Quantum chaos in nuclear physics

Resumo

A definition of classical and quantum chaos on the basis of the Liouville–Arnold theorem is proposed. According to this definition, a chaotic quantum system that has N degrees of freedom should have M < N independent first integrals of motion (good quantum numbers) that are determined by the symmetry of the Hamiltonian for the system being considered. Quantitative measures of quantum chaos are established. In the classical limit, they go over to the Lyapunov exponent or the classical stability parameter. The use of quantum-chaos parameters in nuclear physics is demonstrated.