories, whereas in near-integrable models such time averages yield nonanalytic invariants with qualitatively different properties. Translated into quantum mechanics, the invariants obtained from time averages of dynamical variables in energy eigenstates provide a topographical map of the plane of quantized actions (quantum numbers) with properties which again depend sensitively on whether or not the classical integrability condition is satisfied. The most conspicuous indicator of quantum chaos is the disappearance of quantum numbers, a phenomenon directly related to the breakdown of invariant tori in the classical phase flow. All results are for a system consisting of two exchange-coupled spins with biaxial exchange and single-site anisotropy, a system with a nontrivial integrability condition.     

Scarring on Invariant Manifolds for Perturbed Quantized Hyperbolic Toral Automorphisms

We exhibit scarring for the quantization of certain nonlinear ergodic maps on the torus. We consider perturbations of hyperbolic toral automorphisms preserving certain co-isotropic submanifolds. The classical dynamics is ergodic, hence, in the semiclassical limit almost all quantum eigenstates converge to the volume measure of the torus. Nevertheless, we show that for each of the invariant submanifolds, there are also eigenstates which localize and converge to the volume measure of the corresponding submanifold.     

Geometry of two dimensional tori in phase space: Projections,sections and the Wigner function

The invariant manifolds (or “classical eigenstates”) in the phase space of bound integrable dynamical systems are known to be tori. Sections and projections of general, and special, two dimensional tori in four dimensional phase space are considered. Particular attention is paid to the families of projections accessed by linear canonical transformation since these can (in a certain sense) be considered to be different views of the same torus. The Wigner phase space representation of the corresponding semiclassical quantum eigenstate for a torus of any dimensionality is examined following the analysis of M. V. Berry (Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc.287 (1977), 237) for one dimensional tori. In this, the value of the semiclassical Wigner function at any phase space point depends on the behaviour of the chords of the torus centred on that point. It is found that for a two dimensional torus the number of such chords is always even. The three dimensional surfaces across which the number of chords changes constitute a (double) fold catastrophe on which the function oscillates with large amplitude. On the torus manifold itself this “Wigner caustic” generally exhibits a hyperbolic umbilic singularity (possibly interspersed with elliptic regions). At special lines and points on the torus, however, higher catastrophes up to E₈ are generic.     

First experimental evidence for chaos-assisted tunneling in a microwave annular billiard

We report on first experimental signatures for chaos-assisted tunneling in a two-dimensional annular billiard. Measurements of microwave spectra from a superconducting cavity with high frequency resolution are combined with electromagnetic field distributions experimentally determined from a normal conducting twin cavity with high spatial resolution to resolve eigenmodes with properly identified quantum numbers. Distributions of quasidoublet splittings serve as basic observables for the tunneling between whispering gallery-type modes localized to congruent, but distinct tori which are coupled weakly to irregular eigenstates associated with the chaotic region in phase space.     

Discreteness of area and volume in quantum gravity

We study the operator that corresponds to the measurement of volume, in non-perturbative quantum gravity, and we compute its spectrum. The operator is constructed in the loop representation, via a regularization procedure; it is finite, background independent, and diffeomorphism-invariant, and therefore well defined on the space of diffeomorphism invariant states (knot states). We find that the spectrum of the volume of any physical region is discrete. A family of eigenstates are in one to one correspondence with the spin networks, which were introduced by Penrose in a different context. We compute the corresponding component of the spectrum, and exhibit the eigenvalues explicitly. The other eigenstates are related to a generalization of the spin networks, and their eigenvalues can be computed by diagonalizing finite dimensional matrices. Furthermore, we show that the eigenstates of the volume diagonalize also the area operator. We argue that the spectra of volume and area determined here can be considered as predictions of the loop-representation formulation of quantum gravity on the outcomes of (hypothetical) Planck-scale sensitive measurements of the geometry of space.     

Robust tori in a double-waved Hamiltonian model

A Hamiltonian system perturbed by two waves with particular wave numbers can present robust tori, which are barriers created by the vanishing of the perturbed Hamiltonian at some defined positions. When robust tori exist, any trajectory in phase space passing close to them is blocked by emergent invariant curves that prevent the chaotic transport. Our results indicate that the considered particular solution for the two waves Hamiltonian model shows plenty of robust tori blocking radial transport.     

Pure state condition for the semi-classical Wigner function

The Wigner function W(p,q) is a symmetrized Fourier transform of the density matrix ρ(q₁,q₂), representing quantum-mechanical states or their statistical mixture in phase space. Identification of these two alternatives in the case of density matrices depends on the projection identity ρ² = ρ; its Wigner correspondence is the pure state condition. This criterion is applied to the Wigner functions obtained from standard semiclassical wave functions, determining as pure states those whose classical invariant tori satisfy the generalized Bohr-Sommerfeld conditions. Superpositions of eigenstates are then examined and it is found that the Wigner function corresponding to Gaussian random wave functions are smoothed out in the manner of mixed-state Wigner functions. Attention is also given to the pure-state condition in the case where an angular coordinate is used.     

Feature of Energy Spectra of Three-Identical-Particle Systems in Two-Dimensional Space

The Hamiltonian of a model system has been diagonalized numericaUy to obtain the eigenstates and eigenenergies. Three types of permutation symmetries: the antisymmetric, the mixed symmetric and the symmetric symmetries have been covered. The dynamical parameters (i.e., the particle mass and the particle-particle interaction) are taken appropriately for a particles, however a series ,of qualitative features are revealed to be iden tical with those of quantum dot electronic systems in semiconductor heterojunctions. We stress the importance of quantum mechanical symmetries in the understanding of quantum mechanical few-body systems.     

Semiclassical structure of chaotic resonance eigenfunctions

We study the resonance (or Gamow) eigenstates of open chaotic systems in the semiclassical limit, distinguishing between left and right eigenstates of the nonunitary quantum propagator and also between short-lived and long-lived states. The long-lived left (right) eigenstates are shown to concentrate as variant Planck's over 2pi-->0 on the forward (backward) trapped set of the classical dynamics. The limit of a sequence of eigenstates [psi(variant Planck's over)] 2pi-->0 is found to exhibit a remarkably rich structure in phase space that depends on the corresponding limiting decay rate. These results are illustrated for the open baker's map, for which the probability density in position space is observed to have self-similarity properties.     

由非绝热相关获得的形式量子数及其在高激发振动态的经典解释

我们利用非绝热相关方法 ,通过关闭所有的振动模式间的耦合项并追溯到零级本征态 ,以得到体系的形式量子数 ,将形式量子数对高激发振动态的能级谱图进行归属 ,并重构本征能级图谱 ,使本征能级以有序的方式排列。这有助于对高激发振动态的能级进行分类和归属。形式量子数是体现高激发振动态的重要特征 ,是高激发振动态的近似运动守恒量。我们将多维陪集相空间的经典方法应用于高激发态的研究 ,发现形式量子数对应的李雅普诺夫指数为零或最小 ,并且它对应于较大的相空间密度     

On quantum solitons and their classical relatives: Bethe Ansatz states in soliton sectors of the sine-Gordon system

Previously we have found that the semiclassical sine-Gordon/Thirring spectrum can be received in the absence of quantum solitons via the spin $\text{1}\text{2}$ approximation of the quantized sine-Gordon system on a lattice. Later on, we have recovered the Hilbert space of quantum soliton states for the sine-Gordon system. In the present paper we present a derivation of the Bethe Ansatz eigenstates for the generalized ice model in this soliton Hilbert space. We demonstrate that via “Wick rotation” of a fundamental parameter of the ice model one arrives at the Bethe Ansatz eigenstates of the quantum sine-Gordon system. The latter is a “local transition matrix” ancestor of the conventional sine-Gordon /Thirring model, as derived by Faddeev et al. within the quantum inverse-scattering method. Our result is essentially based on the N < ∞, Δ = 1, m ? 1 regime. Consequently, the spectrum received, though resembling the semiclassical one, does not coincide with it at all.     

Quantum chaotic scattering with a mixed phase space: the three-disk billiard in a magnetic field

We study the classical and semiclassical scattering behavior of electrons in an open three-disk billard in the presence of a homogeneous magnetic field, which is confined to the inner part of the scattering region. As the magnetic field is increased the phase space of the invariant set of the classical scattering trajectories changes from hyperbolic (fully chaotic) to a mixed situation, where KAM tori are present. The "stickiness" of the stable trajectories leads to a much slower decay of the survival probability of trajectories as compared to the hyperbolic case. We show that this effect influences strongly the quantum fluctuations of the scattering amplitude and cross sections.     

Quantum geometry and quantum mechanics of integrable systems

Quantum integrable systems and their classical counterparts are considered. We show that the symplectic structure and invariant tori of the classical system can be deformed by a quantization parameter ħ to produce a new (classical) integrable system. The new tori selected by the ħ-equidistance rule represent the spectrum of the quantum system up to O(ħ ^∞) and are invariant under quantum dynamics in the long-time range O(ħ ^−∞). The quantum diffusion over the deformed tori is described. The analytic apparatus uses quantum action-angle coordinates explicitly constructed by an ħ-deformation of the classical action-angles.     

Hard chaos and adiabatic quantization: The wedge billiard

We present a study of a series of eigenstates occurring in the wedge billiard which may be quantized about tori by sejiclassical adiabatic quantization, even though the underlying classical system exhibits hard chaos and strictly possesses no tori. We also show that adiabatic eigenstates should be common in many chaotic systems, especially among the lower eigenstates, and present a heuristic argument as to why this should be so.     

Resonance-assisted tunneling in near-integrable systems

Dynamical tunneling between symmetry related invariant tori is studied in the near-integrable regime. Using the kicked Harper model as an illustration, we show that the exponential decay of the wave functions in the classically forbidden region is modified due to coupling processes that are mediated by classical resonances. This mechanism leads to a substantial deviation of the splitting between quasidegenerate eigenvalues from the purely exponential decrease with 1/Planck's over 2pi obtained for the integrable system. A simple semiclassical framework, which takes into account the effect of the resonance substructure on the invariant tori, allows one to quantitatively reproduce the behavior of the eigenvalue splittings.     

Phase-space correlations of chaotic eigenstates

It is shown that the Husimi representations of chaotic eigenstates are strongly correlated along classical trajectories. These correlations extend across the whole system size and, unlike the corresponding eigenfunction correlations in configuration space, they persist in the semiclassical limit. A quantitative theory is developed on the basis of Gaussian wave packet dynamics and random-matrix arguments. The role of symmetries is discussed for the example of time-reversal invariance.     

Twofold-broken rational tori and the uniform semiclassical approximation

We investigate broken rational tori consisting of a chain of four (rather than two) periodic orbits. The normal form that describes this configuration is identified and used to construct a uniform semiclassical approximation, which can be utilized to improve trace formulae. An accuracy gain can be achieved even for the situation when two of the four orbits are ghosts. This is illustrated for a model system, the kicked top. Received 3 August 1999