Scarring in quantum systems with classical chaotic dynamics is one of the most remarkable phenomena in modern physics. Previous works were concerned mostly with nonrelativistic quantum systems described by the Schrödinger equation. The question remains outstanding of whether truly relativistic quantum particles that obey the Dirac equation can scar. A significant challenge is the lack of a general method for solving the Dirac equation in closed domains of arbitrary shape. In this paper, we develop a numerical framework for obtaining complete eigensolutions of massless fermions in general two-dimensional confining geometries. The key ingredients of our method are the proper handling of the boundary conditions and an efficient discretization scheme that casts the original equation in a matrix representation. The method is validated by (1) comparing the numerical solutions to analytic results for a geometrically simple confinement and (2) verifying that the calculated energy level-spacing statistics of integrable and chaotic geometries agree with the known results. Solutions of the Dirac equation in a number of representative chaotic geometries establish firmly the existence of scarring of Dirac fermions.
Scarring in quantum systems with classical chaotic dynamics is one of the most remarkable phenomena in modern physics. Previous works were concerned mostly with nonrelativistic quantum systems described by the Schrödinger equation. The question remains outstanding of whether truly relativistic quantum particles that obey the Dirac equation can scar. A significant challenge is the lack of a general method for solving the Dirac equation in closed domains of arbitrary shape. In this paper, we develop a numerical framework for obtaining complete eigensolutions of massless fermions in general two-dimensional confining geometries. The key ingredients of our method are the proper handling of the boundary conditions and an efficient discretization scheme that casts the original equation in a matrix representation. The method is validated by (1) comparing the numerical solutions to analytic results for a geometrically simple confinement and (2) verifying that the calculated energy level-spacing statistics of integrable and chaotic geometries agree with the known results. Solutions of the Dirac equation in a number of representative chaotic geometries establish firmly the existence of scarring of Dirac fermions.
In H. Xu et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 064102 (2013)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.110.064102], a numerical method is introduced-an extension of the conformal-map method of Robnik [J. Phys. A 17, 1049 (1984)JPHAC50305-447010.1088/0305-4470/17/5/027] for nonrelativistic quantum billiards-for the quantization of relativistic neutrino billiards consisting of a massless noninteracting spin-1/2 particle confined to a two-dimensional domain. We demonstrate in this Letter that this method does not provide solutions of the associated Weyl (Dirac) equation, nor does it fulfill the boundary conditions imposed on the spinor eigenfunctions to ensure confinement of the particle to the domain of the billiard. We review in detail the wave equation, boundary conditions, and quantization of neutrino billiards and derivation of relevant equations to make the proof comprehensible for the general reader. Our results are corroborated with numerical ones for nonrelativistic and relativistic quantum billiards whose shapes depend on a parameter, which allows the study of the properties of their eigenstates as the classical dynamics experiences a transition from regular to chaotic dynamics.
Abstract Thirty-five years ago, Sir Michael Berry and his collaborator Mondragon studied the behaviors of neutrino, a massless relativistic quantum particle, in a classically chaotic billiard—the neutrino billiard problem. To celebrate Sir Michael Berry’s eightieth birthday, here we report results on the role of geometric symmetries of the billiard system in relativistic quantum scarring. In particular, we investigate a Dirac billiard system with a four-fold rotational symmetry whose classical dynamics are fully chaotic. The system is described by the massless Dirac equation in the fundamental domain that consists of one fourth of the full billiard, with proper boundary conditions on the symmetry lines to preserve the physical properties under the symmetry operations. We show that the relativistic quantum characteristics of spin induced phase play a fundamental role in the quantum behaviors of the Dirac particle in the billiard. We find that the peaks in the length spectra are due to the interference of states circling the fundamental domain orbits (FDOs) in opposite propagating directions, which can be constructive or destructive depending on the accumulated phases. In addition, we derive the quantization conditions of the scarring states about the unstable periodic orbits within the fundamental domain from the phase along the FDOs. Our work is a vivid demonstration that relativistic quantum scarring, or more generally quantum manifestations of classical chaos, can be fully understood by analyzing the behaviors of the geometric phase—a powerful approach in modern physics pioneered by Sir Michael Berry.
Nonhyperbolicity, as characterized by the coexistence of Kolmogorov-Arnold-Moser (KAM) tori and chaos in the phase space, is generic in classical Hamiltonian systems. An open but fundamental question in physics concerns the relativistic quantum manifestations of nonhyperbolic dynamics. We choose the mushroom billiard that has been mathematically proven to be nonhyperbolic, and study the resonant tunneling dynamics of a massless Dirac fermion. We find that the tunneling rate as a function of the energy exhibits a striking ``clustering'' phenomenon, where the majority of the values of the rate concentrate on a narrow region, as a result of the chaos component in the classical phase space. Relatively few values of the tunneling rate, however, spread outside the clustering region due to the integrable component. Resonant tunneling of electrons in nonhyperbolic chaotic graphene systems exhibits a similar behavior. To understand these numerical results, we develop a theoretical framework by combining analytic solutions of the Dirac equation in certain integrable domains and physical intuitions gained from current understanding of the quantum manifestations of chaos. In particular, we employ a theoretical formalism based on the concept of self-energies to calculate the tunneling rate and analytically solve the Dirac equation in one dimension as well as in two dimensions for a circular-ring-type of tunneling systems exhibiting integrable dynamics in the classical limit. Because relatively few and distinct classical periodic orbits are present in the integrable component, the corresponding relativistic quantum states can have drastically different behaviors, leading to a wide spread in the values of the tunneling rate in the energy-rate plane. In contrast, the chaotic component has embedded within itself an infinite number of unstable periodic orbits, which provide far more quantum states for tunneling. Due to the nature of chaos, these states are characteristically similar, leading to clustering of the values of the tunneling rate in a narrow band. The appealing characteristic of our work is a demonstration and physical understanding of the ``mixed'' role played by chaos and regular dynamics in shaping relativistic quantum tunneling dynamics.
An electron in quantum confinement takes on a discrete energy spectrum which is defined based on the solution to the Schrodinger Equation for a given potential. Well defined closed-form energy spectra are known for the particle in a box, circular potential, quarter circle potential, and an equilateral triangle. A closed-form solution for more complex shapes may not be known, but numerical methods can be used to find an approximate solution. In this research, an application of the Finite Element Method (FEM) in Wolfram Mathematica is presented and applied to Quantum Billiards with a variety of geometries. To assess the accuracy of the method, the computed energy states are analyzed in the limit of a polygon with an increasing number of sides, the numerical results are validated against analytical solutions for geometries with known exact forms, and a standard convergence test is conducted. The FEM results closely match analytical solutions for known potentials, demonstrating its high accuracy. For high energy index n, quantum scarring may emerge for certain geometries. The nature of quantum scarring and its presence in the computed models is also investigated qualitatively.
Previous work in the field of relativistic quantum chaos has revealed initial evidence that the manifestations of classical chaos in relativistic quantum systems tend to be weakened as compared with those in nonrelativistic quantum systems. To place this finding on a firmer ground, we investigate the relativistic quantum fingerprints of classical chaos using the out-of-time-order correlator (OTOC). OTOC has recently been applied to a number of fields in physics and it holds special promises for the field of quantum chaos, but existing work focused exclusively on nonrelativistic quantum systems. Calculating and analyzing OTOC for relativistic quantum billiard systems described by the massless Dirac equation, we find that the signatures of classical chaos are indeed characteristically less pronounced in relativistic than in nonrelativistic quantum systems. The finding is substantiated by studying four different aspects of OTOC. Firstly, in the energy eigenspace, in the short time regime there is a complete lack of any signature of chaos associated with the evolution of OTOC in the Dirac billiard due to the relativistic quantum phenomenon of Zitterbewegung, in contrast to nonrelativistic quantum billiard systems where chaos leaves behind a quite distinct signature. Secondly, weakening of the relativistic quantum manifestations of classical chaos occurs in the long time regime as well. Thirdly, evolution of the wave packet based OTOC also reveals that the fingerprints of chaos are much less pronounced in the Dirac billiard systems as compared with the Schrödinger billiards. Fourthly, the level spacing statistics of the OTOC operators in systems with classically integrable and chaotic dynamics, which are characteristically distinct in the Schrödinger billiards, bear a strong similarity in the Dirac billiards, indicating again the dwindling effects of chaos. The OTOC based results suggest that the impacts of classical chaos are generally weaker in relativistic than in nonrelativistic quantum systems, a fundamental issue that warrants further investigation.
Quantum signatures of classical chaos in the spectral properties of non-relativistic quantum billiards are well understood by now based on the semiclassical and the random matrix theory aproach.The experimental detection of relativistic phenomena featured by graphene implicated an increasing interest in the properties of graphene billiards and relativistic quantum billiards consisting of massless spin-1/2 particles governed by the Dirac equation and confined to a planar domain.Confinement is attained by imposing appropriate boundary conditions on the wave function components.We chose those proposed for neutrino billiards.By now numerical studies have been performed on the spectral properties of neutrino billiards of various shapes.Our main focus is the question to what extent the semiclassical approach in terms of trace formulae applies to such systems.We derive trace formulae for circular and elliptical neutrino billiards.The associated eigenvalue equations have been solved analytically for the circular billiard.We present analytical solutions for elliptical neutrino billiards.