Complexity of quantum motion and quantum-classical correspondence: A phase-space approach

Abstract

We discuss the connection between the out-of-time-ordered correlator and the number of harmonics of the phase-space Wigner distribution function. In particular, we show that both quantities grow exponentially for chaotic dynamics, with a rate determined by the largest Lyapunov exponent of the underlying classical dynamics, and algebraically -- linearly or quadratically -- for integrable dynamics. It is then possible to use such quantities to detect in the time domain the integrability to chaos crossover in many-body quantum systems.