Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

Communications in Theoretical Physics

Numerical Evidence of Quantum Correspondence to the Classical Ergodicity

Quan-Lin Jie, Gong-ou Xu

Published Sep 15, 1996• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

Numerical experiment in Lipkin model shows that, in quantum system with global chaotic classical limit, the temporal mean of the expectation value of an observable is approximately equal to the average over the basic states of Hilbert space, if the wavefunction is initially either a coherent wave packet or the common eigenstates of a complete set of observables, and the observable is independent of the Hamiltonian. The mechanism is the absence of KAM barrier which prevents the spread of wavefunction. This can serve as a quantum signature of classical chaos.

DOI
10.1088/0253-6102/26/2/191

Related papers

Quantum Signature of Classical Chaos in the Temporal Mean of Expectation Values of Observables

Jie Quan-Lin, Gong-ou Xu

In an integrable quantum system, the time averages of expectation values of a complete set of commuting observables (CSCO) form a regular pattern when every common eigenstate of the CSCO is chosen as the initial state. As the system transits to chaotic, the regular pattern is destroyed and these points cluster.

Chinese Physics Letters•Oct 1, 1995•2 citations

Chaos and quantum-classical correspondence for two- coupled spins

Joseph Emerson

Two approaches to quantum-classical correspondence are distinguished according to the classical dynamical theory with which quantum theory is compared. The first of these, Ehrenfest correspondence, defines a dynamical regime in which the quantum expectation values follow approximately a classical trajectory. The second of these, Liouville correspondence, applies when the quantum probability distributions remain well approximated by a density in the classical phase space. The former applies only for narrow states, whereas the latter may remain valid even for quantum states that have spread to the system size. A spin model is adopted for this correspondence study because the quantum state is discrete and finite- dimensional, and thus no artificial truncation of the Hilbert space is required. The quantum time-evolution is given by a discrete unitary mapping. The corresponding classical model is volume-preserving (non-dissipative) and the time-evolution is given by a symplectic map. In classically chaotic regimes, the widths of initially narrow quantum states grow, on average, exponentially with time, until saturation at the system size. This initial spreading rate is well approximated by the classical Lyapunov exponent when the accessible classical phase space is predominantly chaotic. Because of the exponential growth rate of the quantum variance, the Ehrenfest regime is delimited by a break-time that grows logarithmically with increasing quantum numbers. The small differences between quantum expectation values and corresponding Liouville averages of dynamical variables also grow exponentially, initially, if the classical behaviour is chaotic. This exponential rate is independent of h and consistently larger than the classical Lyapunov exponent by at least a factor of two. Interestingly, this exponential growth rate does not continue until these differences approach magnitudes of order the system size, but crosses over to power-law growth (or simply saturates), when the differences have reached magnitudes no larger than order ħ. Because of the exponential growth of these quantum-classical differences, the Liouville regime is also delimited by a break-time that grows logarithmically with increasing quantum numbers. However, due to the early saturation of the exponential growth of the differences, the Liouville log break-time applies only in a restricted domain. After spreading to the system size, the quantum states relax to an approximately time-independent state. This is characterised by equilibrium distributions that are subject to rapidly oscillating fluctuations about the coarse-grained classical steady-state. If the accessible classical phase space is predominantly chaotic, then the equilibrium quantum probability distributions are nearly microcanonical. Otherwise the steady-state quantum probability distributions accurately reflect the details of the KAM surfaces in the classical phase space. The equilibrium regime quantum fluctuations, which are quantum-classical differences, are shown to approach zero as a negative power of the quantum numbers. Since the differences between quantum expectation values and individual classical trajectories grow exponentially in time to a magnitude that scales with the system size, the Ehrenfest regime is delimited by an unrestricted log break-time. The log break-time may be short compared to experimental time-scales for some chaotic macroscopic bodies, and, as a result, an observable breakdown of Ehrenfest correspondence may arise for some macroscopic systems. Although the Liouville regime is also delimited by a log break-time, an observable breakdown of correspondence between quantum mechanics and Liouville mechanics for macroscopic bodies is not likely since their differences, expressed relative to the dimensions of the observable, approach zero in the limit of large quantum numbers.

•Jan 1, 2001•1 citation

The Spatiotemporal Evolution of Wave Packets under Chaotic Condition

Liu Fang, Junqing Li, Luo Yi-Xiao +2 more

Using the minimum uncertainty state of quantum integrable system as initial state, the spatiotemporal evolution of the wave packet under the action of perturbed Hamiltonian is studied causally as in classical mechanics. Due to the existence of the avoided energy level crossing in the spectrum there exist nonlinear resonances between some pairs of neighboring components of the wave packet, the deterministic dynamical evolution becomes very complicated and appears to be chaotic. It is proposed to use expectation values for the whole set of basic dynamical variables and the corresponding spreading widths to describe the topological features concisely such that the quantum chaotic motion can be studied in contrast with the quantum regular motion and well characterized with the asymptotic behaviors. It has been demonstrated with numerical results that such a wave packet has indeed quantum behaviors of ergodicity as in corresponding classical case.

Communications in Theoretical Physics•May 15, 2001•1 citation

The Spatiotemporal Evolution of Wave Packets under Chaotic Condition

LiuF, LiJQ, LuoYX +2 more

Using the minimum uncertainty state of quantum integrable system Ho as initial state, the spatiotemporal evolution of the wave packet under the action of perturbed Hamiltonian is studied causally as in classical mechanics. Due to the existence of the avoided energy level crossing in the spectrum there exist nonlinear resonances between some pairs of neighboring components of the wave packet, the deterministic dynamical evolution becomes very complicated and appears to be chaotic. It is proposed to use expectation values for the whole set of basic dynamical variables and the corresponding spreading widths to describe the topological features concisely such that the quantum chaotic motion can be studied in contrast with the quantum regular motion and well characterized with the asymptotic behaviors. It has been demonstrated with numerical results that such a wave packet has indeed quantum behaviors of ergodicity as in corresponding classical case.

理论物理通讯：英文版•Jan 1, 2001•0 citations

Quantum signatures of classical chaos: Sensitivity of wave functions to perturbations

Luis Benet, T. H. Seligman, Hans A. Weidenmüller

We compare the influence of perturbations of classically regular respectively chaotic Hamiltonians on their eigenfunctions. A generic measure of the perturbation strength is given by the average spreading width, which semiclassically is a phase-space integral. Thus, contrary to common assumption, the spreading width cannot be an indicator of regularity or chaos. The distribution of expansion coefficients of perturbed eigenfunctions in terms of unperturbed ones is markedly different for the two cases and may serve as a quantum signature of chaos referring to states rather than to spectra.

Physical Review Letters•Jul 26, 1993•31 citations

Does Quantum Chaos Explain Quantum Statistical Mechanics?

Mark Srednicki

If a many-body quantum system approaches thermal equilibrium from a generic initial state, then the expectation value $\langleψ(t)|A_i|ψ(t)\rangle$, where $|ψ(t)\rangle$ is the system's state vector and $A_i$ is an experimentally accessible observable, should approach a constant value which is independent of the initial state, and equal to a thermal average of $A_i$ at an appropriate temperature. We show that this is the case for all simple observables whenever the system is classically chaotic.

arXiv:cond-mat/9410046•Oct 14, 1994•5 citations
Numerical experiment in Lipkin model shows that, in quantum system with global chaotic classical limit, the temporal mean of the expectation value of an observable is approximately equal to the average over the basic states of Hilbert space, if the wavefunction is initially either a coherent wave packet or the common eigenstates of a complete set of observables, and the observable is independent of the Hamiltonian. The mechanism is the absence of KAM barrier which prevents the spread of wavefunction. This can serve as a quantum signature of classical chaos.
Two approaches to quantum-classical correspondence are distinguished according to the classical dynamical theory with which quantum theory is compared. The first of these, Ehrenfest correspondence, defines a dynamical regime in which the quantum expectation values follow approximately a classical trajectory. The second of these, Liouville correspondence, applies when the quantum probability distributions remain well approximated by a density in the classical phase space. The former applies only for narrow states, whereas the latter may remain valid even for quantum states that have spread to the system size. A spin model is adopted for this correspondence study because the quantum state is discrete and finite- dimensional, and thus no artificial truncation of the Hilbert space is required. The quantum time-evolution is given by a discrete unitary mapping. The corresponding classical model is volume-preserving (non-dissipative) and the time-evolution is given by a symplectic map. In classically chaotic regimes, the widths of initially narrow quantum states grow, on average, exponentially with time, until saturation at the system size. This initial spreading rate is well approximated by the classical Lyapunov exponent when the accessible classical phase space is predominantly chaotic. Because of the exponential growth rate of the quantum variance, the Ehrenfest regime is delimited by a break-time that grows logarithmically with increasing quantum numbers. The small differences between quantum expectation values and corresponding Liouville averages of dynamical variables also grow exponentially, initially, if the classical behaviour is chaotic. This exponential rate is independent of h and consistently larger than the classical Lyapunov exponent by at least a factor of two. Interestingly, this exponential growth rate does not continue until these differences approach magnitudes of order the system size, but crosses over to power-law growth (or simply saturates), when the differences have reached magnitudes no larger than order ħ. Because of the exponential growth of these quantum-classical differences, the Liouville regime is also delimited by a break-time that grows logarithmically with increasing quantum numbers. However, due to the early saturation of the exponential growth of the differences, the Liouville log break-time applies only in a restricted domain. After spreading to the system size, the quantum states relax to an approximately time-independent state. This is characterised by equilibrium distributions that are subject to rapidly oscillating fluctuations about the coarse-grained classical steady-state. If the accessible classical phase space is predominantly chaotic, then the equilibrium quantum probability distributions are nearly microcanonical. Otherwise the steady-state quantum probability distributions accurately reflect the details of the KAM surfaces in the classical phase space. The equilibrium regime quantum fluctuations, which are quantum-classical differences, are shown to approach zero as a negative power of the quantum numbers. Since the differences between quantum expectation values and individual classical trajectories grow exponentially in time to a magnitude that scales with the system size, the Ehrenfest regime is delimited by an unrestricted log break-time. The log break-time may be short compared to experimental time-scales for some chaotic macroscopic bodies, and, as a result, an observable breakdown of Ehrenfest correspondence may arise for some macroscopic systems. Although the Liouville regime is also delimited by a log break-time, an observable breakdown of correspondence between quantum mechanics and Liouville mechanics for macroscopic bodies is not likely since their differences, expressed relative to the dimensions of the observable, approach zero in the limit of large quantum numbers.
Using the minimum uncertainty state of quantum integrable system as initial state, the spatiotemporal evolution of the wave packet under the action of perturbed Hamiltonian is studied causally as in classical mechanics. Due to the existence of the avoided energy level crossing in the spectrum there exist nonlinear resonances between some pairs of neighboring components of the wave packet, the deterministic dynamical evolution becomes very complicated and appears to be chaotic. It is proposed to use expectation values for the whole set of basic dynamical variables and the corresponding spreading widths to describe the topological features concisely such that the quantum chaotic motion can be studied in contrast with the quantum regular motion and well characterized with the asymptotic behaviors. It has been demonstrated with numerical results that such a wave packet has indeed quantum behaviors of ergodicity as in corresponding classical case.
Using the minimum uncertainty state of quantum integrable system Ho as initial state, the spatiotemporal evolution of the wave packet under the action of perturbed Hamiltonian is studied causally as in classical mechanics. Due to the existence of the avoided energy level crossing in the spectrum there exist nonlinear resonances between some pairs of neighboring components of the wave packet, the deterministic dynamical evolution becomes very complicated and appears to be chaotic. It is proposed to use expectation values for the whole set of basic dynamical variables and the corresponding spreading widths to describe the topological features concisely such that the quantum chaotic motion can be studied in contrast with the quantum regular motion and well characterized with the asymptotic behaviors. It has been demonstrated with numerical results that such a wave packet has indeed quantum behaviors of ergodicity as in corresponding classical case.
We compare the influence of perturbations of classically regular respectively chaotic Hamiltonians on their eigenfunctions. A generic measure of the perturbation strength is given by the average spreading width, which semiclassically is a phase-space integral. Thus, contrary to common assumption, the spreading width cannot be an indicator of regularity or chaos. The distribution of expansion coefficients of perturbed eigenfunctions in terms of unperturbed ones is markedly different for the two cases and may serve as a quantum signature of chaos referring to states rather than to spectra.
If a many-body quantum system approaches thermal equilibrium from a generic initial state, then the expectation value ⟨ψ(t)∣Ai∣ψ(t)⟩\langleψ(t)|A_i|ψ(t)\rangle⟨ψ(t)∣Ai​∣ψ(t)⟩, where ∣ψ(t)⟩|ψ(t)\rangle∣ψ(t)⟩ is the system's state vector and AiA_iAi​ is an experimentally accessible observable, should approach a constant value which is independent of the initial state, and equal to a thermal average of AiA_iAi​ at an appropriate temperature. We show that this is the case for all simple observables whenever the system is classically chaotic.