Resonances and adiabatic invariance in classical and quantum scattering theory

Abstract

We discover that the energy-integral of time-delay is an adiabatic invariant in quantum scattering theory and corresponds classically to the phase space volume. The integral thus found provides a quantization condition for resonances, explaining a series of results recently found in non-relativistic and relativistic regimes. Further, a connection between statistical quantities like quantal resonance-width and classical friction has been established with a classically deterministic quantity, the stability exponent of an adiabatically perturbed periodic orbit. This relation can be employed to estimate the rate of energy dissipation in finite quantum systems.