We have studied statistical properties of the values of the Wigner function W(x) of 1D quantum maps on compact 2D phase space of finite area V. For this purpose we have defined a Wigner function probability distribution P(w) = (1/V) int delta(w-W(x)) dx, which has, by definition, fixed first and second moment. In particular, we concentrate on relaxation of time evolving quantum state in terms of W(x), starting from a coherent state. We have shown that for a classically chaotic quantum counterpart the distribution P(w) in the semi-classical limit becomes a Gaussian distribution that is fully determined by the first two moments. Numerical simulations have been performed for the quantum sawtooth map and the quantized kicked top. In a quantum system with Hilbert space dimension N (similar 1/hbar) the transition of P(w) to a Gaussian distribution was observed at times t proportional to log N. In addition, it has been shown that the statistics of Wigner functions of propagator eigenstates is Gaussian as well in the classically fully chaotic regime. We have also studied the structure of the nodal cells of the Wigner function, in particular the distribution of intersection points between the zero manifold and arbitrary straight lines.
In a recent Phys. Rev. E Rapid Communication, the authors, Silvestrov and Beenakker, introduce a way to lengthen the Ehrenfest time, $τ$, for fully chaotic systems. We disagree with several statements made in their paper, and address the following points essential to their conclusions: 1) it is not true that all semiclassical approximations for chaotic systems fail at a so-called `logtime', $τ\propto - \ln (\hbar)$, differing only by a numerical coefficient; and 2) the limitation of the semiclassical approximation as expressed in the authors' Eq. (8) is not limited by their argument leading to…
We study Wigner function value statistics of classically chaotic quantum maps on compact 2D phase space. We show that the Wigner function statistics of a random state is a Gaussian, with the mean value becoming negligible compared to the width in the semi-classical limit. Using numerical example of quantized sawtooth map we demonstrate that the relaxation of time-dependent Wigner function statistics, starting from a coherent initial state, takes place on a logarithmically short log (hbar) time scale.
We prove that any spectral sequence obeying a certain growth law is the quantum spectrum of an equivalence class of classically integrable non-linear oscillators. This implies that exceptions to the Berry-Tabor rule for the distribution of quantum energy gaps of classically integrable systems, are far more numerous than previously believed. In particular we show that for each finite dimension $k$, there are an infinite number of classically integrable $k$-dimensional non-linear oscillators whose quantum spectrum reproduces the imaginary part of zeros on the critical line of the Riemann zeta fu…
We discuss the behavior of fidelity for a classically chaotic quantum system in the metallic regime. We show the existence of a critical value of the perturbation below which the exponential decay of fidelity is determined by the width of the Breit-Wigner distribution and above which the quantum decay follows the classical one which is ruled by the Lyapunov exponent. The independence of the decay {\it rate} from the perturbation strength derives from the similarity of the quantum and classical relaxation process inside the Heisenberg time scale.
We describe the quantum mechanical spreading of a Gaussian wave packet by means of the semiclassical WKB approximation of Berry and Balazs. We find that the time scale $τ$ on which this approximation breaks down in a chaotic system is larger than the Ehrenfest times considered previously. In one dimension $τ=\fr{7}{6}λ^{-1}\ln(A/\hbar)$, with $λ$ the Lyapunov exponent and $A$ a typical classical action.
Just as a coherent state may be considered as a quantum point, its restriction to a factor space of the full Hilbert space can be interpreted as a quantum plane. The overlap of such a factor coherent state with a full pure state is akin to a quantum section. It defines a reduced pure state in the cofactor Hilbert space. The collection of all the Wigner functions corresponding to a full set of parallel quantum sections defines the Husimi-Wigner reresentation. It occupies an intermediate ground between drastic suppression of nonclassical features, characteristic of Husimi functions, and the daun…
The out-of-time-order correlator (OTOC), recently analyzed in several physical contexts, is studied for low-dimensional chaotic systems through semiclassical expansions and numerical simulations. The semiclassical expansion for the OTOC yields a leading-order contribution in $\hbar^2$ that is exponentially increasing with time within an intermediate, temperature-dependent, time-window. The growth-rate in such a regime is governed by the Lyapunov exponent of the underlying classical system and scales with the square-root of the temperature.
The effects of quantum and thermal corrections on the dynamics of a damped nonlinearly kicked harmonic oscillator are studied. This is done via the Quantum Langevin Equation formalism working on a truncated moment expansion of the density matrix of the system. We find that the type of bifurcations present in the system change upon quantization and that chaotic behavior appears for values of the nonlinear parameter that are far below the chaotic threshold for the classical model. Upon increase of temperature or Planck's constant, bifurcation points and chaotic thresholds are shifted towards low…
We study the decoherence of a one-particle system, whose classical correpondent is chaotic, when it evolves coupled to a weak quenched environment. This is done by analytical evaluation of the Loschmidt Echo, (i.e. the revival of a localized density excitation upon reversal of its time evolution), in presence of the perturbation. We predict an exponential decay for the Loschmidt Echo with a (decoherence) rate which is asymptotically given by the mean Lyapunov exponent of the classical system, and therefore independent of the perturbation strength, within a given range of strengths. Our results…
We study the decoherence process for an open quantum system which is classically chaotic (a quartic double well with harmonic driving coupled to a sea of harmonic oscillators). We analyze the time dependence of the rate of entropy production showing that it has two relevant regimes: For short times it is proportional to the diffusion coefficient (fixed by the system--environment coupling strength). For longer times (but before equilibration) it is fixed by dynamical properties of the system (and is related to the Lyapunov exponent). The nature of the transition time between both regimes is inv…
We provide a path integral treatment of the decoherence process induced by a heat bath on a single particle whose dynamics is classically chaotic and show that the decoherence rate is given by the Lyapunov exponent. The loss of coherence is charaterized by the purity, which is calculated semiclassically within diagonal approximation, when the particle initial state is a single gaussian wave packet. The calculation is performed for weak dissipation and in the high temperature limit. This situation allows us to simplify the heat bath description to a single random potential. Although the dissipa…
We study the behavior of an open quantum system, with an $N$--dimensional space of states, whose density matrix evolves according to a non--unitary map defined in two steps: A unitary step, where the system evolves with an evolution operator obtained by quantizing a classically chaotic map (baker's and Harper's map are the two examples we consider). A non--unitary step where the evolution operator for the density matrix mimics the effect of diffusion in the semiclassical (large $N$) limit. The process of decoherence and the transition from quantum to classical behavior are analyzed in detail b…
Close to a spacelike singularity, pure gravity and supergravity in four to eleven spacetime dimensions admit a cosmological billiard description based on hyperbolic Kac-Moody groups. We investigate the quantum cosmological billiards of relativistic wavepackets towards the singularity, employing flat and hyperbolic space descriptions for the quantum billiards. We find that the strongly chaotic classical billiard motion of four-dimensional pure gravity corresponds to a spreading wavepacket subject to successive redshifts and tending to zero as the singularity is approached. We discuss the possib…
Using the Calogero-Moser model and the Nakamura equations for a multi-partite quantum system, we prove an inequality between the mean bi-partite entanglement rate of change under the variation of a critical parameter and the level-curvature. This provides an upper bound for the rate of production or distraction of entanglement induced dynamically. We then investigate the dependence of the upper bound on the degree of chaos of the system, which in turn, through the inequality, gives a measure of the stability of the entangled state. Our analytical results are supported with extensive numerical …
The prediction of the response of a closed system to external perturbations is one of the central problems in quantum mechanics, and in this respect, the local density of states (LDOS) provides an in- depth description of such a response. The LDOS is the distribution of the overlaps squared connecting the set of eigenfunctions with the perturbed one. Here, we show that in the case of closed systems with classically chaotic dynamics, the LDOS is a Breit-Wigner distribution under very general perturbations of arbitrary high intensity. Consequently, we derive a semiclassical expression for the wi…
The Loschmidt echo (LE) is a measure of the sensitivity of quantum mechanics to perturbations in the evolution operator. It is defined as the overlap of two wave functions evolved from the same initial state but with slightly different Hamiltonians. Thus, it also serves as a quantification of irreversibility in quantum mechanics. In this thesis the LE is studied in systems that have a classical counterpart with dynamical instability, that is, classically chaotic. An analytical treatment that makes use of the semiclassical approximation is presented. It is shown that, under certain regime of th…
The Wigner function is known to evolve classically under the exclusive action of a quadratic hamiltonian. If the system does interact with the environment through Lindblad operators that are linear functions of position and momentum, we show that the general evolution is the convolution of the classically evolving Wigner function with a phase space gaussian that broadens in time. We analyze the three generic cases of elliptic, hyperbolic and parabolic Hamiltonians. The Wigner function always becomes positive in a definite time, which is shortest in the hyperbolic case. We also derive an exact …
We show that quantum circuits where the initial state and all the following quantum operations can be represented by positive Wigner functions can be classically efficiently simulated. This is true both for continuous-variable as well as discrete variable systems in odd prime dimensions, two cases which will be treated on entirely the same footing. Noting the fact that Clifford and Gaussian operations preserve the positivity of the Wigner function, our result generalizes the Gottesman-Knill theorem. Our algorithm provides a way of sampling from the output distribution of a computation or a sim…
Within the random matrix theory approach to quantum scattering, we derive the distribution of the Wigner-Smith time delay matrix $\mathcal{Q}$ for a chaotic cavity with uniform absorption, coupled via $N$ perfect channels. In the unitary class $β=2$ we obtain a compact expression for the distribution of the full matrix in terms of a matrix integral. In the other symmetry classes we derive the joint distribution of the eigenvalues. We show how the large $N$ properties of this distribution can be analysed in terms of two interacting Coulomb gases living on two different supports. As an applicati…
The separation of the Schrödinger equation into a Markovian and an interference term provides a new insight in the quantum dynamics of classically chaotic systems. The competition between these two terms determines the localized or diffusive character of the dynamics. In the case of the Kicked Rotor, we show how the constrained maximization of the entropy implies exponential localization.
We present experimental and theoretical results for the fluctuation properties in the incomplete spectra of quantum systems with symplectic symmetry and a chaotic dynamics in the classical limit. To obtain theoretical predictions, we extend the random-matrix theory (RMT) approach introduced in [O. Bohigas and M. P. Pato, Phys. Rev. E 74, 036212 (2006)] for incomplete spectra of quantum systems with orthogonal symmetry. We validate these RMT predictions by randomly extracting a fraction of levels from complete sequences obtained numerically for quantum graphs and experimentally for microwave ne…
We study the crossover behavior of statistical properties of eigenvalues in a chaotic microcavity with different refractive indices. The level spacing distributions change from Wigner to Poisson distributions as the refractive index of a microcavity decreases. We propose a non-hermitian matrix model with random elements describing the spectral properties of the chaotic microcavity, which exhibits the crossover behaviors as the opening strength increases.
Classically integrable approximants are here constructed for a family of predominantly chaotic periodic systems by means of the Baker-Hausdorff-Campbell formula. We compare the evolving wave density for the corresponding exact quantum systems using semiclassical approximations based alternatively on the chaotic and on the integrable trajectories. It is found that the latter reproduce the quantum oscillations and provide superior approximations even when the initial coherent state is placed in a broad chaotic region. Time regimes are then accessed in which the propagation based on the system's …
The quantum-classical correspondence for dynamics of the nonlinear classically chaotic systems is analysed. The problem of quantum chaos consists of two parts: the quasiclassical quantisation of the chaotic systems and attempts to understand the classical chaos in terms of quantum mechanics. The first question has been partially solved by the Gutzwiller semiclassical trace formula for the eigenvalues of chaotic systems, while the classical chaos may be derived from quantum equations only introducing the decoherence process due to interaction with system's environment or intermediate frequent m…
Although highly successful, the Truncated Wigner Approximation (TWA) does not account for genuine many-body quantum interference between different solutions of the mean-field equations of a bosonic many-body (MB) system. This renders the TWA essentially classical, where a large number of particles formally takes the role of the inverse of Planck's constant $\hbar$. The failure to describe genuine interference phenomena, such as localization and scarring in Fock space, can be seen as a virtue of this quasiclassical method, which thereby allows one to identify genuine quantum effects when being …
A hypothesis about the average phase-space distribution of resonance eigenfunctions in chaotic systems with escape through an opening is proposed. Eigenfunctions with decay rate $γ$ are described by a classical measure that $(i)$ is conditionally invariant with classical decay rate $γ$ and $(ii)$ is uniformly distributed on sets with the same temporal distance to the quantum resolved chaotic saddle. This explains the localization of fast-decaying resonance eigenfunctions classically. It is found to occur in the phase-space region having the largest distance to the chaotic saddle. We discuss th…
We prove quantum-classical correspondence for bound conservative classically chaotic Hamiltonian systems. In particular, quantum Liouville spectral projection operators and spectral densities, and hence classical dynamics, are shown to approach their classical analogs in the $h\rightarrow 0$ limit. Correspondence is shown to occur via the elimination of essential singularities. In addition, applications to matrix elements of observables in chaotic systems are discussed.
We show that the Truncated Wigner Approximation developed in the flat phase-space is mapped into a Lindblad-type evolution with an indefinite metric in the space of linear operators. As a result, the classically evolved Wigner function corresponds to a non-positive operator $\hat{R}(t)$, which does not describe a physical state. The rate of appearance of negative eigenvalues of $\hat{R}(t)$ can be efficiently estimated. The short-time dynamics of the Kerr and second harmonic generation Hamiltonains are discussed.
Based on the connection between the spectral form factor and the probability to return, the origin of the $1/f^α$-noise in fully chaotic and fully integrable systems is traced to the quantum interference between invariant manifolds of the classical dynamics and the dimensionality of those invariant manifolds. This connection and the order-to-chaos transition are analyzed in terms of the statistics of Floquet's quasienergies of a classically chaotic driving non-linear system. An immediate prediction of the connection established here is that in the presence of decoherence, the spectral exponent…
We study the classical chaos appearing in a diatomic molecules $BeO$, $CO$ and $CN$ due to the interaction with a circularly polarized electric field, and its signature in Quantum Mechanics through the Wigner distribution function and the Boltzmann-Shannon entropy. We found a motion out of the center of the quantum phase space defined by Wigner function when the classical system becomes chaotic, and we found a jumping behavior of the average Boltzmann-Shannon entropy with respect the electric field strength when the classical system becomes chaotic, indicating a sudden increasing in the disord…
The Quantum Ergodic Conjecture equates the Wigner function for a typical eigenstate of a classically chaotic Hamiltonian with a delta-function on the energy shell. This ensures the evaluation of classical ergodic expectations of simple observables, in agreement with Shnirelman's theorem, but this putative Wigner function violates several important requirements. Consequently, we transfer the conjecture to the Fourier transform of the Wigner function, that is, the chord function. We show that all the relevant consequences of the usual conjecture require only information contained within a small …
The work distribution is a fundamental quantity in nonequilibrium thermodynamics mainly due to its connection with fluctuations theorems. Here we develop a semiclassical approximation to the work distribution for a quench process in chaotic systems. The approach is based on the dephasing representation of the quantum Loschmidt echo and on the quantum ergodic conjecture, which states that the Wigner function of a typical eigenstate of a classically chaotic Hamiltonian is equidistributed on the energy shell. We show that our semiclassical approximation is accurate in describing the quantum distr…
In classical mechanics the local exponential instability effaces the memory of initial conditions and leads to practical irreversibility. In striking contrast, quantum mechanics appears to exhibit strong memory of the initial state. We relate the latter fact to the low (at most linear) rate with which the system's Wigner function gets during evolution more and more complicated structure and establish existence of a critical strength of external influence below which such a memory still survives.
We consider wave propagation in a complex structure coupled to a finite number $N$ of scattering channels, such as chaotic cavities or quantum dots with external leads. Temporal aspects of the scattering process are analysed through the concept of time delays, related to the energy (or frequency) derivative of the scattering matrix $\mathcal{S}$. We develop a random matrix approach to study the statistical properties of the symmetrised Wigner-Smith time-delay matrix $\mathcal{Q}_s=-\mathrm{i}\hbar\,\mathcal{S}^{-1/2}\big(\partial_\varepsilon\mathcal{S}\big)\,\mathcal{S}^{-1/2}$, and obtain the…
We have computed numerically the Casimir force between two identical pistons inside a very long cylinder, considering different shapes for the pistons. The pistons can be considered as quantum billiards, whose spectrum determines the vacuum force. The smooth part of the spectrum fixes the force at short distances, and depends only on geometric quantities like the area or perimeter of the piston. However, correcting terms to the force, coming from the oscillating part of the spectrum which is related to the classical dynamics of the billiard, are qualitatively different for classically integrab…
We calculate the atomic (spin) Wigner function for the single mode Dicke model in the regime of large number of two-level atoms. The dynamics of this quasi-probability function on the Bloch sphere allows us to visualize the consequences of the entanglement process between the boson and the spin subsystems. Such investigation shows a distinct localization behavior of the spin state with respect to the polar and azimuthal Bloch sphere angles. A complete {\em breakdown of reflection symmetry} in the azimuthal angle is shown in the non-integrable case, even at short evolution times. Also, in the c…
Guztwiller's Trace Formula is central to the semiclassical theory of quantum energy levels and spectral statistics in classically chaotic systems. Motivated by recent developments in Random Matrix Theory and Number Theory, we elucidate a hierarchical structure in the way periodic orbits contribute to the Trace Formula that has implications for the value distribution of spectral determinants in quantum chaotic systems.
An initial coherent state is propagated exactly by a kicked quantum Hamiltonian and its associated classical stroboscopic map. The classical trajectories within the initial state are regular for low kicking strengths, then bifurcate and become mainly chaotic as the kicking parameter is increased. Time-evolution is tracked using classical, quantum and semiclassical Wigner functions, obtained via the Herman-Kluk propagator. Quantitative comparisons are also included and carried out from probability marginals and autocorrelation functions. Sub-Planckian classical structure such as small stability…
We outline formal and physical similarities between the quantum dynamics of open systems, and the mesoscopic description of classical systems affected by weak noise. The main tool of our interest is the dissipative Wigner equation, that, for suitable timescales, becomes analogous to the Fokker-Planck equation describing classical advection and diffusion. This correspondence allows in principle to surmise a finite resolution, other than the Planck scale, for the quantized state space of the open system, particularly meaningful when the latter underlies chaotic classical dynamics. We provide rep…
The vast majority of dynamical systems in classical physics are chaotic and exhibit the butterfly effect: a minute change in initial conditions can soon have exponentially large effects elsewhere. But this phenomenon is difficult to reconcile with quantum mechanics. One of the main goals in the field of quantum chaos is to establish a correspondence between the dynamics of classical chaotic systems and their quantum counterparts. In isolated systems in the absence of decoherence, there is such a correspondence in dynamics, but it usually persists only over a short time window, after which quan…
A general program to show quantum-classical correspondence for bound conservative integrable and chaotic systems is described. The method is applied to integrable systems and the nature of the approach to the classical limit, the cancellation of essential singularities, is demonstrated. The application to chaotic systems requires an understanding of classical Liouville eigenfunctions and a Liouville spectral decomposition, developed herein. General approaches to the construction of these Liouville eigenfunctions and classical spectral projectors in quantum and classical mechanics are discussed…
Measurement choices in weakly-measured open quantum systems can affect quantum trajectory chaos. We consider this scenario semi-classically and show that measurement acts as nonlinear generalized fluctuation and dissipation forces. These can alter effective dissipation in the quantum spread variables and hence change the dynamics, such that measurement choices on the coupled quantum dynamics can enhance quantum effects and make the dynamics chaotic, for example. This analysis explains the measurement-dependence of quantum chaos at a variety of parameter settings, and in particular we demonstra…
The Gottesman-Knill theorem established that stabilizer states and operations can be efficiently simulated classically. For qudits with dimension three and greater, stabilizer states and Clifford operations have been found to correspond to positive discrete Wigner functions and dynamics. We present a discrete Wigner function-based simulation algorithm for odd-$d$ qudits that has the same time and space complexity as the Aaronson-Gottesman algorithm. We show that the efficiency of both algorithms is due to the harmonic evolution in the symplectic structure of discrete phase space. The differenc…
Quantum trajectories defined in the de Broglie--Bohm theory provide a causal way to interpret physical phenomena. In this Letter, we use this formalism to analyze the short time dynamics induced by unstable periodic orbits in a classically chaotic system, a situation in which scars are known to play a very important role. We find that the topologies of the quantum orbits are much more complicated than that of the scarring and associated periodic orbits, since the former have quantum interference built in. Thus scar wave functions are necessary to analyze the corresponding dynamics. Moreover, t…
A crucial result in quantum chaos, which has been established for a long time, is that the spectral properties of classically integrable systems generically are described by Poisson statistics whereas those of time-reversal symmetric, classically chaotic systems coincide with those of random matrices from the Gaussian orthogonal ensemble (GOE). Does this result hold for two-dimensional Dirac material systems? To address this fundamen- tal question, we investigate the spectral properties in a representative class of graphene billiards with shapes of classically integrable circular-sector billia…
We elucidate the basic physical mechanisms responsible for the quantum-classical transition in one-dimensional, bounded chaotic systems subject to unconditioned environmental interactions. We show that such a transition occurs due to the dual role of noise in regularizing the semiclassical Wigner function and averaging over fine structures in classical phase space. The results are interpreted in the novel context of applying recent advances in the theory of measurement and open systems to the semiclassical quantum regime. We use these methods to show how a local semiclassical picture is stabil…
It has been long recognized that the task of semiclassical evaluation of quantum spectra for the classically nonintegrable systems is fundamentally more complex than for the classically integrable ones. Below it is argued that the quantum spectra of the chaotic systems can differ among themselves by level of their complexity.
A semiclassical approximation for the matrix elements of a quantum chaotic propagator in the scar function basis has been derived. The obtained expression is solely expressed in terms of canonical invariant objects. For our purpose, we have used, the recently developed, semiclassical matrix elements of the propagator in coherent states, together with the linearization of the flux in the neighborhood of a classically unstable periodic orbit of chaotic two dimensional systems. The expression here derived is successfully verified to be exact for a (linear) cat map, after the theory is adapted to …
We show that for an open quantum system which is classically chaotic (a quartic double well with harmonic driving coupled to a sea of harmonic oscillators) the rate of entropy production has, as a function of time, two relevant regimes: For short times it is proportional to the diffusion coefficient (fixed by the system--environment coupling strength). For longer times (but before equilibration) there is a regime where the entropy production rate is fixed by the Lyapunov exponent. The nature of the transition time between both regimes is investigated.
An analysis of the semiclassical regime of the quantum-classical transition is given for open, bounded, one dimensional chaotic dynamical systems. Environmental fluctuations -- characteristic of all realistic dynamical systems -- suppress the development of fine structure in classical phase space and damp nonlocal contributions to the semiclassical Wigner function which would otherwise invalidate the approximation. This dual regularization of the singular nature of the semiclassical limit is demonstrated by a numerical investigation of the chaotic Duffing oscillator.
In the large-$N$, classical limit, the Bose-Hubbard dimer undergoes a transition to chaos when its tunnelling rate is modulated in time. We use exact and approximate numerical simulations to determine the features of the dynamically evolving state that are correlated with the presence of chaos in the classical limit. We propose the statistical distance between initially similar number distributions as a reliable measure to distinguish regular from chaotic behaviour in the quantum dynamics. Besides being experimentally accessible, number distributions can be efficiently reconstructed numericall…
Violation of correspondence principle may occur for very macroscopic byt isolated quantum systems on rather short timescales as illustrated by the case of Hyperion, the chaotically tumbling moon of Saturn, for which quantum and classical predictions are expected to diverge on a timescale of approximately 20 years. Motivated by Hyperion, we review salient features of ``quantum chaos'' and show that decoherence is the essential ingredient of the classical limit, as it enables one to solve the apparent paradox caused by the breakdown of the correspondence principle for classically chaotic systems…
We propose the Wigner separability entropy as a measure of complexity of a quantum state. This quantity measures the number of terms that effectively contribute to the Schmidt decomposition of the Wigner function with respect to a chosen phase space decomposition. We prove that the Wigner separability entropy is equal to the operator space entanglement entropy, measuring entanglement in the space of operators, and, for pure states, to twice the entropy of entanglement. The quantum to classical correspondence between the Wigner separability entropy and the separability entropy of the classical …
