Semiclassical propagator to evaluate off-diagonal matrix elements of the evolution operator between quantum states

We present a powerful semiclassical expression to evaluate off-diagonal matrix elements of the evolution operator between quantum states constructed in the neighborhood of unstable short periodic orbits, which is valid up to the Heisenberg time. The expression is much easier to evaluate than the Van Vleck propagator and consists of a sum over the set of heteroclinic orbits, where each term of the series is computed by canonical invariants. Here we introduce relevant canonical invariants of heteroclinic orbits and with them at hand, the semiclassical expression is derived. Finally, our formula is successfully verified in the hyperbola billiard.

Semiclassical approach to long time propagation in quantum chaos: predicting scars

We present two powerful semiclassical formulas for quantum systems with classically chaotic dynamics, one of them being the Fourier transform of the other. The first formula evaluates the autocorrelation function of a state constructed in the neighborhood of a short periodic orbit, where the propagation for times greater than the Ehrenfest time is computed through the contribution of homoclinic orbits. The second formula evaluates the square of the overlap of the proposed state with the eigenstates of the system, providing valuable information about the scarring phenomenon. Both expressions are successfully verified in the Bunimovich stadium billiard.

Computationally efficient method to construct scar functions

The performance of a simple method [E. L. Sibert III, E. Vergini, R. M. Benito, and F. Borondo, New J. Phys. 10, 053016 (2008)] to efficiently compute scar functions along unstable periodic orbits with complicated trajectories in configuration space is discussed, using a classically chaotic two-dimensional quartic oscillator as an illustration.

Universal response of quantum systems with chaotic dynamics

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 width of the LDOS which is shown to be very accurate for paradigmatic systems of quantum chaos. This Letter demonstrates the universal response of quantum systems with classically chaotic dynamics.

Sensitivity to perturbations in a quantum chaotic billiard

The Loschmidt echo (LE) measures the ability of a system to return to the initial state after a forward quantum evolution followed by a backward perturbed one. It has been conjectured that the echo of a classically chaotic system decays exponentially, with a decay rate given by the minimum between the width Gamma of the local density of states and the Lyapunov exponent. As the perturbation strength is increased one obtains a crossover between both regimes. These predictions are based on situations where the Fermi golden rule (FGR) is valid. By considering a paradigmatic fully chaotic system, the Bunimovich stadium billiard, with a perturbation in a regime for which the FGR manifestly does not work, we find a crossover from Gamma to Lyapunov decay. We find that, challenging the analytic interpretation, these conjectures are valid even beyond the expected range.