Coupling of bouncing-ball modes to the chaotic sea and their counting function

We study the coupling of bouncing-ball modes to chaotic modes in two-dimensional billiards with two parallel boundary segments. Analytically, we predict the corresponding decay rates using the fictitious integrable system approach. Agreement with numerically determined rates is found for the stadium and the cosine billiard. We use this result to predict the asymptotic behavior of the counting function N_bb(E) ~ E^\delta. For the stadium billiard we find agreement with the previous result \delta = 3/4. For the cosine billiard we derive \delta = 5/8, which is confirmed numerically and is well below the previously predicted upper bound \delta=9/10.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure

Dynamical Tunneling in Systems with a Mixed Phase Space

Tunneling is one of the most prominent features of quantum mechanics. While the tunneling process in one-dimensional integrable systems is well understood, its quantitative prediction for systems with mixed phase space is a long-standing open challenge. In such systems regions of regular and chaotic dynamics coexist in phase space, which are classically separated but quantum mechanically coupled by the process of dynamical tunneling. We derive a prediction of dynamical tunneling rates which describe the decay of states localized inside the regular region towards the so-called chaotic sea. This approach uses a fictitious integrable system which mimics the dynamics inside the regular domain and extends it into the chaotic region. Excellent agreement with numerical data is found for kicked systems, billiards, and optical microcavities, if nonlinear resonances are negligible. Semiclassically, however, such nonlinear resonance chains dominate the tunneling process. Hence, we combine our approach with an improved resonance-assisted tunneling theory and derive a unified prediction which is valid from the quantum to the semiclassical regime. We obtain results which show a drastically improved accuracy of several orders of magnitude compared to previous studies.Der Tunnelprozess ist einer der bedeutensten Effekte in der Quantenmechanik. Während das Tunneln in eindimensionalen integrablen Systemen gut verstanden ist, gestaltet sich dessen Beschreibung für Systeme mit gemischtem Phasenraum weitaus schwieriger. Solche Systeme besitzen Gebiete regulärer und chaotischer Bewegung, die klassisch getrennt sind, aber quantenmechanisch durch den Prozess des dynamischen Tunnelns gekoppelt werden. In dieser Arbeit wird eine theoretische Vorhersage für dynamische Tunnelraten abgeleitet, die den Zerfall von Zuständen, die im regulären Gebiet lokalisiert sind, in die sogenannte chaotische See beschreibt. Dazu wird ein fiktives integrables System konstruiert, das im regulären Bereich eine nahezu gleiche Dynamik aufweist und diese Dynamik in das chaotische Gebiet fortsetzt. Die Theorie zeigt eine ausgezeichnete Übereinstimmung mit numerischen Daten für gekickte Systeme, Billards und optische Mikrokavitäten, falls nichtlineare Resonanzketten vernachlässigbar sind. Semiklassisch jedoch bestimmen diese nichtlinearen Resonanzketten den Tunnelprozess. Daher kombinieren wir unseren Zugang mit einer verbesserten Theorie des Resonanz-unterstützten Tunnelns und erhalten eine Vorhersage,die vom Quanten- bis in den semiklassischen Bereich gültig ist. Ihre Resultate zeigen eine Genauigkeit, die verglichen mit früheren Theorien um mehrere Größenordnungen verbessert wurde

Partial Weyl Law for Billiards

For two-dimensional quantum billiards we derive the partial Weyl law, i.e. the average density of states, for a subset of eigenstates concentrating on an invariant region $\Gamma$ of phase space. The leading term is proportional to the area of the billiard times the phase-space fraction of $\Gamma$. The boundary term is proportional to the fraction of the boundary where parallel trajectories belong to $\Gamma$. Our result is numerically confirmed for the mushroom billiard and the generic cosine billiard, where we count the number of chaotic and regular states, and for the elliptical billiard, where we consider rotating and oscillating states.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, derivation extended, cosine billiard adde

Dynamical Tunneling in Systems with a Mixed Phase Space

Tunneling is one of the most prominent features of quantum mechanics. While the tunneling process in one-dimensional integrable systems is well understood, its quantitative prediction for systems with mixed phase space is a long-standing open challenge. In such systems regions of regular and chaotic dynamics coexist in phase space, which are classically separated but quantum mechanically coupled by the process of dynamical tunneling. We derive a prediction of dynamical tunneling rates which describe the decay of states localized inside the regular region towards the so-called chaotic sea. This approach uses a fictitious integrable system which mimics the dynamics inside the regular domain and extends it into the chaotic region. Excellent agreement with numerical data is found for kicked systems, billiards, and optical microcavities, if nonlinear resonances are negligible. Semiclassically, however, such nonlinear resonance chains dominate the tunneling process. Hence, we combine our approach with an improved resonance-assisted tunneling theory and derive a unified prediction which is valid from the quantum to the semiclassical regime. We obtain results which show a drastically improved accuracy of several orders of magnitude compared to previous studies.Der Tunnelprozess ist einer der bedeutensten Effekte in der Quantenmechanik. Während das Tunneln in eindimensionalen integrablen Systemen gut verstanden ist, gestaltet sich dessen Beschreibung für Systeme mit gemischtem Phasenraum weitaus schwieriger. Solche Systeme besitzen Gebiete regulärer und chaotischer Bewegung, die klassisch getrennt sind, aber quantenmechanisch durch den Prozess des dynamischen Tunnelns gekoppelt werden. In dieser Arbeit wird eine theoretische Vorhersage für dynamische Tunnelraten abgeleitet, die den Zerfall von Zuständen, die im regulären Gebiet lokalisiert sind, in die sogenannte chaotische See beschreibt. Dazu wird ein fiktives integrables System konstruiert, das im regulären Bereich eine nahezu gleiche Dynamik aufweist und diese Dynamik in das chaotische Gebiet fortsetzt. Die Theorie zeigt eine ausgezeichnete Übereinstimmung mit numerischen Daten für gekickte Systeme, Billards und optische Mikrokavitäten, falls nichtlineare Resonanzketten vernachlässigbar sind. Semiklassisch jedoch bestimmen diese nichtlinearen Resonanzketten den Tunnelprozess. Daher kombinieren wir unseren Zugang mit einer verbesserten Theorie des Resonanz-unterstützten Tunnelns und erhalten eine Vorhersage,die vom Quanten- bis in den semiklassischen Bereich gültig ist. Ihre Resultate zeigen eine Genauigkeit, die verglichen mit früheren Theorien um mehrere Größenordnungen verbessert wurde

Regular-to-Chaotic Tunneling Rates: From the Quantum to the Semiclassical Regime

We derive a prediction of dynamical tunneling rates from regular to chaotic phase-space regions combining the direct regular-to-chaotic tunneling mechanism in the quantum regime with an improved resonance-assisted tunneling theory in the semiclassical regime. We give a qualitative recipe for identifying the relevance of nonlinear resonances in a given $\hbar$-regime. For systems with one or multiple dominant resonances we find excellent agreement to numerics.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, reference added, small text change

Consequences of Flooding on Spectral Statistics

We study spectral statistics in systems with a mixed phase space, in which regions of regular and chaotic motion coexist. Increasing their density of states, we observe a transition of the level-spacing distribution P(s) from Berry-Robnik to Wigner statistics, although the underlying classical phase-space structure and the effective Planck constant remain unchanged. This transition is induced by flooding, i.e., the disappearance of regular states due to increasing regular-to-chaotic couplings. We account for this effect by a flooding-improved Berry-Robnik distribution, in which an effectively reduced size of the regular island enters. To additionally describe power-law level repulsion at small spacings, we extend this prediction by explicitly considering the tunneling couplings between regular and chaotic states. This results in a flooding- and tunneling-improved Berry-Robnik distribution which is in excellent agreement with numerical data.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure

Experimental Observation of Resonance-Assisted Tunneling

We present the first experimental observation of resonance-assisted tunneling, a wave phenomenon, where regular-to-chaotic tunneling is strongly enhanced by the presence of a classical nonlinear resonance chain. For this we use a microwave cavity made of oxygen free copper with the shape of a desymmetrized cosine billiard designed with a large nonlinear resonance chain in the regular region. It is opened in a region, where only chaotic dynamics takes place, such that the tunneling rate of a regular mode to the chaotic region increases the line width of the mode. Resonance-assisted tunneling is demonstrated by (i) a parametric variation and (ii) the characteristic plateau and peak structure towards the semiclassical limit.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure

Fractional-Power-Law Level-Statistics due to Dynamical Tunneling

For systems with a mixed phase space we demonstrate that dynamical tunneling universally leads to a fractional power law of the level-spacing distribution P(s) over a wide range of small spacings s. Going beyond Berry-Robnik statistics, we take into account that dynamical tunneling rates between the regular and the chaotic region vary over many orders of magnitude. This results in a prediction of P(s) which excellently describes the spectral data of the standard map. Moreover, we show that the power-law exponent is proportional to the effective Planck constant h.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure