In ballistic open quantum systems one often observes that the resonances in
the complex-energy plane form a clear chain structure. Taking the open 3-disk
system as a paradigmatic model system, we investigate how this chain structure
is reflected in the resonance states and how it is connected to the underlying
classical dynamics. Using an efficient scattering approach we observe that
resonance states along one chain are clearly correlated while resonance states
of different chains show an anticorrelation. Studying the phase space
representations of the resonance states we find that their localization in
phase space oscillate between different regions of the classical trapped set as
one moves along the chains and that these oscillations are connected to a
modulation of the resonance spacing. A single resonance chain is thus no WKB
quantization of a single periodic orbits, but the structure of several
oscillating chains arises from the interaction of several periodic orbits. We
illuminate the physical mechanism behind these findings by combining the
semiclassical cycle expansion with a quantum graph model.Comment: 25 pages, 15 figure
