Stationary waves on nonlinear quantum graphs: General framework and canonical perturbation theory

In this paper we present a general framework for solving the stationary nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation (NLSE) on a network of one-dimensional wires modelled by a metric graph with suitable matching conditions at the vertices. A formal solution is given that expresses the wave function and its derivative at one end of an edge (wire) nonlinearly in terms of the values at the other end. For the cubic NLSE this nonlinear transfer operation can be expressed explicitly in terms of Jacobi elliptic functions. Its application reduces the problem of solving the corresponding set of coupled ordinary nonlinear differential equations to a finite set of nonlinear algebraic equations. For sufficiently small amplitudes we use canonical perturbation theory which makes it possible to extract the leading nonlinear corrections over large distances.Comment: 26 page

A sub-determinant approach for pseudo-orbit expansions of spectral determinants in quantum maps and quantum graphs

We study implications of unitarity for pseudo-orbit expansions of the spectral determinants of quantum maps and quantum graphs. In particular, we advocate to group pseudo-orbits into sub-determinants. We show explicitly that the cancellation of long orbits is elegantly described on this level and that unitarity can be built in using a simple sub-determinant identity which has a non-trivial interpretation in terms of pseudo-orbits. This identity yields much more detailed relations between pseudo orbits of different length than known previously. We reformulate Newton identities and the spectral density in terms of sub-determinant expansions and point out the implications of the sub-determinant identity for these expressions. We analyse furthermore the effect of the identity on spectral correlation functions such as the auto-correlation and parametric cross correlation functions of the spectral determinant and the spectral form factor.Comment: 25 pages, one figur

Collectivity and Periodic Orbits in a Chain of Interacting, Kicked Spins

The field of quantum chaos originated in the study of spectral statistics for interacting many-body systems, but this heritage was almost forgotten when single-particle systems moved into the focus. In recent years new interest emerged in many-body aspects of quantum chaos. We study a chain of interacting, kicked spins and carry out a semiclassical analysis that is capable of identifying all kinds of genuin many-body periodic orbits. We show that the collective many-body periodic orbits can fully dominate the spectra in certain cases.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Acta Physica Polonica A. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1611.0574

Quantum Corrections to Fidelity Decay in Chaotic Systems

By considering correlations between classical orbits we derive semiclassical expressions for the decay of the quantum fidelity amplitude for classically chaotic quantum systems, as well as for its squared modulus, the fidelity or Loschmidt echo. Our semiclassical results for the fidelity amplitude agree with random matrix theory (RMT) and supersymmetry predictions in the universal Fermi golden rule regime. The calculated quantum corrections can be viewed as arising from a static random perturbation acting on nearly self-retracing interfering paths, and hence will be suppressed for time-varying perturbations. Moreover, using trajectory-based methods we show a relation, recently obtained in RMT, between the fidelity amplitude and the cross-form factor for parametric level correlations. Beyond RMT, we compute Ehrenfest-time effects on the fidelity amplitude. Furthermore our semiclassical approach allows for a unified treatment of the fidelity, both in the Fermi golden rule and Lyapunov regimes, demonstrating that quantum corrections are suppressed in the latter.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figure

Semiclassical Prediction of Large Spectral Fluctuations in Interacting Kicked Spin Chains

While plenty of results have been obtained for single-particle quantum systems with chaotic dynamics through a semiclassical theory, much less is known about quantum chaos in the many-body setting. We contribute to recent efforts to make a semiclassical analysis of many-body systems feasible. This is nontrivial due to both the enormous density of states and the exponential proliferation of periodic orbits with the number of particles. As a model system we study kicked interacting spin chains employing semiclassical methods supplemented by a newly developed duality approach. We show that for this model the line between integrability and chaos becomes blurred. Due to the interaction structure the system features (non-isolated) manifolds of periodic orbits possessing highly correlated, collective dynamics. As with the invariant tori in integrable systems, their presence lead to significantly enhanced spectral fluctuations, which by order of magnitude lie in-between integrable and chaotic cases.Comment: 42 pages, 19 figure

Stationary waves on nonlinear quantum graphs. II. Application of canonical perturbation theory in basic graph structures

We consider exact and asymptotic solutions of the stationary cubic nonlinear Schrödinger equation on metric graphs. We focus on some basic example graphs. The asymptotic solutions are obtained using the canonical perturbation formalism developed in our earlier paper [S. Gnutzmann and D. Waltner, Phys. Rev. E 93, 032204 (2016)]. For closed example graphs (interval, ring, star graph, tadpole graph), we calculate spectral curves and show how the description of spectra reduces to known characteristic functions of linear quantum graphs in the low-intensity limit. Analogously for open examples, we show how nonlinear scattering of stationary waves arises and how it reduces to known linear scattering amplitudes at low intensities. In the short-wavelength asymptotics we discuss how genuine nonlinear effects may be described using the leading order of canonical perturbation theory: bifurcation of spectral curves (and the corresponding solutions) in closed graphs and multistability in open graphs

Semiclassical gaps in the density of states of chaotic Andreev billiards

The connection of a superconductor to a chaotic ballistic quantum dot leads to interesting phenomena, most notably the appearance of a hard gap in its excitation spectrum. Here we treat such an Andreev billiard semiclassically where the density of states is expressed in terms of the classical trajectories of electrons (and holes) that leave and return to the superconductor. We show how classical orbit correlations lead to the formation of the hard gap, as predicted by random matrix theory in the limit of negligible Ehrenfest time \tE, and how the influence of a finite \tE causes the gap to shrink. Furthermore, for intermediate \tE we predict a second gap below E=\pi\hbar /2\tE which would presumably be the clearest signature yet of \tE-effects.Comment: Refereed version. 4 pages, 3 figure