Comment on "Non-monotonicity in the Quantum-Classical Transition: Chaos Induced by Quantum Effects"

Abstract

In a recent Letter [PRL 101, 074101 (2008)], Kapulkin and Pattanayak presented evidence that a quantum Duffing oscillator, sufficiently damped so that it is not classically chaotic, becomes chaotic in the transition region between quantum and classical motion. If true, this would be a striking result. However, Kapulkin and Pattanayak did not calculate the Lyapunov exponent for the system, usually regarded as the litmus-test of chaos. Here we perform this calculation, which throws considerable doubt upon their conclusions.