Quantum chaos is a branch of physics focused on how chaotic classical dynamical systems can be described in terms of quantum theory. The primary question that quantum chaos seeks to answer is: "What is the relationship between quantum mechanics and classical chaos?" The correspondence principle states that classical mechanics is the classical limit of quantum mechanics, specifically in the limit as the ratio of the Planck constant to the action of the system tends to zero. If this is true, then there must be quantum mechanisms underlying classical chaos (although this may not be a fruitful way of examining classical chaos). If quantum mechanics does not demonstrate an exponential sensitivity to initial conditions, how can exponential sensitivity to initial conditions arise in classical chaos, which must be the correspondence principle limit of quantum mechanics?Michael Berry, "Quantum Chaology", pp 104-5 of Quantum: a guide for the perplexed by Jim Al-Khalili (Weidenfeld and Nicolson 2003), http://www.physics.bristol.ac.uk/people/berry_mv/the_papers/Berry358.pdf .
In seeking to address the basic question of quantum chaos, several approaches have been employed: Development of methods for solving quantum problems where the perturbation cannot be considered small in perturbation theory and where quantum numbers are large. Correlating statistical descriptions of eigenvalues (energy levels) with the classical behavior of the same Hamiltonian (system). Study of probability distribution of individual eigenstates (see scars and quantum ergodicity). Semiclassical methods such as periodic-orbit theory connecting the classical trajectories of the dynamical system with quantum features. Direct application of the correspondence principle.
History
During the first half of the twentieth century, chaotic behavior in mechanics was recognized (as in the three-body problem in celestial mechanics), but not well understood. The foundations of modern quantum mechanics were laid in that period, essentially leaving aside the issue of the quantum-classical correspondence in systems whose classical limit exhibit chaos.
Approaches
Questions related to the correspondence principle arise in many different branches of physics, ranging from nuclear to atomic, molecular and solid-state physics, and even to acoustics, microwaves and optics. However, classical-quantum correspondence in chaos theory is not always possible. Thus, some versions of the classical butterfly effect do not have counterparts in quantum mechanics.
Important observations often associated with classically chaotic quantum systems are spectral level repulsion, dynamical localization in time evolution (e.g. ionization rates of atoms), and enhanced stationary wave intensities in regions of space where classical dynamics exhibits only unstable trajectories (as in scattering). In the semiclassical approach of quantum chaos, phenomena are identified in spectroscopy by analyzing the statistical distribution of spectral lines and by connecting spectral periodicities with classical orbits. Other phenomena show up in the time evolution of a quantum system, or in its response to various types of external forces. In some contexts, such as acoustics or microwaves, wave patterns are directly observable and exhibit irregular amplitude distributions.
Quantum chaos typically deals with systems whose properties need to be calculated using either numerical techniques or approximation schemes (see e.g. Dyson series). Simple and exact solutions are precluded by the fact that the system's constituents either influence each other in a complex way, or depend on temporally varying external forces.
Quantum mechanics in non-perturbative regimes
For conservative systems, the goal of quantum mechanics in non-perturbative regimes is to find the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of a Hamiltonian of the form
where is separable in some coordinate system, is non-separable in the coordinate system in which is separated, and is a parameter which cannot be considered small. Physicists have historically approached problems of this nature by trying to find the coordinate system in which the non-separable Hamiltonian is smallest and then treating the non-separable Hamiltonian as a perturbation.
Finding constants of motion so that this separation can be performed can be a difficult (sometimes impossible) analytical task. Solving the classical problem can give valuable insight into solving the quantum problem. If there are regular classical solutions of the same Hamiltonian, then there are (at least) approximate constants of motion, and by solving the classical problem, we gain clues how to find them.
Other approaches have been developed in recent years. One is to express the Hamiltonian in different coordinate systems in different regions of space, minimizing the non-separable part of the Hamiltonian in each region. Wavefunctions are obtained in these regions, and eigenvalues are obtained by matching boundary conditions.
Another approach is numerical matrix diagonalization. If the Hamiltonian matrix is computed in any complete basis, eigenvalues and eigenvectors are obtained by diagonalizing the matrix. However, all complete basis sets are infinite, and we need to truncate the basis and still obtain accurate results. These techniques boil down to choosing a truncated basis from which accurate wavefunctions can be constructed. The computational time required to diagonalize a matrix scales as , where is the dimension of the matrix, so it is important to choose the smallest basis possible from which the relevant wavefunctions can be constructed. It is also convenient to choose a basis in which the matrix is sparse and/or the matrix elements are given by simple algebraic expressions because computing matrix elements can also be a computational burden.
A given Hamiltonian shares the same constants of motion for both classical and quantum dynamics. Quantum systems can also have additional quantum numbers corresponding to discrete symmetries (such as parity conservation from reflection symmetry). However, if we merely find quantum solutions of a Hamiltonian which is not approachable by perturbation theory, we may learn a great deal about quantum solutions, but we have learned little about quantum chaos. Nevertheless, learning how to solve such quantum problems is an important part of answering the question of quantum chaos.
Correlating statistical descriptions of quantum mechanics with classical behaviour
Statistical measures of quantum chaos were born out of a desire to quantify spectral features of complex systems. Random matrix theory was developed in an attempt to characterize spectra of complex nuclei. The remarkable result is that the statistical properties of many systems with unknown Hamiltonians can be predicted using random matrices of the proper symmetry class. Furthermore, random matrix theory also correctly predicts statistical properties of the eigenvalues of many chaotic systems with known Hamiltonians. This makes it useful as a tool for characterizing spectra which require large numerical efforts to compute.
A number of statistical measures are available for quantifying spectral features in a simple way. It is of great interest whether or not there are universal statistical behaviors of classically chaotic systems. The statistical tests mentioned here are universal, at least to systems with few degrees of freedom (Berry and Tabor have put forward strong arguments for a Poisson distribution in the case of regular motion and Heusler et al. present a semiclassical explanation of the so-called Bohigas–Giannoni–Schmit conjecture which asserts universality of spectral fluctuations in chaotic dynamics). The nearest-neighbor distribution (NND) of energy levels is relatively simple to interpret and it has been widely used to describe quantum chaos.
Qualitative observations of level repulsions can be quantified and related to the classical dynamics using the NND, which is believed to be an important signature of classical dynamics in quantum systems. It is thought that regular classical dynamics is manifested by a Poisson distribution of energy levels:
In addition, systems which display chaotic classical motion are expected to be characterized by the statistics of random matrix eigenvalue ensembles. For systems invariant under time reversal, the energy-level statistics of a number of chaotic systems have been shown to be in good agreement with the predictions of the Gaussian orthogonal ensemble (GOE) of random matrices, and it has been suggested that this phenomenon is generic for all chaotic systems with this symmetry. If the normalized spacing between two energy levels is , the normalized distribution of spacings is well approximated by
Many Hamiltonian systems which are classically integrable (non-chaotic) have been found to have quantum solutions that yield nearest neighbor distributions which follow the Poisson distributions. Similarly, many systems which exhibit classical chaos have been found with quantum solutions yielding a Wigner-Dyson distribution, thus supporting the ideas above. One notable exception is diamagnetic lithium which, though exhibiting classical chaos, demonstrates Wigner (chaotic) statistics for the even-parity energy levels and nearly Poisson (regular) statistics for the odd-parity energy level distribution.
Semiclassical methods
Periodic orbit theory
Periodic-orbit theory gives a recipe for computing spectra from the periodic orbits of a system. In contrast to the Einstein–Brillouin–Keller method of action quantization, which applies only to integrable or near-integrable systems and computes individual eigenvalues from each trajectory, periodic-orbit theory is applicable to both integrable and non-integrable systems and asserts that each periodic orbit produces a sinusoidal fluctuation in the density of states.
The principal result of this development is an expression for the density of states which is the trace of the semiclassical Green's function and is given by the Gutzwiller trace formula (named after Martin Gutzwiller):
Recently there was a generalization of this formula for arbitrary matrix Hamiltonians that involves a Berry phase-like term stemming from spin or other internal degrees of freedom. The index distinguishes the primitive periodic orbits: the shortest period orbits of a given set of initial conditions. is the period of the primitive periodic orbit and is its classical action. Each primitive orbit retraces itself, leading to a new orbit with action and a period which is an integral multiple of the primitive period. Hence, every repetition of a periodic orbit is another periodic orbit. These repetitions are separately classified by the intermediate sum over the indices . is the orbit's Maslov index. The amplitude factor, , represents the square root of the density of neighboring orbits. Neighboring trajectories of an unstable periodic orbit diverge exponentially in time from the periodic orbit. The quantity characterizes the instability of the orbit. A stable orbit moves on a torus in phase space, and neighboring trajectories wind around it. For stable orbits, becomes , where is the winding number of the periodic orbit. , where is the number of times that neighboring orbits intersect the periodic orbit in one period. This presents a difficulty because at a classical bifurcation. This causes that orbit's contribution to the energy density to diverge. This also occurs in the context of photo-absorption spectrum.