From open quantum systems to open quantum maps (Q538418)

The authors show that for a class of open quantum systems satisfying a natural dynamical assumption the study of the resolvent, hence of scattering and resonances, can be reduced, in the semiclassical limit, to the study of open quantum maps, that is, of finite-dimensional quantizations of canonical relations obtained by truncation of symplectomorphisms derived from the classical Hamiltonian flow (Poincaré return maps). The flavour of their results is better given in the simplified setting illustrated in the introduction. To this end, consider the Schrödinger operator \(P(h)= -h^2\Delta+ V(x)-1\) \((V\in {\mathcal C}^\infty(\mathbb R^n)\) with compact support) and let \(\Phi^t\) be the corresponding classical flow on \(T^*\mathbb R^n\ni (x,\xi)\) satisfying \[ x'(t)=2\xi(t), \quad \xi'(t)= -dV(x(t)), \quad x(0) = x, \quad \xi(0) = \xi. \] Equivalently, this flow is generated by the Hamilton vector field \[ H_p(x,\xi)=\sum_{j=1}^n {\partial p\over\partial \xi_j}{\partial \over\partial x_j} -{\partial p\over\partial x_j}{\partial \over\partial \xi_j} \] associated with the classical Hamiltonian \(p(x,\xi)= |\xi|^2+ V(x)- 1\). The energy shift by \(-1\) allows them to focus on the dynamics near the energy \(E = 0\), making the notation easier. They suppose that the Hamiltonian flow has no fixed point at this energy, i.e., \(dp |_{p^{-1}}(0)\not=0\). The trapped set \(K_E\) at any energy \(E\) is defined as the set of \((x, \xi)\in T^*\mathbb R^n\) such that \(p(x,\xi)=E\) and \(\Phi^t (x,\xi)\) remains bounded for all \(t\in\mathbb R\). The information about spectral and scattering properties of \(P(h)\) can be obtained through the resolvent \(R(z)= (P(h)-z)^{-1}\), \(\operatorname{Im}z > 0\), and its meromorphic continuation. The operator \(P(h)\) has absolutely continuous spectrum on the interval \([-1,\infty)\); nevertheless, its resolvent \(R(z)\) continues meromorphically from \(\operatorname{Im}z > 0\) to the disk \(D(0, 1)\), in the sense that \(\chi R(z)\chi\), for a \(\chi\in{\mathcal C}^\infty(\mathbb R^n)\) with compact support, is a meromorphic family of operators, with poles independent of the choice of \(\chi\not=0\). The authors assume that at energy \(E = 0\), the flow \(\Phi^t\) is hyperbolic on the trapped set \(K_0\) and that this set is topologically one-dimensional. Hyperbolicity meaning that at any point \(\rho = (x, \xi) \in K_0\) the tangent space to the energy surface splits into the neutral \({\mathbb R}H_p(\rho)\), stable \(E^-_\rho\), and unstable \(E^+_\rho\) directions: \[ T_\rho p^{-1}(0)= \mathbb R H_p(\rho) \oplus E^-_\rho \oplus E^+_\rho. \] Since \(K_0\) is topologically one-dimensional, by the structural stability of hyperbolic flows, for any energy \(E\) in a sufficiently small interval \([-\delta, \delta]\), they can find a Poincaré section reducing the flow near \(K_E\) to a combination of symplectic transformations, called the Poincaré map \(F_E\). Under the above assumptions, the authors locate in a semiclassical way resonances of the operator \(P(h)\) in a neighbourhood of the energy interval: \[ {\mathcal R}(\delta, M_0, h):= [-\delta, \delta] + i[-M_0 h \log(1/h), M_0 h \log(1/h)], \] where \(\delta, M_0\) are independent of \(h \in (0, 1]\). Resonances in \(R(\delta, M_0, h)\) are characterised introducing a family of ``quantum propagators'' quantizing the Poincaré maps \(F_E\). More precisely they prove that, for any \(\delta > 0\) small enough and any \(M_0 > 0\), there exists \(h_0 > 0\) and a family of matrices \(M(z,h)\) (\(z\in {\mathcal R}(\delta, M_0, h)\)), \(h\in (0,h_0]\), holomorphic in the variable \(z\) and satisfying \[ C_0^{-1}h^{-n+1}\leq \operatorname{rank} M(z,h) \leq C_0 h^{-n+1}, \] (\(C_0>1\)), such that the zeros of \(\zeta(z,h):=\det(I - M(z, h))\), give the resonances of \(P(h)\) in \({\mathcal R}(\delta, M_0, h)\) with correct multiplicities. The matrices \(M(z,h)\) are open quantum maps associated with the Poincaré maps \(F_{\operatorname{Re} z}\) described above: for any \(L > 0\), there exist a family of \(h\)-Fourier integral operators, \(\{{\mathcal M}(z, h)\}\), quantizing the Poincaré maps \(F_{\operatorname{Re} z}\), and projections \(\Pi_h\) (of ranks \(C_0^{-1}h^{-n+1}\leq \operatorname{rank} \Pi_h \leq C_0 h^{-n+1})\), such that \[ M(z,h)=\Pi_k {\mathcal M}(z, h) \Pi_h + {\mathcal O}(h^L). \] The relationship with semiclassical trace formulae and applications of refined versions to proofs of fractal Weyl laws to the existence of resonance-free strips are also discussed.