Periodic Orbit Theory Research Articles

Quantum mechanical calculation of spectral statistics of a modified Kepler problem

For a modified Kepler problem, we reexamine jumps in the saturation spectral rigidity and large oscillations of the level number variance with near zero minima. Earlier discrepancy between the periodic orbit theory and numerical calculation is cleared by a quantum mechanical calculation. A new class of radial periodic orbits is included establishing a complete correspondence between the periodic orbit theory and the quantum mechanical approach. We show that the diagonal approximation for the level density in the periodic orbit theory already gives a good fit with the numerical calculation. Even greater accuracy is achieved by considering coherent interference between the classical periodic orbits term and the Balian-Bloch term. This procedure produces improved results for the hard-wall rectangular billiards as well.

Accelerating Cycle Expansions by Dynamical Conjugacy

Periodic orbit theory provides two important functions---the dynamical zeta function and the spectral determinant for the calculation of dynamical averages in a nonlinear system. Their cycle expansions converge rapidly when the system is uniformly hyperbolic but greatly slowed down in the presence of non-hyperbolicity. We find that the slow convergence can be associated with singularities in the natural measure. A properly designed coordinate transformation may remove these singularities and results in a dynamically conjugate system where fast convergence is restored. The technique is successfully demonstrated on several examples of one-dimensional maps and some remaining challenges are discussed.

Shell structure and orbit bifurcations in finite fermion systems

We first give an overview of the shell-correction method which was developed by V.M. Strutinsky as a practicable and efficient approximation to the general self-consistent theory of finite fermion systems suggested by A.B. Migdal and collaborators. Then we present in more detail a semiclassical theory of shell effects, also developed by Strutinsky following original ideas of M.C. Gutzwiller. We emphasize, in particular, the influence of orbit bifurcations on shell structure. We first give a short overview of semiclassical trace formulae, which connect the shell oscillations of a quantum system with a sum over periodic orbits of the corresponding classical system, in what is usually called the “periodic orbit theory”. We then present a case study in which the gross features of a typical double-humped nuclear fission barrier, including the effects of mass asymmetry, can be obtained in terms of the shortest periodic orbits of a cavity model with realistic deformations relevant for nuclear fission. Next we investigate shell structures in a spheroidal cavity model which is integrable and allows for far-going analytical computation. We show, in particular, how period-doubling bifurcations are closely connected to the existence of the so-called “superdeformed” energy minimum which corresponds to the fission isomer of actinide nuclei. Finally, we present a general class of radial power-law potentials which approximate well the shape of a Woods-Saxon potential in the bound region, give analytical trace formulae for it and discuss various limits (including the harmonic oscillator and the spherical box potentials).

Semiclassical shell-structure moment of inertia for equilibrium rotation of a simple Fermi system

Semiclassical shell-structure components of the collectivemoment of inertia are derived within the mean-field cranking model in the adiabatic approximation in terms of the free-energy shell corrections through those of a rigid body for the statistically equilibriumrotation of a Fermi system at finite temperature by using the nonperturbative extended Gutzwiller periodic-orbit theory. Their analytical structure in terms of the equatorial and 3-dimensional periodic orbits for the axially symmetric harmonic oscillator potential is in perfect agreement with the quantum results for different critical bifurcation deformations and different temperatures.

Semiclassical shell structure in rotating Fermi systems

The collective moment of inertia is derived analytically within the cranking model for any rotational frequency of the harmonic-oscillator potential well and at a finite temperature. Semiclassical shell-structure components of the collective moment of inertia are obtained for any potential by using the periodic-orbit theory. We found semiclassically their relation to the free-energy shell corrections through the shell-structure components of the rigid-body moment of inertia of the statistically equilibrium rotation in terms of short periodic orbits. The shell effects in the moment of inertia exponentially disappear with increasing temperature. For the case of the harmonic-oscillator potential, one observes a perfect agreement of the semiclassical and quantum shell-structure components of the free energy and the moment of inertia for several critical bifurcation deformations and several temperatures.

A NOTE ON NIELSEN TYPE NUMBERS

【The Reidemeister orbit set plays a crucial role in the Nielsen type theory of periodic orbits, such as the Reidemeister set does in Nielsen fixed point theory. In this paper, using Heath and You's methods on Nielsen type numbers, we show that these numbers can be evaluated by the set of essential orbit classes under suitable hypotheses, and obtain some formulas in some special cases.】

Comparing periodic-orbit theory to perturbation theory in the asymmetric infinite square well

An infinite square well with a discontinuous step is one of the simplest systems to exhibit non-Newtonian ray-splitting periodic orbits. This system is analyzed using both time-independent perturbation theory (PT) and periodic-orbit theory and the approximate formulas for the energy eigenvalues derived from these two approaches are compared. The periodic orbits of the system can be divided into classes according to how many times they reflect from the potential step. Different classes of orbits contribute to different orders of PT. The dominant term in the second-order PT correction is due to non-Newtonian orbits that reflect from the step exactly once. In the limit in which PT converges, the periodic-orbit theory results agree with those of PT, but outside of this limit the periodic-orbit theory gives much more accurate results for energies above the potential step.

SEMICLASSICAL SHELL STRUCTURE OF MOMENTS OF INERTIA IN DEFORMED FERMI SYSTEMS

The collective moment of inertia is derived analytically within the cranking model in the adiabatic mean-field approximation at finite temperature. Using the nonperturbative periodic-orbit theory the semiclassical shell-structure components of the collective moment of inertia are obtained for any potential well. Their relation to the free-energy shell corrections are found semiclassically as being given through the shell-structure components of the rigid-body moment of inertia of the statistically equilibrium rotation in terms of short periodic orbits. Shell effects in the moment of inertia disappear exponentially with increasing temperature. For the case of the harmonic-oscillator potential one observes a perfect agreement between semiclassical and quantum shell-structure components of the free energy and the moment of inertia for several critical bifurcation deformations and several temperatures.

AKP energy levels by a simple shooting scheme for a periodic orbit

We revisit the periodic orbit theory for the anisotropic Kepler problem, which is an important playground for quantum chaos. In order to explore the periodic orbit, Gutzwiller devised an iteration scheme which computes the Fourier coefficients of the orbit iteratively. Here we note, in a nutshell, that all one needs is the primary periodic orbit. We propose an alternative scheme taking into account the symmetry of the target trajectory and the scaling property of the AKP equation of motion. We show that a simple shooting scheme gives the final periodic orbit almost immediately.

Semiclassical theory for universality in quantum chaos with symmetry crossover

We address the quantum-classical correspondence for chaotic systems with a crossover between symmetry classes. We consider the energy-level statistics of a classically chaotic system in a weak magnetic field. The generating function of spectral correlations is calculated by using the semiclassical periodic-orbit theory. An explicit calculation up to the second order, including the non-oscillatory and oscillatory terms, agrees with the prediction of random matrix theory. Formal expressions of the higher order terms are also presented. The nonlinear sigma (NLS) model of random matrix theory, in the variant of the Bosonic replica trick, is also analyzed for the crossover between the Gaussian orthogonal ensemble and Gaussian unitary ensemble. The diagrammatic expansion of the NLS model is interpreted in terms of the periodic-orbit theory.

Periodic-orbit theory of universal level correlations in quantum chaos

Using Gutzwiller's semiclassical periodic-orbit theory, we demonstrate universal behavior of the two-point correlator of the density of levels for quantum systems whose classical limit is fully chaotic. We go beyond previous work in establishing the full correlator such that its Fourier transform, the spectral form factor, is determined for all times, below and above the Heisenberg time. We cover dynamics with and without time-reversal invariance (from the orthogonal and unitary symmetry classes). A key step in our reasoning is to sum the periodic-orbit expansion in terms of a matrix integral, like the one known from the sigma model of random matrix theory.

SITE- AND BOND-DIFFUSION ON REGULAR LATTICES

We consider two types of motion, one with particle occupying only the sites on a given regular lattice and another when the bonds between neighboring lattice sites are displaced to the positions of the neighboring bonds. We refer to these models as site- and bond-diffusion. The latter is equivalent to site-diffusion on a lattice constructed from the middle points on each bond of the original lattice. The transition probability is assumed equal to all neighboring positions. The diffusion constant is obtained by periodic orbit theory for all Archimedean lattices, as well as some three-dimensional lattices (cubic, diamond, body centered cubic and face centered cubic lattice). Every single step of bond-motion is expressed through two site-motion steps. Analytic results for the diffusion constant for bond-diffusion for square, triangular and Kagomé lattice are also obtained. Kurtosis is calculated for site-diffusion on square and (4, 82)-lattice, to estimate the deviation of the distribution of displacements from the Gaussian. All theoretical results are verified with numerical simulation.

A NOTE ON THE SET OF ROOT CLASSES

The set of root classes plays a crucial role in the Nielsen root theory. Extending Brown et al.'s work on the set of root classes of iterates of maps, we rearrange it into the reduced orbit set and show that under suitable hypotheses, any reduced orbit has the full depth property as in the Nielsen type theory of periodic orbits.

Statistical properties of spectral fluctuations for a quantum system with infinitely many components

Extending the idea formulated in Makino [Phys. Rev. E 67, 066205 (2003)], that is based on the Berry-Robnik approach [M. V. Berry and M. Robnik, J. Phys. A 17, 2413 (1984)], we investigate the statistical properties of a two-point spectral correlation for a classically integrable quantum system. The eigenenergy sequence of this system is regarded as a superposition of infinitely many independent components in the semiclassical limit. We derive the level number variance (LNV) in the limit of infinitely many components and discuss its deviations from Poisson statistics. The slope of the limiting LNV is found to be larger than that of Poisson statistics when the individual components have a certain accumulation. This property agrees with the result from the semiclassical periodic-orbit theory that is applied to a system with degenerate torus actions [D. Biswas, M. Azam, and S. V. Lawande, Phys. Rev. A 43, 5694 (1991)].

Periodic-orbit analysis and scaling laws of intermingled basins of attraction in an ecological dynamical system

Chaotic dynamical systems with two or more attractors lying on invariant subspaces may, provided certain mathematical conditions are fulfilled, exhibit intermingled basins of attraction: Each basin is riddled with holes belonging to basins of the other attractors. In order to investigate the occurrence of such phenomenon in dynamical systems of ecological interest (two-species competition with extinction) we have characterized quantitatively the intermingled basins using periodic-orbit theory and scaling laws. The latter results agree with a theoretical prediction from a stochastic model, and also with an exact result for the scaling exponent we derived for the specific class of models investigated. We discuss the consequences of the scaling laws in terms of the predictability of a final state (extinction of either species) in an ecological experiment.

Escape of photons from two fixed extreme Reissner-Nordström black holes

We study the scattering of light (null geodesics) by two fixed extreme Reissner-Nordstr\"om black holes, in which the gravitational attraction of their masses is exactly balanced with the electrostatic repulsion of their charges, allowing a static spacetime. We identify the set of unstable periodic orbits that constitute the fractal repeller that completely describes the chaotic escape dynamics of photons. In the framework of periodic orbit theory, the analysis of the linear stability of the unstable periodic orbits is used to obtain the main quantities of chaos that characterize the escape dynamics of the photons scattered by the black holes. In particular, the escape rate which is compared with the result obtained from numerical simulations that consider statistical ensembles of photons. We also analyze the dynamics of photons in the proximity of a perturbed black hole and give an analytical estimation for the escape rate in this system.

Numerical Continuation of Hamiltonian Relative Periodic Orbits

The bifurcation theory and numerics of periodic orbits of general dynamical systems is well developed, and in recent years, there has been rapid progress in the development of a bifurcation theory for dynamical systems with structure, such as symmetry or symplecticity. But as yet, there are few results on the numerical computation of those bifurcations. The methods we present in this paper are a first step toward a systematic numerical analysis of generic bifurcations of Hamiltonian symmetric periodic orbits and relative periodic orbits (RPOs). First, we show how to numerically exploit spatio-temporal symmetries of Hamiltonian periodic orbits. Then we describe a general method for the numerical computation of RPOs persisting from periodic orbits in a symmetry breaking bifurcation. Finally, we present an algorithm for the numerical continuation of non-degenerate Hamiltonian relative periodic orbits with regular drift-momentum pair. Our path following algorithm is based on a multiple shooting algorithm for the numerical computation of periodic orbits via an adaptive Poincare section and a tangential continuation method with implicit reparametrization. We apply our methods to continue the famous figure eight choreography of the three-body system. We find a relative period doubling bifurcation of the planar rotating eight family and compute the rotating choreographies bifurcating from it. © 2008 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.

Anomalous shell effect in the transition from a circular to a triangular billiard

We apply periodic orbit theory to a two-dimensional nonintegrable billiard system whose boundary is varied smoothly from a circular to an equilateral triangular shape. Although the classical dynamics becomes chaotic with increasing triangular deformation, it exhibits an astonishingly pronounced shell effect on its way through the shape transition. A semiclassical analysis reveals that this shell effect emerges from a codimension-2 bifurcation of the triangular periodic orbit. Gutzwiller's semiclassical trace formula, using a global uniform approximation for the bifurcation of the triangular orbit and including the contributions of the other isolated orbits, describes very well the coarse-grained quantum-mechanical level density of this system. We also discuss the role of discrete symmetry for the large shell effect obtained here.

Intermittency transition to generalized synchronization in coupled time-delay systems

We report the nature of the transition to generalized synchronization (GS) in a system of two coupled scalar piecewise linear time-delay systems using the auxiliary system approach. We demonstrate that the transition to GS occurs via an on-off intermittency route and that it also exhibits characteristically distinct behaviors for different coupling configurations. In particular, the intermittency transition occurs in a rather broad range of coupling strength for the error feedback coupling configuration and in a narrow range of coupling strength for the direct feedback coupling configuration. It is also shown that the intermittent dynamics displays periodic bursts of periods equal to the delay time of the response system in the former case, while they occur in random time intervals of finite duration in the latter case. The robustness of these transitions with system parameters and delay times has also been studied for both linear and nonlinear coupling configurations. The results are corroborated analytically by suitable stability conditions for asymptotically stable synchronized states and numerically by the probability of synchronization and by the transition of sub-Lyapunov exponents of the coupled time-delay systems. We have also indicated the reason behind these distinct transitions by referring to the unstable periodic orbit theory of intermittency synchronization in low-dimensional systems.

Low-lying collective excitations of nuclei as a semiclassical response

For the low-lying multipole collective excitations in nuclei, the transport coefficients of the response function theory, such as the inertia and the friction, are derived within the periodic orbit theory in the lowest orders of semiclassical expansion corresponding to the extended Thomas-Fermi approach with the surface and the curvature corrections. The collective vibrations near the spherical shape are described in the mean-field approximation through the spherical edgelike potential by using a statistical averaging of the transport coefficients. It is shown that the inertia of the collective motion is significantly larger than that of irrotational hydrodynamical flow. For large enough particle numbers in the nucleus, the mean energies of quadrupole and octupole low-lying collective vibrations, their sum rule contributions, and reduced transition probabilities are in reasonable agreement with experimental data.