Periodic orbits, breaktime and localization

Abstract. The main aim of this paper is to realize that it is feasible to construct a ‘periodic orbit theory ’ of localization by extending the idea of classical action correlations. This possibility had been questioned by many researchers in the field of ‘quantum chaos’. Starting from the semiclassical trace formula, we formulate a quantal-classical duality relation that connects the spectral properties of the quantal spectrum to the statistical properties of lengths of periodic orbits. By identifying the classical correlation scale it is possible to extend the semiclassical theory of spectral statistics, in case of a complex systems, beyond the limitations that are implied by the diagonal approximation. We discuss the quantal dynamics of a particle in a disordered system. The various regimes are defined in terms of time-disorder ‘phase diagram’. As expected, the breaktime may be ‘disorder limited ’ rather than ‘volume limited’, leading to localization if it is shorter than the ergodic time. Qualitative agreement with scaling theory of localization in one to three dimensions is demonstrated. 1