Semiclassical Accuracy in Phase Space for Regular and Chaotic Dynamics

Abstract

A phase-space semiclassical approximation valid to $O(\hbar)$ at short times is used to compare semiclassical accuracy for long-time and stationary observables in chaotic, stable, and mixed systems. Given the same level of semiclassical accuracy for the short time behavior, the squared semiclassical error in the chaotic system grows linearly in time, in contrast with quadratic growth in the classically stable system. In the chaotic system, the relative squared error at the Heisenberg time scales linearly with $\hbar_{\rm eff}$, allowing for unambiguous semiclassical determination of the eigenvalues and wave functions in the high-energy limit, while in the stable case the eigenvalue error always remains of the order of a mean level spacing. For a mixed classical phase space, eigenvalues associated with the chaotic sea can be semiclassically computed with greater accuracy than the ones associated with stable islands.