Random Matrix Theory, Quantum Chaos, and Eigenstate Thermalization
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Random Matrix Theory, Quantum Chaos, and Eigenstate Thermalization Hiroki Nakayama Department of Applied Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305 (Dated: July 2, 2020) Submitted as coursework for PH470, Stanford University, Spring 2020 In this paper, the main results from Random Matrix Theory (RMT), quantum chaos and Eigen- state Thermalization Hypothesis (ETH) will be surveyed. The theory behind quantum chaos and ETH is deeply rooted in RMT. It will be found that RMT can be used as an indicator for quantum chaos by analyzing the distribution of energy level spacing in quantum systems. ETH is a general- ization of RMT in that one can reproduce RMT from ETH in a narrow energy window. The paper explores the connections in RMT, quantum chaos, and ETH. c (Hiroki Nakayama). The author warrants that the work is the author's own and that Stanford University provided no input other than typesetting and referencing guidelines. The author grants permission to copy, distribute, and display this work in unaltered form, with attribution to the author, for noncommercial purposes only. All of the rights, including commercial rights, are reserved to the author. I. INTRODUCTION focusing on their wave functions, one should instead fo- cus on the observables. In his theorem, the quantum A classical system in which its motions are governed by ergodic theorem, he stated that observable will relax to 9 non-linear equations can exhibit chaotic motions. Chaos a microcanonical distribution at later times. This relax- in the classical sense means that the the system has an ation of observables to the microcanonical distribution exquisite sensitivity to small perturbations in its phase- is called thermalization, a concept deeply connected to space trajectories. A famous example is the ”Butterfly RMT. Since RMT was limited in describing physical ob- Effect”, illustrating the point that any small difference in servables in real systems, in the 1990's Srednicki gen- the initial condition can cause chaotic behavior. eralized its notion by making an ansatz, known as the 1,4{6 On the other hand, this notion of classical chaos does Eigenstate Thermalization Hypothesis (ETH). not apply directly to a quantum mechanical system, in Following the discussions given by D'Alessio et.al.1, which its dynamics is governed by the linear Schr¨odinger this paper will survey some of the key concepts in RMT, equation. As in classical chaotic systems, one can use quantum chaos and ETH. The goal of this paper is to phase-space methods to describe quantum mechanical illustrate how these concepts relate to one another. systems; however, the notion of trajectory is meaning- less since the uncertainty principle forbids simultaneous measurement of coordinates and momenta. In such case, one may ask what chaos is, in the quantum mechanical setting. II. CLASSICAL CHAOS Although, to this day, there is no precise definition of quantum chaos, it is referred to as chaos in the quan- A. Phase space and Liouville's Theorem tum mechanical setting. The basis for the understanding of quantum chaos has been formulated by Wigner and Dyson to understand the spectra of complex atomic nu- Suppose we have a system of N point particle systems clei, now called Random Matrix Theory (RMT).1 The in which the position qi and momenta pi of each par- idea of this theory is that rather than finding the exact ticle is known, where i indicates the i-th particle. For eigenspectra of chaotic Hamiltonians, one should instead instance, let there be N particles. In this case, if the probe their statistics. position and momentum for each particle have 3 compo- Following this idea, Bohigas, Giannoni, and Schmit nents, then the subscript i will run from 1 to 3N. A pair has formulated the BGS conjecture stating that quantum of position and momentum (qi; pi) is referred to as the systems with a classical chaotic analog are described by degree of freedom. In the example above, the degree of RMT.3 If the energy level spacing of arbitary quantum freedom is then, 3N. 3N of these pairs are needed to systems follow this he Wigner-Dyson distribution, then describe a dynamical system. it can be said that the system is a quantum chaotic sys- Consider a conserved system, or in other words, a sys- tem. RMT acts as a tool to indicate whether a quantum tem without any dissipation. A Hamiltonian of such sys- system is chaotic or not. tem is described as a function of qi and pi that completely RMT also has deep connections with thermalization describes the system. The dynamics of the system can be of quantum mechanical systems. von Neumann's insight expressed by considering the time evolution of the vari- for quantum mechanical systems was that rather than ables, qi and pi, namely, qi(t) and pi(t). In such case, the 2 following Hamilton's equations,2 conditions inside a volume in phase space will stay con- dρ 2 stant. This allows us to make the notion that dt = 0. @H(q; p) dq 2 = i (1) Applying this to (5), we get the following, @pi dt @ρ X @ρ @H @ρ @H + − = 0: (6) @t @q @p @p @q @H(q; p) dp i i i i i = − i (2) @qi dt This is called the Liouville's theorem. The terms inside the brackets describe how the density ρ varies with re- where i = 1;:::; 3N, if as in the above example, each spect to q and p. On the other hand, @ρ describes the dy- particle has 3 components for their momenta and posi- @t namics of ρ at a fixed point defined in phase space. What tion. It is worth noting that the Hamilton's equations this theorem implies is that ρ does not evolve chaotically are coupled equations for each degree of freedom. because it is linear in ρ. In other words, if the system The Hamiltonian for the conserved system is depen- starts in a different initial condition, then the probability dent on momenta p, and position q. Let the system distribution of the initial conditions will not evolve ex- not be subject to time dependent forces. The total time ponentially compared to the original distribution. This derivative of the system can be found by the following,2 notion can be extended not only for non-chaotic systems, but also for chaotic systems in which the trajectories are dH(q; p) X @H dpi @H dqi @H = + + : (3) 2 dt @p dt @q dt @t diverging exponentially. i i i Due to the assumption that the system is not subject to @H B. Integrable and nonintegrable systems time dependent forces, @t = 0. Now, using the coupled differential equations for the position and momenta,2 Consider a conserved system with its trajectory in @H @H @H @H phase space start at initial condition (q0; p0). Since the − = 0: (4) system is conserved, the energy of the system will have @qi @pi @pi @qi the same value at later times, which leads us to write If (4) holds true for each i in (3), it can be concluded that the Hamiltonian as H(q(t); p(t)) = H(q0; p0). Here, dH(q;p) (q(t); p(t)) is the trajectory in phase space. Recall Hamil- dt = 0 and H itself is a conserved quantity of the system. If H is the total energy, what ever the motion ton's equation considering momenta in (2). Consider a case where @H = − dpi = 0. From this, we can say of the trajectories are in phase space (discussed in this @qi dt section later), H is constant. that when H does not have dependence on qi, there is Next, the notion of Phase space of a conserved system no time dependence on pi. Therefore, in this system, will be mentioned. Phase space is a space created by the trajectories are constrained by the constant energy position p and momenta q. Let a system under consider- value H(q0; p0) and pi values. If the system has N de- ation have N degrees of freedom, then its dimensionality grees of freedom, and a total of M conserved quantities, is 2N since each degree of freedom is represented by the then the trajectories will be on a 2N − M dimensional pair q and p. In such conserved systems H(q; p) = E, surface. There are two types of conserved systems: inte- where E is a constant energy value defined by the initial grable and nonintegrable systems. A system is said to be conditions of q and p. The trajectory that the system integrable if the number of conserved quantities is equal will follow in phase space will be confined to this 2N − 1 or greater than the number of degrees of freedom. On the dimensional constant energy surface.2 other hand, a system is considered nonintegrable if the Notice that there are multiple possibilities of initial number of conserved quantities is fewer than the number conditions that the system can take. Therefore, we can of degrees of freedom. In an nonintegrable system there define a distribution of initial conditions in phase space. are less constraints on the trajectories, therefore mak- Let the probability density function of the distribution ing them able able to travel through phase space more be represented as ρ(q; p). In this case, this function is freely. In such system, chaotic motions are possible. In defined so that the probability P (q; p) of finding a tra- an integrable system, on the other hand, the motions of jectory in an infinitesimal volume dV in phase space is the system are constrained by the conserved quantities; defined by P (q; p) = ρ(q; p)dV .