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Physical Review A

Semiclassical quantization via adiabatic invariance of classical action variables

Tasko P. Grozdanov, Subhash Saini, Howard S. Taylor

Published Jan 1, 1986• 39 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The semiclassical method based on the Einstein-Brillouin-Keller quantization of invariant phase-space tori and the hypothesis of adiabatic invariance of classical action variables is applied in the calculation of highly excited energy levels of two-dimensional coupled oscillator systems. The results obtained are in good agreement with quantum-mechanical calculations even in the regions where the corresponding classical dynamics becomes apparently irregular. General limitations of the method are discussed.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.33.55

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The semiclassical method based on the Einstein-Brillouin-Keller quantization of invariant phase-space tori and the hypothesis of adiabatic invariance of classical action variables is applied in the calculation of highly excited energy levels of two-dimensional coupled oscillator systems. The results obtained are in good agreement with quantum-mechanical calculations even in the regions where the corresponding classical dynamics becomes apparently irregular. General limitations of the method are discussed.
Invariance of the actions which are the classical counterparts of the quantum numbers is very often postulated in adiabatic switching calculations but never checked carefully. In the particular case of a free particle moving in a prolate cavity deformed adiabatically at constant volume, time evolution of the classical actions is presented. Starting from semiclassical energies in a spherical cavity, the classical actions are calculated for each trajectory at each step of the switching procedure. This can be performed for any deformation since the system is separable in suitable coordinates. Invariance of the actions is not well verified for few values of the deformation. If it is easily understood why the actions invariance fails when the semiclassical solution cross the separatrix for the L z =0 levels, such failures are in principle not expected for the L z not=0 levels for which the trajectories belong to only one topology. The intrinsic frequencies of the motion are thus calculated for each trajectory at each step of the switching. Then, it is shown that failures in the action invariance occur exactly for values of the deformation for which two intrinsic frequencies become commensurate. For these particular values, the semiclassical trajectories are resonant for the L z not=0 levels and periodic for the L z =0 levels. By an appropriate canonical transformation on the action variables, a better invariant than the actions themselves has been built in the neighbourhood of each resonance. Apart from the particular values of the deformation where the radial and the angular frequencies become commensurate, action invariance is verified with a very good accuracy during the adiabatic switching.
We examine the semiclassical limit of the quantum energy spectrum in many dimensions: by means of a WKB-like ansatz leading to Einstein-Brillouin-Keller (EBK) quantization, by means of a path integral, hence associating a bound state with a particular classical periodic trajectory, and by the Birkhoff-Gustavson (BG) transformation to action-angle variables. We extend the EBK method to many-fermion systems using coherent states; and apply both EBK using surfaces of section, and the BG transformation to an SU(3) schematic nuclear shell model. We describe a new algorithm for finding periodic trajectories of a Lagrangian system with polynomial potential. It is applied to the Henon-Heiles system with good results, and these trajectories are used to quantize the system. The EBK and BG methods have some success, while periodic trajectory quantization fails. We discuss possible reasons for this failure and future approaches to these problems.
This paper reports a method to build a semiclassical wave function corresponding to an invariant torus satisfying Einstein-Brillouin-Keller quantization conditions. Instead of calculating the stability matrix of the trajectory at each step, as in the standard method of Keller [Ann. Phys. (N.Y.) 4, 180 (1958)] or the modification of Maslov and Fedoriuk [Semiclassical Approximations in Quantum Mechanics (Reidel, Dordrecht, 1981)], we use the actual density of the trajectory, calculated by running the trajectory and counting passages through cells in coordinate space. The method is tested for a system of coupled Morse oscillators, and found to be comparable in accuracy to the standard method. It may be more useful than the standard method for testing ideas for semiclassical quantization in the chaotic regime.
Despite the seminal connection between classical multiply periodic motion and Heisenberg matrix mechanics and the massive amount of work done on the associated problem of semiclassical Einstein-Brillouin-Keller (EBK) quantization of bound states, we show that there are, nevertheless, a number of previously unexploited aspects of this relationship that bear on the quantum-classical correspondence. In particular, we emphasize a quantum variational principle that implies the classical variational principle for invariant tori. We also expose the more indirect connection between commutation relations and quantization of action variables. In the special case of a one-dimensional system a different and succinct algebraic derivation of the WKB quantization rule for bound states is given. With the help of several standard models with one or two degrees of freedom, we then illustrate how the methods of Heisenberg matrix mechanics described in this paper may be used to obtain quantum solutions with a modest increase in effort compared to semiclassical calculations. We also describe and apply a method for obtaining leading quantum corrections to EBK results. Finally, we suggest several modified applications of EBK quantization. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.
This paper addresses the general problem of zeroth order representation of resonant dynamics. We investigate the classical, quantum mechanical, and semiclassical transformation properties of two-dimensional isotropic and anisotropic uncoupled harmonic oscillators. The classical and quantal theories are presented in a manner that emphasizes the strong correspondence between the two, and in particular, the SU(2) symmetry exhibited by both the classical and quantum oscillators. The classical canonical transformations relating the action-angle variables appropriate for normal, local, and precessional motion of the isotropic oscillator are derived by explicit calculation of the generating functions. By employing a simple mapping relating the anisotropic and isotropic oscillators, expressions for action-angle variables appropriate for the topology of an arbitrary m:n resonance are determined. The resulting invariant tori are compared with the corresponding quantum mechanical wave functions and phase space densities. The relationship between the classical and quantum mechanical theories is illustrated by determining semiclassical approximations to the unitary transformation matrix elements, which are given in terms of the classical generating functions. Applications to problems of current interest, such as the adiabatic switching method for semiclassical quantization of nonseparable systems, are briefly discussed.
The problem of semiclassical quantization of nonseparable systems with a finite number of degrees of freedom is studied within the framework of Heisenberg matrix mechanics, in extension of previous work on one-dimensional systems. The relationship between the quantum theory and multiply-periodic classical motions is derived anew. A suitably averaged Lagrangian provides a variational basis not only for the Fourier components of the semiclassical equations of motion, but also for the general definition of action variables. A Legendre transformation to the Hamiltonian verifies that these have been properly chosen and therefore provide a basis for the quantization of nonseparable systems. The problem of connection formulas is discussed by a method integral to the present approach. The action variables are shown to be adiabatic invariants of the classical system. An elementary application of the method is given. The methods of this paper are applicable to nondegenerate systems only.