What are the quantum manifestations of classical stochasticity in a discrete level structure?

✍ Scribed by Yitzhak Weissman; Joshua Jortner

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1981
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 564 KB
• Volume: 78
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0009-2614
• DOI: 10.1016/0009-2614(81)80004-8

✦ Synopsis

A numerxal study of the energetics and tune evolution of the quantum-mechamcal Henon-Heiles system does not exhibit any manifestation of the classical transition from quasiperiodic to chaotic motion. Chaotic quantum-mechsnical dynamics is manifested by rapid dephasing of initially coherent wavepackets both below and above the classical transltron. The problem of intramolecular vibrational energy transfer [l-4] is of interest in relation to the elucidation of the consequences of photoseIective excitation of polyatomic molecules [S] . Theoretical research in this area was motivated by advances in classical mechan-KS, which provided a formal basis for the understanding of the dynamics of non-linearly-coupled systems [6-8] _ The classical motion of non-linearly-coupled oscrlla-

tors is expected to exhibit a transition from quasiperiodic ("regular") to chaotic (sometimes referred to as "erratic", "irregular", "stochastic", "statistical" or "ergodic") behavior, the onset of the chaotic behavior being exlubited at a critical energy E, below the dissociation energy ED [g-14]_ Extension of the results of