From classical to quantum chaos:Where are we now?

Note: Note: 11:00AM; SCI 328
Speaker: F. M. Izrailev, Instituto de Fisica, BUAP, Mexico, and Michigan State University

When: November 16, 2011 (Wed), 11:00AM to 12:00PM (add to my calendar)
Location: SCI 328
Hosted by: Anatoli Polkovnikov

This event is part of the Condensed Matter Theory Seminar Series.

Abstract: In this lecture we discuss the evolution of our understanding of dynamical chaos emerging in physical systems. We start with mentioning first studies of classical chaos, motivated in early 1957-1967 by practical problems of stability of motion of charged particles in accelerators. With the use of a simple model we show the meaning of Chirikov criterion of overlapping resonances that allows one to find the conditions under which dynamical systems begin to behave in a very irregular way. We demonstrate the effectiveness of this criterion in resolving famous Fermi-Pasta-Ulam problem, originated by the first "computer experiment". Then we pass to quantum systems paying main attention to the meaning of quantum chaos. We conclude our lecture with a brief discussion of open problems of many-body chaos in systems of interacting Fermi and Bose particles.