Three disks in a row: A two-dimensional scattering analog of the double-well problem

We investigate the scattering off three nonoverlapping disks equidistantly spaced along a line in the two-dimensional plane with the radii of the outer disks equal and the radius of the inner disk varied. This system is a two-dimensional scattering analog to the double-well-potential (bound state) problem in one dimension. In both systems the symmetry splittings between symmetric and antisymmetric states or resonances, respectively, have to be traced back to tunneling effects, as semiclassically the geometrical periodic orbits have no contact with the vertical symmetry axis. We construct the leading semiclassical ``creeping'' orbits that are responsible for the symmetry splitting of the resonances in this system. The collinear three-disk-system is not only one of the simplest but also one of the most effective systems for detecting creeping phenomena. While in symmetrically placed n-disk systems creeping corrections affect the subleading resonances, they here alone determine the symmetry splitting of the 3-disk resonances in the semiclassical calculation. It should therefore be considered as a paradigm for the study of creeping effects. PACS numbers: 03.65.Sq, 03.20.+i, 05.45.+bComment: replaced with published version (minor misprints corrected and references updated); 23 pages, LaTeX plus 8 Postscript figures, uses epsfig.sty, espf.sty, and epsf.te

Negative length orbits in normal-superconductor billiard systems

The Path-Length Spectra of mesoscopic systems including diffractive scatterers and connected to superconductor is studied theoretically. We show that the spectra differs fundamentally from that of normal systems due to the presence of Andreev reflection. It is shown that negative path-lengths should arise in the spectra as opposed to normal system. To highlight this effect we carried out both quantum mechanical and semiclassical calculations for the simplest possible diffractive scatterer. The most pronounced peaks in the Path-Length Spectra of the reflection amplitude are identified by the routes that the electron and/or hole travels.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures include

Semiclassical Quantisation Using Diffractive Orbits

Diffraction, in the context of semiclassical mechanics, describes the manner in which quantum mechanics smooths over discontinuities in the classical mechanics. An important example is a billiard with sharp corners; its semiclassical quantisation requires the inclusion of diffractive periodic orbits in addition to classical periodic orbits. In this paper we construct the corresponding zeta function and apply it to a scattering problem which has only diffractive periodic orbits. We find that the resonances are accurately given by the zeros of the diffractive zeta function.Comment: Revtex document. Submitted to PRL. Figures available on reques

Small Disks and Semiclassical Resonances

We study the effect on quantum spectra of the existence of small circular disks in a billiard system. In the limit where the disk radii vanish there is no effect, however this limit is approached very slowly so that even very small radii have comparatively large effects. We include diffractive orbits which scatter off the small disks in the periodic orbit expansion. This situation is formally similar to edge diffraction except that the disk radii introduce a length scale in the problem such that for wave lengths smaller than the order of the disk radius we recover the usual semi-classical approximation; however, for wave lengths larger than the order of the disk radius there is a qualitatively different behaviour. We test the theory by successfully estimating the positions of scattering resonances in geometries consisting of three and four small disks.Comment: Final published version - some changes in the discussion and the labels on one figure are correcte

Spectral correlations in systems undergoing a transition from periodicity to disorder

We study the spectral statistics for extended yet finite quasi 1-d systems which undergo a transition from periodicity to disorder. In particular we compute the spectral two-point form factor, and the resulting expression depends on the degree of disorder. It interpolates smoothly between the two extreme limits -- the approach to Poissonian statistics in the (weakly) disordered case, and the universal expressions derived for the periodic case. The theoretical results agree very well with the spectral statistics obtained numerically for chains of chaotic billiards and graphs.Comment: 16 pages, Late

Spectral statistics of chaotic systems with a point-like scatterer

The statistical properties of a Hamiltonian $H_0$ perturbed by a localized scatterer are considered. We prove that when $H_0$ describes a bounded chaotic motion, the universal part of the spectral statistics are not changed by the perturbation. This is done first within the random matrix model. Then it is shown by semiclassical techniques that the result is due to a cancellation between diagonal diffractive and off-diagonal periodic-diffractive contributions. The compensation is a very general phenomenon encoding the semiclassical content of the optical theorem.Comment: 11 pages, no figure

Stability ordering of cycle expansions

We propose that cycle expansions be ordered with respect to stability rather than orbit length for many chaotic systems, particularly those exhibiting crises. This is illustrated with the strong field Lorentz gas, where we obtain significant improvements over traditional approaches.Comment: Revtex, 5 incorporated figures, total size 200

Periodic orbit quantization of the Sinai billiard in the small scatterer limit

We consider the semiclassical quantization of the Sinai billiard for disk radii R small compared to the wave length 2 pi/k. Via the application of the periodic orbit theory of diffraction we derive the semiclassical spectral determinant. The limitations of the derived determinant are studied by comparing it to the exact KKR determinant, which we generalize here for the A_1 subspace. With the help of the Ewald resummation method developed for the full KKR determinant we transfer the complex diffractive determinant to a real form. The real zeros of the determinant are the quantum eigenvalues in semiclassical approximation. The essential parameter is the strength of the scatterer c=J_0(kR)/Y_0(kR). Surprisingly, this can take any value between plus and minus infinity within the range of validity of the diffractive approximation kR <<4. We study the statistics exhibited by spectra for fixed values of c. It is Poissonian for |c|=infinity, provided the disk is placed inside a rectangle whose sides obeys some constraints. For c=0 we find a good agreement of the level spacing distribution with GOE, whereas the form factor and two-point correlation function are similar but exhibit larger deviations. By varying the parameter c from 0 to infinity the level statistics interpolates smoothly between these limiting cases.Comment: 17 pages LaTeX, 5 postscript figures, submitted to J. Phys. A: Math. Ge

Periodic Orbit Quantization beyond Semiclassics

A quantum generalization of the semiclassical theory of Gutzwiller is given. The new formulation leads to systematic orbit-by-orbit inclusion of higher $\hbar$ contributions to the spectral determinant. We apply the theory to billiard systems, and compare the periodic orbit quantization including the first $\hbar$ contribution to the exact quantum mechanical results.Comment: revte

Uniform approximation for diffractive contributions to the trace formula in billiard systems

We derive contributions to the trace formula for the spectral density accounting for the role of diffractive orbits in two-dimensional billiard systems with corners. This is achieved by using the exact Sommerfeld solution for the Green function of a wedge. We obtain a uniformly valid formula which interpolates between formerly separate approaches (the geometrical theory of diffraction and Gutzwiller's trace formula). It yields excellent numerical agreement with exact quantum results, also in cases where other methods fail.Comment: LaTeX, 41 pages including 12 PostScript figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.