Separability and entanglement in classical eigenfunctions as a criterion for Hamiltonian chaos

Abstract

We study the eigenfunctions of the classical Liouville operator and investigate the conditions they must obey to be separable as a product state. We point out that the conditions for separability are equivalent to requirements of Liouville's integrability theorem, this is, the eigenfunctions are separable if and only if the system is integrable. On the other hand, if the classical system is not integrable, then the eigenfunctions are entangled in all canonical coordinates. This results in a link between the classical notions of chaos and integrability with mathematical concepts that are usually restricted to quantum mechanics.