Signatures Of Quantum Chaos Research Articles

Exposing hypersensitivity in quantum chaotic dynamics.

We study hypersensitivity to initial-state perturbation in the unitary dynamics of a multiqubit system. We use the quantum state metric, introduced by Girolami and Anza [Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 170502 (2021)0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.126.170502], which can be interpreted as a quantum Hamming distance. To provide a proof of principle, we take the multiqubit implementation of the quantum kicked top, a paradigmatic system known to exhibit quantum chaotic behavior. Our findings confirm that the observed hypersensitivity corresponds to commonly used signatures of quantum chaos. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the proposed metric can detect quantum chaos in the same regime and under analogous initial conditions as in the corresponding classical case.

Probing quantum chaos in multipartite systems

Understanding the emergence of quantum chaos in multipartite systems is challenging in the presence of interactions. We show that the contribution of the subsystems to the global behavior can be revealed by probing the full counting statistics of the local, total, and interaction energies. As in the spectral form factor, signatures of quantum chaos in the time domain dictate a dip-ramp-plateau structure in the characteristic function, i.e., the Fourier transform of the eigenvalue distribution. With this approach, we explore the fate of chaos in interacting subsystems that are locally maximally chaotic. Global quantum chaos can be suppressed at strong coupling, as illustrated with coupled copies of random-matrix Hamiltonians and of the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev model. Our method is amenable to experimental implementation using single-qubit interferometry.

Quantum signatures of chaos in relativistic quantum billiards with shapes of circle- and ellipse-sectors* *Dedicated to the memory of Fritz Haake. Fritz introduced me (Barbara) into the field of quantum chaos. He supervised my diploma and doctoral thesis and since then has been a mentor, friend and helpful advisor during all the stages of my scientific career. I take his

According to the Berry–Tabor conjecture, the spectral properties of typical nonrelativistic quantum systems with an integrable classical counterpart agree with those of Poissonian random numbers. We investigate to what extend it applies to relativistic neutrino billiards (NBs) consisting of a spin-1/2 particle confined to a bounded planar domain by imposing suitable boundary conditions (BCs). In distinction to nonrelativistic quantum billiards (QBs), NBs do not have a well-defined classical counterpart. However, the peaks in the length spectra, that is, the modulus of the Fourier transform of the spectral density from wave number to length, of NBs are just like for QBs at the lengths of periodic orbits of the classical billiard (CB). This implies that there must be a connection between NBs and the dynamic of the CB. We demonstrate that NBs with shapes of circle- and ellipse-sectors with an integrable classical dynamic, obtained by cutting the circle and ellipse NB along symmetry lines, have no common eigenstates with the latter and that, indeed, their spectral properties can be similar to those of classically chaotic QBs. These features orginate from the intermingling of symmetries of the spinor components and the discontinuity in the BCs leading to contradictory conditional equations at corners connecting curved and straight boundary parts. To corroborate the necessity of the curved boundary part in order to generate GOE-like behavior, we furthermore consider the right-angled triangle NB constructed by halving the equilateral-triangle NB along a symmetry axis. For an understanding of these findings in terms of purely classical quantities we use the semiclassical approach recently developed for massive NBs, and Poincaré–Husimi distributions of the eigenstates in classical phase space. The results indicate, that in the ultrarelativistic limit these NBs do not show the behavior expected for classically chaotic QBs.

Signatures of Quantum Chaos in an Out-of-Time-Order Tensor.

Motivated by the famous ink-drop experiment, where ink droplets are used to determine the chaoticity of a fluid, we propose an experimentally implementable method for measuring the scrambling capacity of quantum processes. Here, a system of interest interacts with a small quantum probe whose dynamical properties identify the chaoticity of the system. Specifically, we propose a fully quantum version of the out-of-time-order correlator-which we term the out-of-time-order tensor-whose correlations offer clear information theoretic meanings about the chaoticity of a process. We illustrate the utility of the out-of-time-order tensor as a signature of chaos using random unitary processes as well as in the quantum kicked rotor, where the chaoticity is tunable.

Chaos in coupled Kerr-nonlinear parametric oscillators

A Kerr-nonlinear parametric oscillator (KPO) can generate a quantum superposition of two oscillating states, known as a Schr\"{o}dinger cat state, via quantum adiabatic evolution, and can be used as a qubit for gate-based quantum computing and quantum annealing. In this work, we investigate complex dynamics, i.e., chaos, in two coupled nondissipative KPOs at a few-photon level. After showing that a classical model for this system is nonintegrable and consequently exhibits chaotic behavior, we provide quantum counterparts for the classical results, which are quantum versions of the Poincar\'{e} surface of section and its lower-dimensional version defined with time integrals of the Wigner and Husimi functions, and also the initial and long-term behavior of out-of-time-ordered correlators. We conclude that some of them can be regarded as quantum signatures of chaos, together with energy-level spacing statistics (conventional signature). Thus, the system of coupled KPOs is expected to offer not only an alternative approach to quantum computing, but also a promising platform for the study on quantum chaos.

Multifractality in Quasienergy Space of Coherent States as a Signature of Quantum Chaos.

We present the multifractal analysis of coherent states in kicked top model by expanding them in the basis of Floquet operator eigenstates. We demonstrate the manifestation of phase space structures in the multifractal properties of coherent states. In the classical limit, the classical dynamical map can be constructed, allowing us to explore the corresponding phase space portraits and to calculate the Lyapunov exponent. By tuning the kicking strength, the system undergoes a transition from regularity to chaos. We show that the variation of multifractal dimensions of coherent states with kicking strength is able to capture the structural changes of the phase space. The onset of chaos is clearly identified by the phase-space-averaged multifractal dimensions, which are well described by random matrix theory in a strongly chaotic regime. We further investigate the probability distribution of expansion coefficients, and show that the deviation between the numerical results and the prediction of random matrix theory behaves as a reliable detector of quantum chaos.

Quantum signatures of chaos in a cavity-QED-based stimulated Raman adiabatic passage

Nonlinear stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP) is a fascinating physical process that dynamically explores chaotic and nonchaotic phases. In a recent paper [A. Dey and M. Kulkarni, Phys. Rev. Res. 2, 042004(R) (2020)], such a phenomenon is realized in a cavity-QED platform. There, the emergence of chaos and its impact on STIRAP efficiency are mainly demonstrated in the semiclassical limit. In the present paper we treat the problem in a fully quantum many-body framework. With the aim of extracting quantum signatures of a classically chaotic system, it is shown that an out-of-time-ordered correlator (OTOC) measure precisely captures chaotic and nonchaotic features of the system. The prediction by OTOC is in precise matching with classical chaos quantified by Lyapunov exponent analysis. Furthermore, it is shown that the quantum route corresponding to the semiclassical followed state encounters a dip in single-particle purity within the chaotic phase, depicting a consequence of chaos. A dynamics through the chaotic phase is associated with spreading of the many-body quantum state and an irreversible increase in the number of participating adiabatic eigenstates.

A dynamical mechanism for the Page curve from quantum chaos

If the evaporation of a black hole formed from a pure state is unitary, the entanglement entropy of the Hawking radiation should follow the Page curve, increasing from zero until near the halfway point of the evaporation, and then decreasing back to zero. The general argument for the Page curve is based on the assumption that the quantum state of the black hole plus radiation during the evaporation process is typical. In this paper, we show that the Page curve can result from a simple dynamical input in the evolution of the black hole, based on a recently proposed signature of quantum chaos, without resorting to typicality. Our argument is based on what we refer to as the “operator gas” approach, which allows one to understand the evolution of the microstate of the black hole from generic features of the Heisenberg evolution of operators. One key feature which leads to the Page curve is the possibility of dynamical processes where operators in the “gas” can “jump” outside the black hole, which we refer to as void formation processes. Such processes are initially exponentially suppressed, but dominate after a certain time scale, which can be used as a dynamical definition of the Page time. In the Hayden-Preskill protocol for young and old black holes, we show that void formation is also responsible for the transfer of information from the black hole to the radiation. We conjecture that void formation may provide a microscopic explanation for the recent semi-classical prescription of including islands in the calculation of the entanglement entropy of the radiation.

Thermofield dynamics: Quantum chaos versus decoherence

Quantum chaos imposes universal spectral signatures that govern the thermofield dynamics of a many-body system in isolation. The fidelity between the initial and time-evolving thermofield double states exhibits as a function of time a decay, dip, ramp and plateau. Sources of decoherence give rise to a nonunitary evolution and result in information loss. Energy dephasing gradually suppresses quantum noise fluctuations and the dip associated with spectral correlations. Decoherence further delays the appearance of the dip and shortens the span of the linear ramp associated with chaotic behavior. The interplay between signatures of quantum chaos and information loss is determined by the competition among the decoherence, dip and plateau characteristic times, as demoonstrated in the stochastic Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev model.

Thermalization and possible signatures of quantum chaos in complex crystalline materials

Analyses of thermal diffusivity data on complex insulators and on strongly correlated electron systems hosted in similar complex crystal structures suggest that quantum chaos is a good description for thermalization processes in these systems, particularly in the high-temperature regime where the many phonon bands and their interactions dominate the thermal transport. Here we observe that for these systems diffusive thermal transport is controlled by a universal Planckian timescale [Formula: see text] and a unique velocity [Formula: see text] Specifically, [Formula: see text] for complex insulators, and [Formula: see text] in the presence of strongly correlated itinerant electrons ([Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] are the phonon and electron velocities, respectively). For the complex correlated electron systems we further show that charge diffusivity, while also reaching the Planckian relaxation bound, is largely dominated by the Fermi velocity of the electrons, hence suggesting that it is only the thermal (energy) diffusivity that describes chaos diffusivity.

Signature of quantum chaos in operator entanglement in 2d CFTs

We study operator entanglement measures of the unitary evolution operators of (1 + 1)-dimensional conformal field theories (CFTs), aiming to uncover their scrambling and chaotic behaviors. In particular, we compute the bi-partite and tri-partite mutual information for various configurations of input and output subsystems, and as a function of time. We contrast three different CFTs: the free fermion theory, compactified free boson theory at various radii, and CFTs with holographic dual. We find that the bi-partite mutual information exhibits distinct behaviors for these different CFTs, reflecting the different information scrambling capabilities of these unitary operators; while a quasi-particle picture can describe the case of the free fermion and free boson CFTs well, it completely fails for the case of holographic CFTs. Similarly, the tri-partite mutual information also distinguishes the unitary evolution operators of different CFTs. In particular, its late-time behaviors, when the output subsystems are semi-infinite, are quite distinct for these theories. We speculate that for holographic theories the late-time saturation value of the tri-partite mutual information takes the largest possible negative value and saturates the lower bound among quantum field theories.

The chiral SYK model

We study the generalization of the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model to a 1 + 1 dimensional chiral SYK model of N flavors of right-moving chiral Majorana fermions with all-to-all random 4-fermion interactions. The interactions in this model are exactly marginal, leading to an exact scaling symmetry. We show the Schwinger-Dyson equation of this model in the large N limit is exactly solvable. In addition, we show this model is integrable for small N ≤ 6 by bosonization. Surprisingly, the two point function in the large N limit has exactly the same form as that for N = 4, although the four point functions of the two cases are quite different. The ground state entropy in the large N limit is the same as that of N free chiral Majorana fermions, leading to a zero ground state entropy density. The OTOC of the model in the large N limit exhibits a non-trivial spacetime structure reminscent of that found by Gu and Kitaev [1] for generic SYK-like models. Specifically we find a Lyapunov regime inside an asymmetric butterfly cone, which are signatures of quantum chaos, and that the maximal velocity dependent Lyapunov exponent approaches the chaos bound 2π/β as the interaction strength approaches its physical upper bound. Finally, the model is integrable for (at least) N ≤ 6 but chaotic in the large N limit, leading us to conjecture that there is a transition from integrability to chaos as N increases past a critical value.

Effect of system energy on quantum signatures of chaos in the two-photon Dicke model.

We have studied entanglement entropy and Husimi Q distribution as a tool to explore chaos in the quantum two-photon Dicke model. With the increase of the energy of a system, the linear entanglement entropy of a coherent state prepared in the classical chaotic and regular regions becomes more distinguishable, and the corresponding relationship between the distribution of time-averaged entanglement entropy and the classical Poincaré section has clearly been improved. Moreover, Husimi Q distribution for the initial states corresponding to the points in the chaotic region in the higher-energy system disperses more quickly than that in the lower-energy system. Our results imply that higher system energy has contributed to distinguishing between the chaotic and regular behavior in the quantum two-photon Dicke model.

Quantum signatures of chaos, thermalization, and tunneling in the exactly solvable few-body kicked top.

Exactly solvable models that exhibit quantum signatures of classical chaos are both rare as well as important-more so in view of the fact that the mechanisms for ergodic behavior and thermalization in isolated quantum systems and its connections to nonintegrability are under active investigation. In this work, we study quantum systems of few qubits collectively modeled as a kicked top, a textbook example of quantum chaos. In particular, we show that the three- and four-qubit cases are exactly solvable and yet, interestingly, can display signatures of ergodicity and thermalization. Deriving analytical expressions for entanglement entropy and concurrence, we see agreement in certain parameter regimes between long-time average values and ensemble averages of random states with permutation symmetry. Comparing with results using the data of a recent transmons-based experiment realizing the three-qubit case, we find agreement for short times, including a peculiar steplike behavior in correlations of some states. In the case of four qubits we point to a precursor of dynamical tunneling between what in the classical limit would be two stable islands. Numerical results for larger number of qubits show the emergence of the classical limit including signatures of a bifurcation.

High harmonic generation and the billiards

Abstract The problem of underlying classical dynamics chaotic and regular in quantum and classical billiards and their influence on high-order harmonic generation are investigated. The results concerning the Bunimovich stadium and rectangular billiards are given. The quantum billiard with an electron in a micron-sized quantum dot is assumed. Then the quantum dot in the kicking electric field is considered. The reflection symmetry of billiards is crucial for the emergence of harmonics. The harmonics can have different forms from an ideal δ-spike to a barely recognizable form. For the Bunimovich stadium with fully chaotic dynamics, emission peaks in the spectrum can have such a barely recognizable shape for some initial states and this may depend on the electric field orientation. In the case of rectangular quantum billiard with regular dynamics, emission peaks in the form of ideal δ-spikes always appear. Thus, it would be a new experimentally verifiable signature of quantum chaos. The same problem is also but strictly classically considered. It has been shown that the emission spectrum with high-order harmonics exists in this case as well. Comparison of intensities of harmonics for Bunimovich stadium, circular and rectangular billiards is given. It is highlighted that the harmonic peaks for the Bunimovich stadium are lower than for the other two regular billiards. This can be the criterion for the existence of classical chaos as well.

Quantum chaos and entanglement in ergodic and nonergodic systems.

We study entanglement entropy (EE) as a signature of quantum chaos in ergodic and nonergodic systems. In particular we look at the quantum kicked top and kicked rotor as multispin systems and investigate the single-spin EE which characterizes bipartite entanglement of this spin with the rest of the system. We study the correspondence of the Kolmogorov-Sinai entropy of the classical kicked systems with the EE of their quantum counterparts. We find that EE is a signature of global chaos in ergodic systems and local chaos in nonergodic systems. In particular, we show that EE can be maximized even when systems are highly nonergodic, when the corresponding classical system is locally chaotic. In contrast, we find evidence that the quantum analog of Kolmogorov-Arnol'd-Moser (KAM) tori are tori of low entanglement entropy. We conjecture that entanglement should play an important role in any quantum KAM theory.

Quantum correlations as probes of chaos and ergodicity

Long-time average behavior of quantum correlations in a multi-qubit system, collectively modeled as a kicked top, is addressed here. The behavior of dynamical generation of quantum correlations such as entanglement, discord, concurrence, as previously studied, and Bell correlation function and tangle, as identified in this study, is a function of initially localized coherent states. Their long-time average reproduces coarse-grained classical phase space structures of the kicked top which contrast, often starkly, chaotic and regular regions. Apart from providing numerical evidence of such correspondence in the semiclassical regime of a large number of qubits, we use data from a recent transmons based experiment to explore this in the deep quantum regime of a 3-qubit kicked top. The degree to which quantum correlations can be regarded as a quantum signature of chaos, and in what ways the various correlation measures are similar or distinct are discussed.

Quantum signature of chaos and thermalization in the kicked Dicke model.

We study the quantum dynamics of the kicked Dicke model (KDM) in terms of the Floquet operator, and we analyze the connection between chaos and thermalization in this context. The Hamiltonian map is constructed by suitably taking the classical limit of the Heisenberg equation of motion to study the corresponding phase-space dynamics, which shows a crossover from regular to chaotic motion by tuning the kicking strength. The fixed-point analysis and calculation of the Lyapunov exponent (LE) provide us with a complete picture of the onset of chaos in phase-space dynamics. We carry out a spectral analysis of the Floquet operator, which includes a calculation of the quasienergy spacing distribution and structural entropy to show the correspondence to the random matrix theory in the chaotic regime. Finally, we analyze the thermodynamics and statistical properties of the bosonic sector as well as the spin sector, and we discuss how such a periodically kicked system relaxes to a thermalized state in accordance with the laws of statistical mechanics.

The Effect of Spin Squeezing on the Entanglement Entropy of Kicked Tops

In this paper, we investigate the effects of spin squeezing on two-coupled quantum kicked tops, which have been previously shown to exhibit a quantum signature of chaos in terms of entanglement dynamics. Our results show that initial spin squeezing can lead to an enhancement in both the entanglement rate and the asymptotic entanglement for kicked tops when the initial state resides in the regular islands within a mixed classical phase space. On the other hand, we found a reduction in these two quantities if we were to choose the initial state deep inside the chaotic sea. More importantly, we have uncovered that an application of periodic spin squeezing can yield the maximum attainable entanglement entropy, albeit this is achieved at a reduced entanglement rate.

Repulsively interacting fermions in a two-dimensional deformed trap with spin-orbit coupling

We investigate a two-dimensional system of with two values of the internal (spin) degree of freedom. It is confined by a deformed harmonic trap and subject to a Zeeman field, Rashba or Dresselhaus one-body spin-orbit couplings and two-body short range repulsion. We obtain self-consistent mean-field $N$-body solutions as functions of the interaction parameters. Single-particle Spectra and total energies are computed and compared to the results without interaction. We perform a statistical analysis for the distributions of nearest neighbor energy level spacings and show that quantum signatures of chaos are seen in certain parameters regimes. Furthermore, the effects of two-body repulsion on the nearest neighbor distributions are investigated. This repulsion can either promote or destroy the signatures of potential chaotic behavior depending on relative strengths of parameters. Our findings support the suggestion that cold atoms may be used to study quantum chaos both in the presence and absence of interactions.