Wigner function statistics in classically chaotic systems

Abstract

We have studied statistical properties of the values of the Wigner function W(x) of 1D quantum maps on compact 2D phase space of finite area V. For this purpose we have defined a Wigner function probability distribution P(w) = (1/V) int delta(w-W(x)) dx, which has, by definition, fixed first and second moment. In particular, we concentrate on relaxation of time evolving quantum state in terms of W(x), starting from a coherent state. We have shown that for a classically chaotic quantum counterpart the distribution P(w) in the semi-classical limit becomes a Gaussian distribution that is fully determined by the first two moments. Numerical simulations have been performed for the quantum sawtooth map and the quantized kicked top. In a quantum system with Hilbert space dimension N (similar 1/hbar) the transition of P(w) to a Gaussian distribution was observed at times t proportional to log N. In addition, it has been shown that the statistics of Wigner functions of propagator eigenstates is Gaussian as well in the classically fully chaotic regime. We have also studied the structure of the nodal cells of the Wigner function, in particular the distribution of intersection points between the zero manifold and arbitrary straight lines.

22 pages, 13 figures (20 .eps files)

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• Quantum chaos and the double-slit experiment
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• Statistical distribution of components of energy eigenfunctions: from nearly-integrable to chaotic
• Correlations in eigenfunctions of quantum chaotic systems with sparse Hamiltonian matrices
• Quantum-classical correspondence on compact phase space