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arXiv:chao-dyn/9906018 · Physical review. E, Statistical physics, plasmas, fluids, and related interdisciplinary topics

Quantum algorithmic integrability: The metaphor of classical polygonal billiards

Giorgio Mantica

Published Jun 1, 2000• 13 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We study the algorithmic complexity of motions in classical polygonal billiards, which, as the number of sides increases, tend to curved billiards, both regular and chaotic. This study unveils the equivalence of this problem to the procedure of quantization: the average complexity of symbolic trajectories in polygonal billiards features the same scaling relations (with respect to the number of sides) that govern quantum systems when a semiclassical parameter is varied. Two cases, the polygonal approximations of the circle and of the stadium, are examined in detail and are presented as paradigms of quantization of integrable and chaotic systems.

DOI
10.1103/physreve.61.6434

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We study the algorithmic complexity of motions in classical polygonal billiards, which, as the number of sides increases, tend to curved billiards, both regular and chaotic. This study unveils the equivalence of this problem to the procedure of quantization: the average complexity of symbolic trajectories in polygonal billiards features the same scaling relations (with respect to the number of sides) that govern quantum systems when a semiclassical parameter is varied. Two cases, the polygonal approximations of the circle and of the stadium, are examined in detail and are presented as paradigms of quantization of integrable and chaotic systems.
The present work addresses the quantum polygon billiard problem with attention given to analytic and degeneracy properties of energy eigenstates. The ‘‘polygon ground-state theorem’’ is proven which states that the only polygons that contain respective ground states that are analytic in the closed domain of the entire polygon are the ‘‘elemental polygons’’ (defined in the text). The ‘‘polygon first excited-state theorem’’ is established which states that for every N-sided regular polygon, N equivalent first excited states exist, each of which contains a nodal curve that is a line of mirror symmetry of the related polygon. A vector description of nodal diagonal eigenstates is introduced to establish the second component of this theorem which indicates that the space of first excited states for the N-sided regular polygon is spanned by any two of these N nodal-diagonal eigenstates (i.e., the first excited state is twofold degenerate). At various levels of the discussion attention is drawn to the correspondence between the quantum and classical solutions for these configurations. Thus, for example, correspondence is demonstrated in the common source of integrability in the classical and quantum domains for three inclusive, nonoverlapping classes of polygons. Stemming from the preceding conclusions, a discussion is included on the possibility of employing transverse magnetic (TM) modes in a metal waveguide to determine if an equivalent quantum billiard configuration is chaotic.
There is theoretical evidence indicating that generic polygons do not admit eigenfunctions that are superpositions of plane waves. However, we find that a plane-wave quantization for a family of polygonal billiards gives results in very good agreement with theoretical predictions. Indeed the fraction of missing states decreases as the number of sides is increased. We provide a resolution of this contradiction: While theory says that no plane-wave eigenfunctions are possible for polygonal boundaries, it is not applicable to the curvilinear boundaries approximating these polygons. This is analogous to the classical mechanics of polygonal billiards, where according to continuum mathematics there is no chaos, yet discrete mathematics finds it. In the quantum treatment considered here, according to continuum mathematics there can be no plane-wave eigenfunctions, yet discrete mathematics finds them.
The exact and semiclassical quantum mechanics of the elliptic billiard is investigated. The classical system is integrable and exhibits a separatrix, dividing the phase space into regions of oscillatory and rotational motion. The classical separability carries over to quantum mechanics, and the Schrödinger equation is shown to be equivalent to the spheroidal wave equation. The quantum eigenvalues show a clear pattern when transformed into the classical action space. The implication of the separatrix on the wave functions is illustrated. A uniform WKB quantization taking into account complex orbits is shown to be adequate for the semiclassical quantization in the presence of a separatrix. The pattern of states in classical action space is nicely explained by this quantization procedure. We extract an effective Maslov phase varying smoothly on the energy surface, which is used to modify the Berry-Tabor trace formula, resulting in a summation over non-periodic orbits. This modified trace formula produces the correct number of states, even close to the separatrix. The Fourier transform of the density of states is explained in terms of classical orbits, and the The semiclassical quantization of a Hamiltonian system is deeply connected to the structure of its phase space. The generic Hamiltonian system contains a complicated mixture of near-integrable and
The study of classical Liouville density arises naturally in chaotic systems where a probabilistic treatment is more appropriate. In this review, we show that the evolution of a density projected onto the configuration space has a quantum connection in billiard systems. The eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of the concerned evolution operator have an approximate one-to-one correspondence with the quantum Neumann eigenvalues and eigenfunctions. For exceptional billiard shapes such as the rectangle, this correspondence is even exact. Despite the approximate nature of the correspondence, we demonstrate that the exact quantum Neumann eigenstates can be used to expand and evolve an arbitrary classical projected-density. For the rectangular and stadium billiards, results are compared with the actual evolution of the density using classical trajectories and are found to be satisfactory.