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Title: Criteria for quantum chaos

Conference · · J. Phys. Chem.; (United States)
OSTI ID:6525214
 [1];
  1. Los Alamos National Lab., Albuquerque, NM

This paper reviews some of the opinions on quantum chaos put forth at the 1981 American Conference on Theoretical Chemistry and presents evidence to support the author's point of view. The degree of correspondence between classical and quantum onset and extent of chaos differs markedly according to the definition adopted for quantum chaos. At one extreme, a quantum generalization of the classical Kolmolgorov entropy which give zero entrophy for quantum systems with a discrete spectrum regardless of the classical properties, was a suitable foundation for the definition of quantum chaos. At the other, the quantum phase space definition shows generally excellent correspondence to the classical phase space measures. The authors preferred this approach. Another point of controversy is the question of whether the spectrum of energy levels (or its variation with some parameter of the Hamiltonian) is enough to characterize the quantum chaos (or lack of it), or whether more information is needed (i.e., eigenfunctions). The authors conclude that one does not want to rely upon eigenvalues alone to characterize the degree of chaos in the quantum dynamics.

OSTI ID:
6525214
Report Number(s):
CONF-8106160-
Journal Information:
J. Phys. Chem.; (United States), Vol. 86:12; Conference: American conference on theoretical chemistry, Boulder, CO, USA, 21 Jun 1981
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English