Quantum Mechanical Out-Of-Time-Ordered-Correlators for the Anharmonic (Quartic) Oscillator

Abstract

Out-of-time-ordered correlators (OTOCs) have been suggested as a means to study quantum chaotic behavior in various systems. In this work, I calculate OTOCs for the quantum mechanical anharmonic oscillator with quartic potential, which is classically integrable and has a Poisson-like energy-level distribution. For low temperature, OTOCs are periodic in time, similar to results for the harmonic oscillator and the particle in a box. For high temperature, OTOCs exhibit a rapid (but power-like) rise at early times, followed by saturation consistent with $2\langle x^2\rangle_T \langle p^2\rangle_T$ at late times. At high temperature, the spectral form factor decreases at early times, bounces back and then reaches a plateau with strong fluctuations.