1,171 research outputs found
A nodal domain theorem for integrable billiards in two dimensions
Eigenfunctions of integrable planar billiards are studied - in particular,
the number of nodal domains, , of the eigenfunctions are considered. The
billiards for which the time-independent Schr\"odinger equation (Helmholtz
equation) is separable admit trivial expressions for the number of domains.
Here, we discover that for all separable and non-separable integrable
billiards, satisfies certain difference equations. This has been
possible because the eigenfunctions can be classified in families labelled by
the same value of , given a particular , for a set of quantum
numbers, . Further, we observe that the patterns in a family are similar
and the algebraic representation of the geometrical nodal patterns is found.
Instances of this representation are explained in detail to understand the
beauty of the patterns. This paper therefore presents a mathematical connection
between integrable systems and difference equations.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figure
Nodal domains of the equilateral triangle billiard
We characterise the eigenfunctions of an equilateral triangle billiard in
terms of its nodal domains. The number of nodal domains has a quadratic form in
terms of the quantum numbers, with a non-trivial number-theoretic factor. The
patterns of the eigenfunctions follow a group-theoretic connection in a way
that makes them predictable as one goes from one state to another. Extensive
numerical investigations bring out the distribution functions of the mode
number and signed areas. The statistics of the boundary intersections is also
treated analytically. Finally, the distribution functions of the nodal loop
count and the nodal counting function are shown to contain information about
the classical periodic orbits using the semiclassical trace formula. We believe
that the results belong generically to non-separable systems, thus extending
the previous works which are concentrated on separable and chaotic systems.Comment: 26 pages, 13 figure
Cross-section Fluctuations in Open Microwave Billiards and Quantum Graphs: The Counting-of-Maxima Method Revisited
The fluctuations exhibited by the cross-sections generated in a
compound-nucleus reaction or, more generally, in a quantum-chaotic scattering
process, when varying the excitation energy or another external parameter, are
characterized by the width Gamma_corr of the cross-section correlation
function. In 1963 Brink and Stephen [Phys. Lett. 5, 77 (1963)] proposed a
method for its determination by simply counting the number of maxima featured
by the cross sections as function of the parameter under consideration. They,
actually, stated that the product of the average number of maxima per unit
energy range and Gamma_corr is constant in the Ercison region of strongly
overlapping resonances. We use the analogy between the scattering formalism for
compound-nucleus reactions and for microwave resonators to test this method
experimentally with unprecedented accuracy using large data sets and propose an
analytical description for the regions of isolated and overlapping resonances
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