Semiclassical spatial correlations in chaotic wave functions

Abstract

We study the spatial autocorrelation of energy eigenfunctions $\psi_n({\bf q})$ corresponding to classically chaotic systems in the semiclassical regime. Our analysis is based on the Weyl-Wigner formalism for the spectral average $C_{\epsilon}({\bf q^{+}},{\bf q^{-}},E)$ of $\psi_n({\bf q}^{+})\psi_n^*({\bf q}^{-})$, defined as the average over eigenstates within an energy window $\epsilon$ centered at $E$. In this framework $C_{\epsilon}$ is the Fourier transform in momentum space of the spectral Wigner function $W({\bf x},E;\epsilon)$. Our study reveals the chord structure that $C_{\epsilon}$ inherits from the spectral Wigner function showing the interplay between the size of the spectral average window, and the spatial separation scale. We discuss under which conditions is it possible to define a local system independent regime for $C_{\epsilon}$. In doing so, we derive an expression that bridges the existing formulae in the literature and find expressions for $C_{\epsilon}({\bf q^{+}}, {\bf q^{-}},E)$ valid for any separation size $|{\bf q^{+}}-{\bf q^{-}}|$.