Ehrenfest times for classically chaotic systems

Abstract

We describe the quantum mechanical spreading of a Gaussian wave packet by means of the semiclassical WKB approximation of Berry and Balazs. We find that the time scale $\tau$ on which this approximation breaks down in a chaotic system is larger than the Ehrenfest times considered previously. In one dimension $\tau=\fr{7}{6}\lambda^{-1}\ln(A/\hbar)$, with $\lambda$ the Lyapunov exponent and $A$ a typical classical action.