Statistical distribution of the Wigner-Smith time-delay matrix moments for chaotic cavities

Effect of a tunnel barrier on time delay statistics

We develop a semiclassical approach for the statistics of the time delay in quantum chaotic systems in the presence of a tunnel barrier, for broken time-reversal symmetry. Results are obtained as asymptotic series in powers of the reflectivity of the barrier, with coefficients that are rational functions of the channel number. Exact expressions, valid for arbitrary reflectivity and channel number, are conjectured and numerically verified for specific families of statistical moments.

Statistics of Complex Wigner Time Delays as a Counter of S-Matrix Poles: Theory and Experiment

We study the statistical properties of the complex generalization of Wigner time delay τ_{W} for subunitary wave-chaotic scattering systems. We first demonstrate theoretically that the mean value of the Re[τ_{W}] distribution function for a system with uniform absorption strength η is equal to the fraction of scattering matrix poles with imaginary parts exceeding η. The theory is tested experimentally with an ensemble of microwave graphs with either one or two scattering channels and showing broken time-reversal invariance and variable uniform attenuation. The experimental results are in excellent agreement with the developed theory. The tails of the distributions of both real and imaginary time delay are measured and are also found to agree with theory. The results are applicable to any practical realization of a wave-chaotic scattering system in the short-wavelength limit, including quantum wires and dots, acoustic and electromagnetic resonators, and quantum graphs.

Generalization of Wigner time delay to subunitary scattering systems

We introduce a complex generalization of the Wigner time delay τ for subunitary scattering systems. Theoretical expressions for complex time delays as a function of excitation energy, uniform and nonuniform loss, and coupling are given. We find very good agreement between theory and experimental data taken on microwave graphs containing an electronically variable lumped-loss element. We find that the time delay and the determinant of the scattering matrix share a common feature in that the resonant behavior in Re[τ] and Im[τ] serves as a reliable indicator of the condition for coherent perfect absorption (CPA). By reinforcing the concept of time delays in lossy systems this work provides a means to identify the poles and zeros of the scattering matrix from experimental data. The results also enable an approach to achieving CPA at an arbitrary frequency in complex scattering systems.

Electronic transport in chaotic mesoscopic cavities: A Kwant and random matrix theory based exploration

We investigate the spectral fluctuations and electronic transport properties of chaotic mesoscopic cavities using Kwant, an open source Python programming language based package. Discretized chaotic billiard systems are used to model these mesoscopic cavities. For the spectral fluctuations, we study the ratio of consecutive eigenvalue spacings, and for the transport properties, we focus on Landauer conductance and shot noise power. We generate an ensemble of scattering matrices in Kwant, with desired number of open channels in the leads attached to the cavity. The results obtained from Kwant simulations, performed without or with magnetic field, are compared with the corresponding random matrix theory predictions for orthogonally and unitarily invariant ensembles. These two cases apply to the scenarios of preserved and broken time-reversal symmetry, respectively. In addition, we explore the orthogonal to unitary crossover statistics by varying the magnetic field and examine its relationship with the random matrix transition parameter.

Chaotic scattering with localized losses: S-matrix zeros and reflection time difference for systems with broken time-reversal invariance

Motivated by recent studies of the phenomenon of coherent perfect absorption, we develop the random matrix theory framework for understanding statistics of the zeros of the (subunitary) scattering matrices in the complex energy plane, as well as of the recently introduced reflection time difference (RTD). The latter plays the same role for S-matrix zeros as the Wigner time delay does for its poles. For systems with broken time-reversal invariance, we derive the n-point correlation functions of the zeros in a closed determinantal form, and we study various asymptotics and special cases of the associated kernel. The time-correlation function of the RTD is then evaluated and compared with numerical simulations. This allows us to identify a cubic tail in the distribution of RTD, which we conjecture to be a superuniversal characteristic valid for all symmetry classes. We also discuss two methods for possible extraction of S-matrix zeros from scattering data by harmonic inversion.