# Poincaré’s Recurrence Theorem and the Unitarity of the 𝑺–Matrix

## Abstract

A scattering process can be described by suitably closing the system and considering the first return map from the entrance onto itself. This scattering map may be singular and discontinuous, but it will be measure preserving as a consequence of the recurrence theorem applied to any region of a simpler map. In the case of a billiard this is the Birkhoff map. The semiclassical quantization of the Birkhoff map can be subdivided into an entrance and a repeller. The construction of a scattering operator then follows in exact analogy to the classical process. Generically, the approximate unitarity of the semiclassical Birkhoff map is inherited by the $`S`$–matrix, even for highly resonant scattering where direct quantization of the scattering map breaks down.

For a classical conservative system, whether discrete or continuous in time, Poincaré’s celebrated theorem can be reduced to the general statement that the probability for an orbit to return to any given region is unity if the motion is bounded. There is no restriction on the time this recurrence will take, which may vary widely among orbits starting in different subregions. In any case, by waiting a sufficiently long time, the first return of each trajectory defines a measure preserving map of the region onto itself.

The essential boundedness of the system in no way hinders its application to classical scattering problems, because we can always choose the appointed region to coincide with the opening of the scattering system to the outside world. Since we are only interested in the first return of the orbits to the chosen region, it makes no difference that the system is not really closed. In other words, we can still apply the theorem if the union of the scatterer and the opening combine to form a bounded measure preserving map.

As a first example consider the simple scattering system composed of a circular billiard opening onto a straight tube, as shown in Fig. 1. In this case, the closure of the dynamical system can be reduced to the Birkhoff map (or bounce map) for specular collisions of the straight trajectories with the circular boundary. The phase space is defined by the boundary coordinate $`s`$ (or the angle $`\theta `$, in the case of unit radius) and $`p_s`$, the tangential momentum (proportional to $`\mathrm{cos}\alpha `$, where $`\alpha `$ is the angle of incidence).

The closed dynamics is very simple in this case: $`p_s`$ is constant (integrable motion) and $`\mathrm{\Delta }\theta =2\alpha `$. Nonetheless, the scattering map of the orbits returning to the opening is discontinuous. Indeed it is composed of an infinite sequence of diminishing subregions, of which the first few are shown in Fig. 2. Therefore a maximally simple closed dynamics induces a relatively complex (resonant) scattering map. It is only in the (non resonant) limit where the size of the opening approaches the diameter of the circle that the scattering map is also simple.

Consider now the less obvious example of the specular scattering from three disks, that has become the paradigm of chaotic classical scattering. It may appear that our choice of closing surface in Fig. 3 amounts to an overkill, since we are not interested in orbits such as a in Fig. 3. However this integrable motion described in the previous example does not mix with the scattering orbits such as b, so we can substract it from the phase space of our system. This is then composed of the Birkhoff coordinates of the external circuit, restricted to small $`p_s`$ added to the full Birkhoff coordinates of the three scattering circles, as shown in Fig. 4. Evidently, we obtain the useful asymptotic scattering picture by making the radius of the outer circle arbitrarily large, so that we can identify the exit direction of an orbit with the point where it collides with the outer circle. Even so, the useful area for the outer circle in the phase space of Fig. 4 will be smaller than that of the three disks combined.

The dynamics for the first return of the closed map is indicated by the different regions in Fig. 4. This is less trivial than in the previous example, but it is nowhere singular. The first return map between the four circles is hyperbolic and discontinuous similarly to the baker’s transformation, but the full complexity of the motion only arises through the multiple iterations needed to compose the scattering map of first returns to the outer circle. This map exhibits a fractal structure of singularities generated by motion that nearly enters on the stable manifold of periodic orbits within the scatterer.

In both our simple examples it may still be necessary to relate the map restricted to the opening to a map purely determined by the mesurement to be performed. In the case of the circle that opens onto the tube, one is finally concerned with the orbits entering and leaving the other end of the tube, whereas in the three disc case we should connect the enclosing circle to an asymptotically large circle. The resulting map is known as the Poincaré scattering map. Our immediate concern will be the quantization of the (first return) internal map rather than the details of its outer connections.

An evident conceptual advantage is achieved by understanding the structure of scattering maps on the basis of multiple iterations of their closure, even though it may be necessary to reverse this procedure in experimental situations. Our purpose is now to show that we can transfer to semiclassical scattering a construction of open and closed systems corresponding to the one which we have been employing in the classical theory.

The starting point is to note that we can always define a finite Hilbert space that will correspond semiclassically to a finite phase space. Indeed, the dimension of the Hilbert space corresponding to a two dimensional classical phase space of area $`A`$ will be $`N=A/2\pi \mathrm{}`$, where $`\mathrm{}`$ is Planck’s constant. The prescription given by Miller for the approximately unitary quantum map $`U`$, is given in the coordinate representation as

$$U(q,q^{})\frac{1}{\sqrt{2\pi \mathrm{}}}\underset{j}{}\left|\frac{^2\sigma _j}{qq^{}}\right|^{1/2}e^{i\sigma (q,q^{})/\mathrm{}+i\mu _j},$$
(1)   
where $`\mu _j`$ is the Maslov phase and $`\sigma _j(q,q^{})`$ stands for the generating function of the classical map, given implicitly by

$$p^{}=\frac{\sigma _j}{q^{}},p=\frac{\sigma _j}{q},$$
(2)   
the index $`j`$ indicating that there may be more than one orbit for a given pair of points $`(q^{},q)`$. Of course, we should worry about the discretization of coordinates, due to the finite dimension ($`N`$) of the Hilbert space, but the approximations will hold when $`N`$ is large. Furthermore, the semiclassical approximation (1) will leave out evanescent modes and diffraction effects (e.g. in the three disks problem), but again these will give relatively small contributions in the large $`N`$ limit.

We can check the approximate unitarity of (1) by noting that, for each continuous region of area $`A_j`$

$$N_j=\text{Tr}U_jU_j^{}\frac{dqdq^{}}{2\pi \mathrm{}}\left|\frac{^2\sigma _j}{qq^{}}\right|=\frac{A_j}{2\pi \mathrm{}}.$$
(3)   
Thus, we are quantizing separately each subregion in a way that increases border effects for discontinuous maps with many subdivisions. We have shown that this is typical of scattering maps. If they are sufficiently resonant as in our examples, we obtain $`N_j\stackrel{<}{}1`$ for many subregions, which are hence beyond the range of validity of the Miller prescription. The quantum signature of this resonance problem is the need to account for a large number of evanescent modes that cannot be related to real classical orbits.

It is important to note that a given scattering experiment may involve the amplitude of a single element of the $`S`$–matrix in the appropriate representation. We thus require detailed local knowledge of this operator, rather than merely its traces or other coarse grained information. Experience with the quantized baker’s map and other discontinuous maps analogous to the present scattering situation, shows that an iteration of the map may have a reasonable semiclassical approximation for its trace beyond the time when the semiclassical approximation for the full map has broken down. Moreover, we are not concerned with the small departure from unitarity of the Miller construction for a continuous classical map. Instead we seek to remedy its complete breakdown for highly resonant scattering maps.

The way out is to rely on the construction of the scattering map from the multiple iterations of the simpler closed map. We thus need the following result, which may be considered as the quantization of the recurrence thorem:

Given a finite Hilbert space $`H_N`$ subdivided into two orthogonal subspaces $`H_{N_0}=P_0H_N`$ and $`H_{N_1}=P_1H_N`$ (such that the projection operators $`P_0+P_1=1_N`$) and given an unitary operator $`U_N`$ defined on $`H_N`$, then the operator

$$S_{N_0}=P_0U_N\left[1P_1U_N\right]^1P_0=P_0U_N\underset{m=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\left(P_1U_N\right)^mP_0$$
(4)   
is unitary on $`H_{N_0}`$. It should be noted that this is a much stronger property than the obvious “weak unitarity” statement

$$\psi _0H_{N_0}:|\psi _0|^2=\underset{m=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}|P_0U_N\left(P_1U_N\right)^m\psi _0|^2,$$
(5)   
which corresponds to the overall conservation of classical probability. To outline the proof of the theorem, we define the rectangular blocks of the operator $`U_N`$, namely $`U_{ij}=P_iUP_j`$, and their hermitian conjugates $`U_{ij}^{}=P_jU^{}P_i`$. The unitarity of $`U_N`$ implies

$`U_{00}U_{00}^{}+U_{01}U_{10}^{}`$ $`=`$ $`1_{N_0}`$ (6)   
$`U_{00}U_{01}^{}+U_{01}U_{11}^{}`$ $`=`$ $`0`$ (7)   
$`U_{10}U_{01}^{}+U_{11}U_{11}^{}`$ $`=`$ $`1_{N_1},`$ (8)   
where $`1_{N_j}`$ coincides with the nonsingular block of $`P_j`$. In this notation Eq. (4) reads $`S_{N_0}=U_{00}+U_{01}[1_{N_1}U_{11}]^1U_{10}`$. Then it is straightforward, though a little lengthy, to verify that $`S_{N_0}S_{N_0}^{}=S_{N_0}^{}S_{N_0}=1_{N_0}`$ is a consequence of Eqs. (6–8).

Consider now a basis for $`H_{N_1}`$ in which $`P_1U`$ is diagonal, with states $`\psi _1^j`$, and the corresponding eigenvalues $`\lambda _1^j`$. If the elements of $`U`$ that couple such a state to the subspace $`H_{N_0}`$ are labeled $`U_{10}^{jk}`$, then

$$|\lambda _1^j|^2=1\underset{k}{}|U_{10}^{jk}|^2.$$
(9)   
It follows that each eigenvalue of $`P_1U`$ lies inside the unit circle, unless the corresponding eigenstate is completely uncoupled to $`H_{N_0}`$ (in which case this eigenstate should be substracted from $`H_{N_1}`$). The quantum map $`P_1U`$ is therefore strictly dissipative, corresponding to the classical scatterer that looses orbits at each iteration. This fact is essential for the convergence of the sum in (4) of the expansion for $`S_{N_0}`$.

We can now apply the exact result (4) to scattering by identifying $`U_N`$ with the approximate semiclassical map (1) for the closure of the scattering system. The resulting scattering matrix given by (4) determines the on–shell $`S`$–matrix for fixed energy.

If the semiclassical approximation for $`U`$ departs from unitarity by order $`ϵ`$, the scattering matrix will err by an order $`ϵ[1U_{11}(ϵ)]^2`$. So there could be a large deviation of the $`S`$–matrix from unitarity if one of the eigenvalues of $`U_{11}`$ were sufficiently close to the unit circle. However, $`ϵ`$ vanishes as $`\mathrm{}0`$, whereas the coupling of the scatterer to the opening is classically strong in our examples, so that (9) guarantees that asymptotically $`[1U_{11}(ϵ)]^2`$ remains finite. Therefore we can use the quantum recurrence theorem as a basis for the semiclassical approximation of the scattering matrix.

In our examples, the energy dependence of the classical map is trivial and it can be scaled away, but the area of the phase space grows with energy, modifying the dimension of the corresponding Hilbert space. Another way to see this important energy dependence of the quantum mechanics is through the growth of the actions of the orbits, i.e. the generating functions $`\sigma _j`$ in (1). In the case of smooth potentials, rather than billiards, even the energy dependence is nontrivial, but these scattering systems can also be treated within our conceptual framework by introducing quantum Poincaré sections in the manner of Bogomolny or Rouvinez and Smilansky.

Formally, we could reobtain the standard Miller formula for the scattering amplitudes by doing the matrix multiplications in the infinite expansion (4) by the method of stationary phase. If we keep the semiclassical representation (1) for the unitary matrix $`U`$ and compute $`\left[1_{N_1}U_{11}\right]^1`$ using “Fredholm Theory”, we rederive precisely the semiclassical scattering theory of Georgeot and Prange. Our approach shows that each of the operators employed in the semiclassical Fredholm theory originates in the quantization of Poincaré’s recurrence theorem, as well as elucidates their approximate unitary or dissipative character.

Finally, our results allow for a minimal semiclassical approximation for the scattering matrix. The only approximation is the use of Miller’s theory for the global map $`U_N`$ (rather than for the scattering map, as in previous treatments), using the classical variables corresponding to the entrance and exit channels. The problem is then reduced to the numerical inversion of the matrix $`\left[1_{N_1}U_{11}\right]`$, which has the dimension of the classical phase space of the scatterer divided by Planck’s constant.

###### Acknowledgements.

We would like to thank C. Anteneodo and R. Markarian for useful suggestions. This work was supported by the Conselho de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq/Brazil).