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APS » Journals » Phys. Rev. E » Volume 79 » Issue 2
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Phys. Rev. E 79, 025201(R) (2009) [4 pages]

How complex is quantum motion?

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Giuliano Benenti1,2 and Giulio Casati1,2,3
1CNISM, CNR-INFM, and Center for Nonlinear and Complex Systems, Università degli Studi dell’Insubria, Via Valleggio 11, 22100 Como, Italy
2Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Milano, Via Celoria 16, 20133 Milano, Italy
3Centre for Quantum Technologies, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117543

Received 25 July 2008; revised 15 January 2009; published 24 February 2009

In classical mechanics the complexity of a dynamical system is characterized by the rate of local exponential instability which effaces the memory of initial conditions and leads to practical irreversibility. In striking contrast, quantum mechanics appears to exhibit strong memory of the initial state. Here we introduce a notion of complexity for a quantum system and relate it to its stability and reversibility properties.

© 2009 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevE.79.025201
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevE.79.025201
PACS:
05.45.Mt, 03.65.Sq, 05.45.Pq
 
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