Periodic-orbit sum rules for the Hadamard-Gutzwiller model (Q749980): Difference between revisions

A rather full account is given of important quantum-mechanical features of a system which is strongly chaotic at the classical level. This system is the Hadamard-Gutzwiller model - a massive particle sliding freely on a two-dimensional surface \({\mathcal M}\) of constant negative Gaussian curvature (i.e. saddle-shaped everywhere). Chaotic behaviour is easily discerned in the classical motion of this system. For simplicity, \({\mathcal M}\) is chosen to be a compact Riemannian surface of genus 2. Then the spectrum \(\{l_ n\}\) of the lengths \(l_ n\) of all periodic orbits on \({\mathcal M}\) is computed (up to a cut-off length imposed by computational limitations). The Schrödinger equation for the system is solved numerically for the first \(\sim 100\) energy eigenvalues \(E_ m\). These preliminaries accomplished, the centerpiece of the analysis is introduced; namely, the Selberg trace formula (STF) - a powerful sum rule relating the geometrical length spectrum \(\{l_ n\}\) to the quantum mechanical energy spectrum \(\{E_ m\}\). The Selberg trace formula involves an arbitrary summand function \(f(p_ m)\) (where \(p^ 2_ m=E_ m-1/2)\) on one side, and the Fourier transform \(\tilde f(l_ n)\) of \(f(p_ m)\) on the other. It represents an infinity of exact sum rules. These are analogous to the (approximate) periodic orbit sum rules (POSR's) of Gutzwiller and others, obtained in the semiclassical description of quantum mechanics. Both STF's and POSR's can be regarded as generalized Bohr-Sommerfeld quantization rules. Various choices of summand function \(f(p_ m)\) in the STF are made to extract information on the quantum-mechanical energy spectrum \(\{E_ m\}\) from the classical length spectrum \(\{l_ n\}\), and vice versa. Detailed numerical analysis shows this to be possible within certain limits. Quantum energy spectra of chaotic systems are believed to have distinct characteristics, including distributions of energy levels which vanish as the level spacing vanishes (level repulsion), and a property known as ``spectral rigidity''. These characteristics are observed in this study.