Universal spectral form factor for chaotic dynamics

Abstract

We consider the semiclassical limit of the spectral form factor $K(\tau)$ of fully chaotic dynamics. Starting from the Gutzwiller type double sum over classical periodic orbits we set out to recover the universal behavior predicted by random-matrix theory, both for dynamics with and without time reversal invariance. For times smaller than half the Heisenberg time $T_H\propto \hbar^{-f+1}$, we extend the previously known $\tau$-expansion to include the cubic term. Beyond confirming random-matrix behavior of individual spectra, the virtue of that extension is that the ``diagrammatic rules'' come in sight which determine the families of orbit pairs responsible for all orders of the $\tau$-expansion.