Scarring and the statistics of tunnelling

Abstract

We show that the statistics of tunnelling can be dramatically affected by scarring and derive distributions quantifying this effect. Strong deviations from the prediction of random matrix theory can be explained quantitatively by modifying the Gaussian distribution which describes wavefunction statistics. The modified distribution depends on classical parameters which are determined completely by linearised dynamics around a periodic orbit. This distribution generalises the scarring theory of Kaplan [Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 80}, 2582 (1998)] to describe the statistics of the components of the wavefunction in a complete basis, rather than overlaps with single Gaussian wavepackets. In particular it is shown that correlations in the components of the wavefunction are present, which can strongly influence tunnelling-rate statistics. The resulting distribution for tunnelling rates is tested successfully on a two-dimensional double-well potential.