The semiclassical limit of a quantum Fermi accelerator

A classical Fermi accelerator model (FAM) is known to show chaotic behavior. The FAM is defined by a free particle bouncing elastically from two rigid walls, one fixed and the other oscillating periodically in time. The central aim of this paper is to connect the quantum and the classical solutions to the FAM in the semiclassical limit. This goal is accomplished using a finite inverted parametric oscillator (FIPO), confined to a box withfixed walls, as an alternative representation of the FAM. In the FIPO representation, an explicit correspondence between classical and quantum limits is accomplished using a Husimi representation of the quasienergy eigenfunctions.     

Diffusive-ballistic crossover in 1D quantum walks

We show that particle transport, as characterized by the equilibrium mean square displacement, in a uniform, quantum multibaker map, is generically ballistic in the long time limit, for any fixed value of Planck's constant. However, for fixed times, the semiclassical limit leads to diffusion. Random matrix theory provides explicit analytical predictions for the mean square displacement of a particle in the system. These results exhibit a crossover from diffusive to ballistic motion, with crossover time on the order of the inverse of Planck's constant. We expect that, for a large class of 1D quantum random walks similar to the quantum multibaker, a sufficient condition for diffusion in the semiclassical limit is classically chaotic dynamics in each cell. The systems described generalize known quantum random walks and may have applications for quantum computation.     

Quantum theory of the Hall effect

We discuss a model of both the classical and the integer quantum Hall effect which is based on a semiclassical Schrödinger-Chern-Simons action, where the Ohm equations result as equations of motion. The quantization of the classical Chern-Simons part of action under typical quantum Hall conditions results in the quantized Hall conductivity. We show further that the classical Hall effect is described by a theory which arises as the classical limit of a theory of the quantum Hall effect. The model also explains the preference and the domain of the edge currents on the boundary of samples.     

Quantized Fermi Accelerator: A Soluble Model for Quantum Friction

The motion of a particle constrained to move inside a box with a movable wall is quantized. The semiclassical, adiabatic and exact solutions are worked out. The time-dependent density matrix is found in closed form. The motions of the heavy and the light parts of the system, described by appropriate reduced density matrices, are discussed. General comments about quantum friction are made.     

Towards Nonlinear Quantum Fokker-Planck Equations

It is demonstrated how the equilibrium semiclassical approach of Coffey et al. can be improved to describe more correctly the evolution. As a result a new semiclassical Klein-Kramers equation for the Wigner function is derived, which remains quantum for a free quantum Brownian particle as well. It is transformed to a semiclassical Smoluchowski equation, which leads to our semiclassical generalization of the classical Einstein law of Brownian motion derived before. A possibility is discussed how to extend these semiclassical equations to nonlinear quantum Fokker-Planck equations based on the Fisher information.     

Bifurcation phenomena of photodetached electron flux in parallel external fields

A semiclassical method based on the closed-orbit theory is applied to analysing the dynamics of photodetached electron of H$^- $ in the parallel electric and magnetic fields. By simply varying the magnetic field we reveal spatial bifurcations of electron orbits at a fixed emission energy, which is referred to as the fold caustic in classical motion. The quantum manifestations of these singularities display a series of intermittent divergences in electronic flux distributions. We introduce semiclassical uniform approximation to repair the electron wavefunctions locally in a mixed phase space and obtain reasonable results. The approximation provides a better treatment of the problem.     

Comparative analysis of purely classical and semiclassical approaches to collision line broadening of polyatomic molecules: I. C2H2-Ar case

Semiclassical approaches to the computation of spectral line parameters stay up to nowadays one of the working tools complementary to refined but costly quantum-mechanical methods. Using of the trajectory concept together with quantum treatment of internal molecular motions imposes however the hypothesis of rotation-translation decoupling and translational motion governed by the isotropic potential. When a posteori justified for small heavy colliders, this hypothesis appears as doubtful for long polyatomic molecules. At the same time, purely classical methods, even requiring the artificial procedure of the correspondence principle with quantum mechanics, easily take into account the rototranslational energy transfer through the trajectory governed by the full anisotropic potential. The infrared line broadening of a typically classical C₂H₂-Ar system at various temperatures is analyzed here from these two different points of view. When a refined ab initio potential is chosen to represent the interaction energy, the semiclassical approach leads to a visible overestimation of the line broadening for all values of the rotational quantum number and for all temperatures studied whereas the fully classical treatment gives a quite satisfactory prediction. These fully classical computations show that even for C₂H₂-Ar the rototranslational coupling is quite important, and variations of the translational motion parameters during collisions produce detectable changes in rotation. When, for the sake of a meaningful comparison with the semiclassical approach, the isotropic trajectories are imposed within the classical method, this leads to smaller line widths; the effect strongly depends, however, on the peculiarities of potential energy surface, temperature, and rotational quantum number value.     

Röntgen quantum phase shift: a semiclassical local electrodynamical effect?

The R?ntgen quantum phase shift is exhibited by the interference of point particles endowed with an electric dipole moment due to their motion relative to a source of the magnetic field. Here we show, using arguments involving the classical concepts of force and its impulse, that the R?ntgen phase shift arises within a largely classical (semiclassical) theoretical framework. All the subtleties normally associated with the nonlocality of magnetic (Aharonov-Bohm-type) quantum phase phenomena are uncontroversially absent in the classical treatment.     

A Semiclassical Theory of a Dissipative Henon—Heiles System

A semiclassical theory of a dissipative Henon—Heiles system is proposed. Based on -scaling of an equation for the evolution of the Wigner quasiprobability distribution function in the presence of dissipation and thermal diffusion, we derive a semiclassical equation for quantum fluctuations, governed by the dissipation and the curvature of the classical potential. We show how the initial quantum noise gets amplified by classical chaotic diffusion, which is expressible in terms of a correlation of stochastic fluctuations of the curvature of the potential due to classical chaos, and ultimately settles down to equilibrium under the influence of dissipation. We also establish that there exists a critical limit to the expansion of phase space. The limit is set by chaotic diffusion and dissipation. Our semiclassical analysis is corroborated by numerical simulation of a quantum operator master equation.     

Poincare surface of section and quantum scattering

A very simple model for the quantum-mechanical scattering of a particle is studied with a dual goal: The chaotic nature of the corresponding classical problem should be quite obvious, and the method of solution should use an approach that is closely related to the surface of section in classical mechanics. Moreover, the mathematical operations should be elementary so that the errors in a semiclassical approximation or in any computational work have a chance of being controllable. Finally, the mode of presentation is such as to be understandable for a newcomer to the field of chaos. The model is a variation of the Sinai billiard where the circular hard wall inside a box (parallelogram) is replaced by a trombone-shaped surface for the particle to enter and exit the box. The rim (circular boundary between trombone and box) is the surface of section, with the total current at fixed energy in either direction providing the measure for the wave functions. The Poincare map then becomes the product of two unitary transformations, where the first is diagonal in angular momentum, while the second is diagonal in angle.     

The Weyl representation in classical and quantum mechanics

The position representation of the evolution operator in quantum mechanics is analogous to the generating function formalism of classical mechanics. Similarly, the Weyl representation is connected to new generating functions described by chords and centres in phase space. Both classical and quantal theories relie on the group of translations and reflections through a point in phase space. The composition of small time evolutions leads to new versions of the classical variational principle and to path integrals in quantum mechanics. The strong resemblance between the two theories allows a clear derivation of the semiclassical limit in which observables evolve classically in the Weyl representation. The restriction of the motion to the energy shell in classical mechanics is the basis for a full review of the semiclassical Wigner function and the theory of scars of periodic orbits. By embedding the theory of scars in a fully uniform approximation, it is shown that the region in which the scar contribution is oscillatory is separated from a decaying region by a caustic that touches the shell along the periodic orbit and widens quadratically within the energy shell.     

Semiclassical S-matrix theory for atomic fragmentation

A semiclassical scattering approach is developed which can handle long-range (Coulomb) forces without the knowledge of the asymptotic wave function for multiple charged fragments in the continuum. The classical cross section for potential and inelastic scattering including fragmentation (ionization) is derived from first principles in a form which allows for a simple extension to semiclassical scattering amplitudes as a sum over classical orbits and their associated actions. The object of primary importance is the classical deflection function which can show regular and chaotic behavior. Applications to electron impact ionization of hydrogen and electron–atom scattering in general are discussed in a reduced phase space, motivated by partial fixed points of the respective scattering systems. Special emphasis, also in connection with chaotic scattering, is put on threshold ionization. Finally, motivated by the reflection principle for molecules, a semiclassical hybrid approach is introduced for photoabsorption cross sections of atoms where the time-dependent propagator is approximated semiclassically in a short-time limit with the Baker–Hausdorff formula. Applications to one- and two-electron atoms are followed by a presentation of double photoionization of helium, treated in combination with the semiclassical S-matrix for scattering.     

Signatures of homoclinic motion in quantum chaos

Homoclinic motion plays a key role in the organization of classical chaos in Hamiltonian systems. In this Letter, we show that it also imprints a clear signature in the corresponding quantum spectra. By numerically studying the fluctuations of the widths of wave functions localized along periodic orbits we reveal the existence of an oscillatory behavior that is explained solely in terms of the primary homoclinic motion. Furthermore, our results indicate that it survives the semiclassical limit.     

Kowalevski top in quantum mechanics

The quantum mechanical Kowalevski top is studied by the direct diagonalization of the Hamiltonian. The spectra show different behaviors depending on the region divided by the bifurcation sets of the classical invariant tori. Some of these spectra are nearly degenerate due to the multiplicity of the invariant tori. The Kowalevski top has several symmetries and symmetry quantum numbers can be assigned to the eigenstates. We have also carried out the semiclassical quantization of the Kowalevski top by the EBK formulation. It is found that the semiclassical spectra are close to the exact values, thus the eigenstates can be also labeled by the integer quantum numbers. The symmetries of the system are shown to have close relations with the semiclassical quantum numbers and the near-degeneracy of the spectra.     

Semiclassical quantization of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation

Using the functional integral technique of Dashen, Hasslacher, and Neveu, we perform a semiclassical quantization of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation, which reproduces McGuire's exact result for the energy levels of the theory's bound states. We show that the stability angle formalism leads to the one-loop normal ordering and self-energy renormalization expected from perturbation theory and demonstrate that taking into account center-of-mass motion gives the correct nonrelativistic energymomentum relation. We interpret the classical solution in the context of the quantum theory, relating it to the matrix element of the field operator between adjacent bound states in the limit of large quantum numbers. Finally, we quantize the NLSE as a theory of N component fermion fields and show that the semiclassical method yields the exact energy levels and correct degeneracies.     

On the quantum Fermi accelerator and its relevance to ‘quantum chaos’

We discuss a quantum version of the Fermi acceleration model, which consists of a particle bouncing between a fixed and oscillating wall. The actual movement of the particle crucially depends on the boundary conditions of the Schrödinger equation. Under Dirichlet boundary conditions, the quantum system displays a regular behaviour, but its classical limit exhibits some unphysical attributes. Only for certain initial conditions does it correspond to the stable motion of a ball bouncing once for an integer number of wall oscillations. In the classical model that situation gives rise to regular islands imbedded in the chaotic sea.