Quantum Chaos

Dominique Delande

Laboratoire Kastler-Brossel
Universit Pierre et Marie Curie and Ecole Normale Suprieure
Paris (European Union)

Whatischaos?
Whatisquantumchaos?Isituseful?
Isquantumchaosrelevantforthephysicsofcoldatoms?
Arecoldatomsusefulforunderstandingquantumchaos?

Quantum Chaos Les Houches September 2004

 Outline
Firstlecture:
Whatisclassicalchaos?
Quantumdynamicsvs.classicaldynamics
Asimpleexample:thehydrogenatominamagneticfield
TimescalesEnergyscales
Goodsystemsforstudyingquantumchaos
Quantumchaosandcoldatoms
Secondlecture:
RandomMatrixTheory
Semiclassicalapproximation(s)
Periodicorbittheory
Thirdlecture:
Chaosassistedtunneling
Transportproperties;dynamicallocalization
Couplingtotheenvironment;decoherenceforchaoticsystems
Loschmidtecho

Quantum Chaos Les Houches September 2004

 Classical chaos
Temporalevolutionofaninitiallysmalllocalizedregionofphasespace:
Stretchesinsomedirections(exponentialsensitivityoninitialconditions)
Mustshrinkinotherdirectionstopreservephasespacevolume
Ifphasespaceisfinite,exponentialstretchingcannotlastforeverfolding

Veryoften,chaoticsystemsareergodicandmixing(atypicaltrajectoryuniformly
fillsthewholephasespace).
Inlowdimensionalsystems,thetransitionfromregularitytochaosissmooth
(whenaparameterisvaried).Mixedregularclassicaldynamicsisrather
complicated.

Quantum Chaos Les Houches September 2004

 The Wigner distribution
TrytoformulateQuantumMechanicsinphasespace
LetusdefinetheWignerdistribution(forapurestate;extensionforageneral
densitymatrixfollowsstraightforwardly):

Itisaphasespacequasiprobabilitydensity;itisrealbutcanbenegative.

Woccupiesatleastavolume(2p)d,i.e.onePlanckcellinphasespace.
EvolutionequationiseasilyobtainedfromSchrdingerequation:

where
Makesitpossibleanexplicitexpansioninpowersof.
Lowestorder:classicalLiouvilleequation.

Quantum Chaos Les Houches September 2004

 The Wigner distribution (continued)
p2
Assume.Then
H= V q
2m

Forpolynomialpotentialuptodegree2,theWignerdistributionevolves
exactlyliketheclassicalphasespacedensity.
Forchaoticsystems,theclassicalphasespacedistributionsdevelopstructuresat
smallerandsmallerscalesastimeincreases3W/p3becomeslargerand
larger.EvenfortinyPlanckconstant,thecorrectionswilleventuallyovercome
thelowestordercontribution.

Thebreaktimeatwhichitoccursdivergesas goestozero.
Thetwolimitstand0 donotcommute. Quantum(semiclassical)chaos
isessentiallyastudyoftheasymptoticpropertiesofQuantumMechanisat
small.
Quantum Chaos Les Houches September 2004
Some basic questions in quantum chaology
Whataretheappropriatequantumobservablestodetecttheregularorchaotic
classicalbehaviourofthesystem?
Moreprecisely,howdoestheregularorchaoticclassicalbehaviourtranslatein
theenergylevelsandeigenstatesofthe(bound)system?Foranopensystem,in
thedecayrates,intheSmatrix,inthetransportproperties?(lectures1and2)
Whatkindofsemiclassicalapproximationscanbeused?(lecture2)
Whatisthelongtimebehaviourofaquantumsystem?(lecture3)
Foramacroscopicsystem,howistheclassicalbehaviourrecovered?(lecture3)

Quantum Chaos Les Houches September 2004

 Constant energy contours

westudytheLz=0subspace

Quantum Chaos Les Houches September 2004

Poincar surface of section for the hydrogen atom in a magnetic field

Regulartrajectory Chaotictrajectory

Quantum Chaos Les Houches September 2004

 Poincar surfaces of section for the hydrogen
atom in a magnetic field
e=1 e=0.5 e=0.4

e=0.3 e=0.2 e=0.1

Quantum Chaos Les Houches September 2004

 Summary of experimental observations
Whentheclassicaldynamicsisregular(i.e.notsensitiveoninitialconditions),
the trajectory in configuration space looks ordered, with strong position
momentumcorrelations.
When the classical dynamics is chaotic (sensitive on initial conditions), the
trajectory in configuration space looks completely disordered, apparently
erratic,withoutpositionmomentumcorrelations.
In phasespace,aregulartrajectoryseems to filla twodimensional surface(a
torus),veryregularly.
In phase space, a chaotic trajectory seems to fill a subspace with nonzero
volume.
Poincarsurfacesofsectionareveryusefultodiscriminatebetweenregularand
chaoticbehaviour.
At low scaled energy, the dynamics looks fully regular. Chaos requires (at
least)twoforceswithcomparablestrengthanddifferentsymmetries.
Abovee=0.5,somechaoticregionsappear.
Between e=0.5 and e=0.13, regular and chaotic regions (depending on the
initialconditions)coexistpeacefully.
Abovee=0.13,theclassicaldynamicslooksfullychaotic.
Quantum Chaos Les Houches September 2004
 Time scales Energy scales
TheEhrenfesttimeTEhr.Itisthetimeforaminimumwavepackettospreadin
thefullphasespace.

TEhr

Quantum Chaos Les Houches September 2004

Time scales: the Ehrenfest time (continued)
ExamplesfortheEhrenfesttime:
Wavepacketinconfigurationspaceforthestadiumbilliard(seeviewgraph)

Regular circular billiard Chaotic stadium billiard

Wignerfunctioninphasespaceforanonlinearoscillator(Zureketal,Rev.
Mod.Phys.,75,715(2003)):
2 2
p x
H= cos xl sin t a
2m 2

with m=1,=0.36, l=3, a=0.01

Quantum Chaos Les Houches September 2004

 Quantum
Wigner
distribution

Classical
Liouville density

Quantum Chaos Les Houches September 2004

Time scales: the Heisenberg time

Quantum autocorrelation function for

a chaotic system (Hydrogen atom +
magnetic field)

Fourier transform at short time

Thepeaksassociatedwithindividual
energylevelsarenotresolved!

Fourier transform at long time (longer

than the Heisenberg time)
Thepeaksareresolved!

Quantum Chaos Les Houches September 2004

 Time scales Energy scales (summary)

N.B.: In mutidimensional systems, the Heisenberg time is much longer than the
Ehrenfest time.

Quantum Chaos Les Houches September 2004

Good systems for studying quantum chaos
Whatisrequired:
Classicallychaoticdynamics;atleasttwostronglycoupleddegreesof
freedom(2dtimeindependentor1dtimedependentsystem).
Controlledpreparationoftheinitialstate.
Controlledanalysisofthefinalstate.
WellcontrolledHamiltonianwithtunableparameters.
TunableeffectivePlanck'sconstant.
Interactiontimesufficientlylong(classicalchaosisanasymptoticproperty
forlongtimes).
Systemwellisolatedfromitsenvironment.
Toysfortheorists:
Billiards.
Coupledharmonicoscillators.
Internaldynamicsofatomicnuclei.
Electronicdynamicsinatoms:
Atomsinexternalfield.
Threebodysystem(heliumatom).
Quantum Chaos Les Houches September 2004
Good systems for studying quantum chaos
Electronicdynamicsinmoleculesorclusters.
Nuclearmotioninexcitedmolecules.
Electronicdynamicsin(clean)solidstatesamples(mesoscopy).
Externaldynamics(i.e.motionofthecenterofmasses)ofcoldatomsin
externalfields.
Otherwaveequations:
Microwavebilliards;
Acousticwaves;
...

Quantum Chaos Les Houches September 2004

 Quantum chaos and cold atoms
Forgetinternalstructureoftheatoms(excitedelectronicstates),sothatthe
atomcanbeconsideredasasingleparticle.Fineandhyperfinestructuresmay
addsomecomplications.
Controlofthedynamicswithlaserfields,magneticfields,gravitationalfield.If
fardetunedlasersareused,theinteractionissimplyatimeandspacedependent
opticalpotential.
Ordersofmagnitude:
Velocity:cm/s
Temperature:mK
DeBrogliewavelength:mm
Time:msms
Very favorable!
Frequency:kHzMHz
Energy:neV

Quantum Chaos Les Houches September 2004

 Quantum chaos and cold atoms
Advantages:
Timescales;
Wafefunctioncanbemeasured;
Transportpropertiescanbemeasured;
Thebasicingredientsarewellknownandundercontrol.
Disadvantgaesofcoldatoms:
Selectivepreparationoftheinitialstateisnotobvious.
Gravity.
Typicalspatialdimensionsnotveryfavorableandnotverytunable.
Relativelysmallnumberofatomsinanexperiment(signal/noiseproblem).
Spontaneousemissionactsasasourceofdecoherence(anddampingat
smalldetuning).
Atomatominteraction:
Actsasasourceofdecoherence.
ABECcouldbeused.TheGPequationisnonlinearanditsdynamicscan
bechaotic.Itishoweveranapproximatedescriptionofafullmanybody
dynamics.Becareful.
Quantum Chaos Les Houches September 2004
A simple experiment on chaos with cold atoms
Buildabilliardwithwallsmadeoflight

gravity

Hole

Classicaldynamicsinthegravitationalbilliard:
Dependingontheangleofthewedge,themotionalternatesbetween
regularityandchaos,withmixedintermediateregime.

Quantum Chaos Les Houches September 2004

Experimental result on the gravitational billiard
PrepareacloudofcoldCsatomsinthebilliard:temperaturefewmK,size250mm
(large!);
Launchtheatomsandwait300ms;
Measurethenumberofatomsstilltrappedinthebilliard;thesurvivalprobabilityis
largerwhenthedynamicsisregularandpracticallyzerowhenitisfullychaotic.
Typicalatomicvelocity(mainlydue
togravity):fewcm/s
Classical DeBrogliewavelength:lessthan0.1
simulation
mm
Actionofatypicalclassicalorbit:
morethan1000
Periodofatypicalclassicalorbit:10
to100ms
Heisenbergtime:morethan10s
Experimental result Nohopetoreachthequantumregime

Quantum Chaos Les Houches September 2004

A typical experiment on quantum chaos with cold atoms

Exposeacoldatomiccloudtoatimedependentstandingwave

Temporal modulation of the

standing wave

W. Hensinger et al, 2002

Quantum Chaos Les Houches September 2004

 Statistical properties of energy levels

Outline
Leveldynamics(qualitative)
Spectralfluctuations
Spectralfluctuationsinaregularsystem
SpectralfluctuationsinachaoticsystemRandomMatrixTheory
RelevanceofRandomMatrixTheoryforchaoticsystems

Quantum Chaos Les Houches September 2004

 Level dynamics (qualitative)
Plottheenergylevelsofaclassicallychaoticsystemversusaparameter;
inourexample,energylevelsofthehydrogenatomvs.magneticfield.

* Energy levels apparently cross (actually

* Energy levels avoid each other (no real
tiny avoided crossings)
crossing)
* Eigenstates smoothly change with
* Eigenstates change rapidly and apparently
parameter
erratically with parameter
* Apparently easy to label the various states
* No simple label for eigenstates
Obviouslyverydifferent...
Quantum Chaos Les Houches September 2004
 Spectral fluctuations in the regular regime

P(s)=exp(s) Numerical experiment on the

hydrogen atom in a magnetic
field in the regular regime
(scaled energy e<-0.5)
Few thousands level spacings

Small spacings are most probable

quasi-degeneracies
no level repulsion

Thesamedistributionisobservedonmanysystems

Universalbehaviourintheregularregime

Quantum Chaos Les Houches September 2004

 Spectral fluctuations in the chaotic regime
Random Matrix Theory
ThelevelspacingdistributionisknowninclosedformforlargeN,butthe
expressionisverycomplicated.Forallpracticalpurposes,itisequaltothe
Wignerdistribution.
Comparisonwithnumericallyobtainedspacingdistributions.

Numerical results for the hydrogen

Lack of small spacings atom in a magnetic field, at scaled
(Linear) level repulsion energy e>-0.13
No degeneracy
Thesamedistributionisobservedonmanysystems.
Universalbehaviourforclassicallychaoticsystems

Quantum Chaos Les Houches September 2004

 Experimental observation
Rydberg atom in a magnetic field

s
N s=0 P x dx

H. Held et al, Europhysics Lett.(1998)

Quantum Chaos Les Houches September 2004

 Practical use of Random Matrix Theory
Spectroscopyofchaoticstatesof(forexample)thehydrogenatom
inamagneticfield Chaotic
TheexcitationprobabilityIisproportionalto: excited
Ground stateDipole operator Excited state
2 states
Iftheexcitedstatesarechaotic(i.e.theclassical
dynamicsatthisenergyischaotic),thematrix
elementwillhavefluctuationsdescribedby
RandomMatrixTheory.Itispredictedtobe
Gaussiandistributed. Ground state
Predictionforthestatisticaldistributionofexcitationprobability:
I
N I =0 P I dI

Porter-Thomas distribution
Excellentagreementwithnumerical
andexperimentalobservations

Quantum Chaos Les Houches September 2004

 Semiclassical Approximations

Outline
WKBapproximation
EBKapproximation
Semiclassicalpropagator
SemiclassicalGreen'sfunction
PeriodicOrbitTheoryGutzwillerTraceFormula
Useofthetraceformula

Quantum Chaos Les Houches September 2004

 Semiclassical approximation
Some useful(?) but complicated formula
WKB(Wentzel,Kramers,Brillouin)approximatesolutionofthetime
independentSchrdingerequationforaonedimensionalsystem:

wherei stheclassicalmomentumatenergyE.
SemiclassicalVanVleckpropagatorforatimedependentmultidimensional
system:

wherei stheclassicalreducedactionalong
theclassicaltrajectoryand ntheMorseindex.

Quantum Chaos Les Houches September 2004

 Semiclassical approximation
Some useful(?) but complicated formula
SemiclassicalGreen'sfunction(multidimensionaltimeindependentsystem):

withistheclassicalactionandntheMaslovindex
alongtheclassicaltrajectory.
Gutzwillertraceformula:

wherethesuminoverallprimitiveperiodicorbitsandtheirrepetitionsat
energyE,with:
ActionSk,periodTk

Maslovindexnk
is the mean density of states (Weyl rule)
StabilitymatrixMk
Quantum Chaos Les Houches September 2004
A simple application of Periodic Orbit Theory
Photoionizationcrosssectionofthehydrogenatominamagneticfieldat
positivescaledenergye=0.2

Semiclassics uses circa 1000 periodic orbits

and reproduces most apparently random
spectral fluctuations

Quantum Chaos Les Houches September 2004

 Energy levels of the Helium atom

Semiclassical Calculations
Naive Smart

Energies in a.u. (=2 Rydberg)

D. Wintgen et al. (1992)

Quantum Chaos Les Houches September 2004

 References
L.LandauandLifshitz,ClassicalMechanics,Ed.Mir
P.Cvitanovicetal,Chaosclassicalandquantum,
http://www.nbi.dk/ChaosBook(veryuseful,especiallyforsemiclassical
approximations)
H.J.Stckmann,QuantumChaos:AnIntroduction,CambridgeUniversity
Press(1999)
F.Haake,QuantumSignaturesofChaos,2ndedition,SpringerVerlag(2001)
M.BrackandR.K.Bhaduri,SemiclassicalPhysics,AddisonWesley(1997)
M.Gutzwiller,ChaosinClassicalandQuantumMechanics,SpringerVerlag
(1991)
D.Delande,QuantumChaosinAtomicPhysics,LesHouchesSummerSchool
1999,sessionLXXIICoherentAtomicMatterWaves,Springer(2001)
W.Zurek,Rev.Mod.Phys.75,715(2003)(ondecoherence)

Quantum Chaos Les Houches September 2004

 Kicked rotor
Eigenstates of the evolution operator

2 2 Logarithmic
Linear p p
scale scale

Momentum p Momentum p

Atypical(Floquet)eigenstateofthechaoticquantumkickedrotor
showingexponentiallocalizationinmomentumspace

2
p ~exp p p 0
l
Quantum Chaos Les Houches September 2004
 Experimental observation of dynamical
localization with cold atoms

Temporal modulation of the

standing wave

I t =I 0 n= tnT

Theatomsareinitiallypreparedinathermaldistributionofmomentum
(Gaussian)beforethemodulatedopticalpotentialisapplied.Then,letthe
systemevolvewiththemodulatedpotentialduringfewtensofperiods.
Thestandingwaveismodulatedatafrequencyoftheorderof10100kHz(Cs
atoms)or100200kHz(Naatoms)effectiveoftheorderof0.2to1.
Switchoffabruptlytheopticalpotentialandanalyzethemomentum
distributionbyatimeofflightoravelocityselectiveRamantechnique.

Quantum Chaos Les Houches September 2004

 Experimental observation of dynamical
localization with cold atoms

Initial momentum distribution (Gaussian)

Final momentum distribution

(exponentially localized)

Time
(number of kicks) Momentum (in units of
2 recoil momenta)

M. Raizen et al (1995)

Quantum Chaos Les Houches September 2004

 Experimental observation of dynamical
localization with cold atoms
Energy
Classical chaotic diffusion

Localization time of the order of 10 kicks

N.B.: Nothing special happens

at the Ehrenfest time

M. Raizen et al (1995)

(Number of kicks)
Quantum Chaos Les Houches September 2004
 Destruction of dynamical localization by
breaking periodicity
Firstmethod:changekickstrengthateachkick
TheevolutioniscompletelyHamiltonian,buttheevolutionoperatorover
onekickvaries.
Scramblesthephasesandkillsdestructiveinterferenceeffects
restaurationofchaoticdiffusion.
Experimentalobservationusingnoiseonthekickstrength
Classical
diffusion
Increasing
noise level

M. Raizen et al (1998)

Number of kicks
Quantum Chaos Les Houches September 2004
 Destruction of dynamical localization by
breaking periodicity (continued)
Secondmethod:changetimeintervalbetweenkicks(no
randomnessatall):
Standing
wave
amplitude

Time
Quasi-periodic
Hamiltonian

Ifrisrational:thesystemisperiodicDynamicallocalizationatlongtime.
Ifrisirrational:thesystemisquasiperiodicnodynamicallocalization(?).
Rationalr=p/q;forlargeq,theperiodisverylongandthelocalizationtime
willbeextremelylong,i.e.notobservable.
Theclassicaldiffusionconstantisnotsensitivetotherationalorirrational
characterofr.
Quantum Chaos Les Houches September 2004
Experimental observation of quasi-periodic kicks on cold atoms
2 Initial distribution (Gaussian)
p
Logarithmic Quasi-periodic kicks (r=1.083)
scale

Dynamical localization
Periodic kicks r=1

Whenthereisdynamicallocalization,
thenumberofatomswithzerovelocity
increasepeak.
Thepeaksappearatthesimplerational
r.
Thelongertheexperiment,themore
peaksarevisible.

J. Ringot et al (1999)

Quantum Chaos Les Houches September 2004

 How fast does a quantum chaotic system
recognize a rational number?
Taker=1+e.Howlongwillittakeforthesystemtorecognizethat
risnotequalto1?
Naiveanswer:1/ekicks(Fourierlimit).Wrong!Muchless...
Experimentalobservation:rationalpeaksnarrow~1/(Numberofkicks)2.
Thisisduetothelongrangephasecoherenceinducedinthewavefunction
bythechaoticdynamics.
Energy r=1.002
r=0.998

r=1.001
r=0.999 Fourier limit

r=1.000

Experimental sub-Fourier resonance line

Quantum Chaos Les Houches September 2004

 Evolution of the Wigner distribution in the
presence of decoherence

Hamiltonian evolution Damping Decoherence

toward p=0

wheregandDareconstantsspecificofthemodel,whichcanbeexplicitely
calculatedknowingthepropertiesofthereservoiranditscouplingwiththe
system.
For small coupling, the damping is negligible and the decoherence term
prevents the Wigner distribution from becoming too narrow.

Quantum Chaos Les Houches September 2004

 Decoherence of a quantum chaotic system
2
p 4 2
H= A x B x Cx cos t
2m Classical phase space density
m=1 A=0.5 B=10 C=10 w=6.07 after 8 driving periods

Quantum Wigner distribution

Quantum Wigner distribution in the

presence of decoherence
W. Zurek (2003)
Quantum Chaos Les Houches September 2004
Experimental observation of decoherence on kicked atoms
Addsomespontaneousemissionevents.Oneeventisenoughto
killthephasecoherenceoftheatomicwavefunction(with
negligibleenergytransfer)anddestroydynamicallocalization.

One spontaneous emission

Energy every 20 kicks

One spontaneous emission

every 130 kicks

Ammann et al (1998)

Quantum Chaos Les Houches September 2004

Time scales Energy scales

Quantum Chaos Les Houches September 2004

Some basic questions in quantum chaology
Whataretheappropriatequantumobservablestodetecttheregularorchaotic
classicalbehaviourofthesystem?
Moreprecisely,howdoestheregularorchaoticclassicalbehaviourtranslatein
theenergylevelsandeigenstatesofthe(bound)system?Foranopensystem,in
thedecayrates,intheSmatrix,inthetransportproperties?(lectures1and2)
Whatkindofsemiclassicalapproximationscanbeused?
Whatisthelongtimebehaviourofaquantumsystem?(lecture3)
Foramacroscopicsystem,howistheclassicalbehaviourrecovered?(lecture3)

Quantum Chaos Les Houches September 2004