736 research outputs found
Orbit bifurcations and the scarring of wavefunctions
We extend the semiclassical theory of scarring of quantum eigenfunctions
psi_{n}(q) by classical periodic orbits to include situations where these
orbits undergo generic bifurcations. It is shown that |psi_{n}(q)|^{2},
averaged locally with respect to position q and the energy spectrum E_{n}, has
structure around bifurcating periodic orbits with an amplitude and length-scale
whose hbar-dependence is determined by the bifurcation in question.
Specifically, the amplitude scales as hbar^{alpha} and the length-scale as
hbar^{w}, and values of the scar exponents, alpha and w, are computed for a
variety of generic bifurcations. In each case, the scars are semiclassically
wider than those associated with isolated and unstable periodic orbits;
moreover, their amplitude is at least as large, and in most cases larger. In
this sense, bifurcations may be said to give rise to superscars. The
competition between the contributions from different bifurcations to determine
the moments of the averaged eigenfunction amplitude is analysed. We argue that
there is a resulting universal hbar-scaling in the semiclassical asymptotics of
these moments for irregular states in systems with a mixed phase-space
dynamics. Finally, a number of these predictions are illustrated by numerical
computations for a family of perturbed cat maps.Comment: 24 pages, 6 Postscript figures, corrected some typo
Weyl's law and quantum ergodicity for maps with divided phase space
For a general class of unitary quantum maps, whose underlying classical phase
space is divided into several invariant domains of positive measure, we
establish analogues of Weyl's law for the distribution of eigenphases. If the
map has one ergodic component, and is periodic on the remaining domains, we
prove the Schnirelman-Zelditch-Colin de Verdiere Theorem on the
equidistribution of eigenfunctions with respect to the ergodic component of the
classical map (quantum ergodicity). We apply our main theorems to quantised
linked twist maps on the torus. In the Appendix, S. Zelditch connects these
studies to some earlier results on `pimpled spheres' in the setting of
Riemannian manifolds. The common feature is a divided phase space with a
periodic component.Comment: Colour figures. Black & white figures available at
http://www2.maths.bris.ac.uk/~majm. Appendix by Steve Zelditc
Semiclassical measures and the Schroedinger flow on Riemannian manifolds
In this article we study limits of Wigner distributions (the so-called
semiclassical measures) corresponding to sequences of solutions to the
semiclassical Schroedinger equation at times scales tending to
infinity as the semiclassical parameter tends to zero (when this is equivalent to consider solutions to the non-semiclassical
Schreodinger equation). Some general results are presented, among which a weak
version of Egorov's theorem that holds in this setting. A complete
characterization is given for the Euclidean space and Zoll manifolds (that is,
manifolds with periodic geodesic flow) via averaging formulae relating the
semiclassical measures corresponding to the evolution to those of the initial
states. The case of the flat torus is also addressed; it is shown that
non-classical behavior may occur when energy concentrates on resonant
frequencies. Moreover, we present an example showing that the semiclassical
measures associated to a sequence of states no longer determines those of their
evolutions. Finally, some results concerning the equation with a potential are
presented.Comment: 18 pages; Theorems 1,2 extendend to deal with arbitrary time-scales;
references adde
Quantum ergodicity for Pauli Hamiltonians with spin 1/2
Quantum ergodicity, which expresses the semiclassical convergence of almost
all expectation values of observables in eigenstates of the quantum Hamiltonian
to the corresponding classical microcanonical average, is proven for
non-relativistic quantum particles with spin 1/2. It is shown that quantum
ergodicity holds, if a suitable combination of the classical translational
dynamics and the spin dynamics along the trajectories of the translational
motion is ergodic.Comment: 20 pages, no figure
High energy limits of Laplace-type and Dirac-type eigenfunctions and frame flows
We relate high-energy limits of Laplace-type and Dirac-type operators to
frame flows on the corresponding manifolds, and show that the ergodicity of
frame flows implies quantum ergodicity in an appropriate sense for those
operators. Observables for the corresponding quantum systems are matrix-valued
pseudodifferential operators and therefore the system remains non-commutative
in the high-energy limit. We discuss to what extent the space of stationary
high-energy states behaves classically.Comment: 26 pages, latex2
Can One Hear the Shape of a Graph?
We show that the spectrum of the Schrodinger operator on a finite, metric
graph determines uniquely the connectivity matrix and the bond lengths,
provided that the lengths are non-commensurate and the connectivity is simple
(no parallel bonds between vertices and no loops connecting a vertex to
itself). That is, one can hear the shape of the graph! We also consider a
related inversion problem: A compact graph can be converted into a scattering
system by attaching to its vertices leads to infinity. We show that the
scattering phase determines uniquely the compact part of the graph, under
similar conditions as above.Comment: 9 pages, 1 figur
Classical and quantum ergodicity on orbifolds
We extend to orbifolds classical results on quantum ergodicity due to
Shnirelman, Colin de Verdi\`ere and Zelditch, proving that, for any positive,
first-order self-adjoint elliptic pseudodifferential operator P on a compact
orbifold X with positive principal symbol p, ergodicity of the Hamiltonian flow
of p implies quantum ergodicity for the operator P. We also prove ergodicity of
the geodesic flow on a compact Riemannian orbifold of negative sectional
curvature.Comment: 14 page
On the rate of quantum ergodicity in Euclidean billiards
For a large class of quantized ergodic flows the quantum ergodicity theorem
due to Shnirelman, Zelditch, Colin de Verdi\`ere and others states that almost
all eigenfunctions become equidistributed in the semiclassical limit. In this
work we first give a short introduction to the formulation of the quantum
ergodicity theorem for general observables in terms of pseudodifferential
operators and show that it is equivalent to the semiclassical eigenfunction
hypothesis for the Wigner function in the case of ergodic systems. Of great
importance is the rate by which the quantum mechanical expectation values of an
observable tend to their mean value. This is studied numerically for three
Euclidean billiards (stadium, cosine and cardioid billiard) using up to 6000
eigenfunctions. We find that in configuration space the rate of quantum
ergodicity is strongly influenced by localized eigenfunctions like bouncing
ball modes or scarred eigenfunctions. We give a detailed discussion and
explanation of these effects using a simple but powerful model. For the rate of
quantum ergodicity in momentum space we observe a slower decay. We also study
the suitably normalized fluctuations of the expectation values around their
mean, and find good agreement with a Gaussian distribution.Comment: 40 pages, LaTeX2e. This version does not contain any figures. A
version with all figures can be obtained from
http://www.physik.uni-ulm.de/theo/qc/ (File:
http://www.physik.uni-ulm.de/theo/qc/ulm-tp/tp97-8.ps.gz) In case of any
problems contact Arnd B\"acker (e-mail: [email protected]) or Roman
Schubert (e-mail: [email protected]
Amplitude distribution of eigenfunctions in mixed systems
We study the amplitude distribution of irregular eigenfunctions in systems
with mixed classical phase space. For an appropriately restricted random wave
model a theoretical prediction for the amplitude distribution is derived and
good agreement with numerical computations for the family of limacon billiards
is found. The natural extension of our result to more general systems, e.g.
with a potential, is also discussed.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures. Some of the pictures are included in low
resolution only. For a version with pictures in high resolution see
http://www.physik.uni-ulm.de/theo/qc/ or http://www.maths.bris.ac.uk/~maab
Quantum ergodicity for restrictions to hypersurfaces
Quantum ergodicity theorem states that for quantum systems with ergodic
classical flows, eigenstates are, in average, uniformly distributed on energy
surfaces. We show that if N is a hypersurface in the position space satisfying
a simple dynamical condition, the restrictions of eigenstates to N are also
quantum ergodic.Comment: 22 pages, 1 figure; revised according to referee's comments. To
appear in Nonlinearit
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