Semiclassical spectra from periodic-orbit clusters in a mixed phase space

Abstract

We determine semiclassical quasienergy spectra from periodic orbits for a system with a mixed phase space, the kicked top. Throughout the transition from integrability to well developed chaos the standard error incurred for the quasienergies is a small percentage of their mean spacing. Such fine accuracy does not even require the angular momentum quantum number $j\propto 1/\hbar$ to be large; it already prevails for $j=1,2,3$. To open the way towards a reliable spectrum the conventional trace formula à la Gutzwiller has to be extended by including (i) ghosts, i.e., complex predecessors of bifurcating orbits and the possibility of Stokes transitions undergone by such complex orbits and (ii) collective contributions of clusters of periodic orbits near bifurcations. Even bifurcations of codimension higher than one must be reckoned with by accounting for the clusters involved through the appropriate diffraction integrals.