Quantum scar affecting the motion of three interacting particles in a circular trap

Abstract

We theoretically propose a quantum scar affecting the motion of three interacting particles in a circular trap. We numerically calculate the quantum eigenstates of the system and show that some of them are scarred by a classically unstable periodic trajectory, in the vicinity of which the classical analog exhibits chaos. The few-body scar we consider is stabilized by quantum mechanics, and we analyze it along the lines of the original quantum scarring mechanism [Heller, Phys. Rev. Lett. 53, 1515 (1984)]. In particular, we identify towers of scarred quantum states which we fully explain in terms of the unstable classical trajectory underlying the scar. Our proposal is within experimental reach owing to very recent advances in Rydberg atom trapping.