Signature of classical chaos on quantum tunneling

Abstract

We examine the signature of classical chaos on a generic quantum phenomenon, namely, quantum tunneling in a nonintegrable, conservative two-degree-of-freedom Hamiltonian system. We show that, as one passes from the regular to chaotic regime, the quantum tunneling probability versus coupling-constant curve exhibits a significant change of slope in the neighborhood of the critical chaotic threshold (beyond which classical chaos sets in). This shows that the presence of Kolmogorov-Arnold-Moser barriers of classical phase space manifests in quantum phenomena such as quantum tunneling.