Chaotic Behaviour in Quantum Dynamics
Abstract
The stability of atoms or molecules in external fields clearly depends on whether this phenomenon survives at least in part at the quantum level. It turns out that quantization has a strong effect on this diffusion. As a matter of fact, the study of a simple albeit abstract model (the so-called Kicked Rotator) yielded the remarkable results, that quantization strongly limits and even suppresses this type of diffusion. In other words, a classical system would continue to absorb energy from the external perturbing field, but its quantum version is much more stable and reaches after a while a sort of steady-state in which no energy is further absorbed. In the chaotic regime, the classical oscillator would display a host of different orbits that behave quite differently in spite of the closeness of their starting points (initial conditions); in the quantum case, all these wildly different dynamical possibilities interfere, thus leading the process of excitation to a halt. This phenomenon has been recognized to be analogous to the Anderson localization of Solid State Physics.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 1991
- Accession Number
- ADA241758
Entities
People
- G. Casati
- I. Guarneri