1 research outputs found
Quantum chaos: an introduction via chains of interacting spins-1/2
We introduce aspects of quantum chaos by analyzing the eigenvalues and the
eigenstates of quantum many-body systems. The properties of quantum systems
whose classical counterparts are chaotic differ from those whose classical
counterparts are not chaotic. The spectrum of the first exhibits repulsion of
the energy levels. This is one of the main signatures of quantum chaos. We show
how level repulsion develops in one-dimensional systems of interacting spins
1/2 which are devoid of random elements and involve only two-body interactions.
In addition to the statistics of the eigenvalues, we analyze how the structure
of the eigenstates may indicate chaos. The programs used to obtain the data are
available online.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure