In this review we discuss the chaotic dynamics (both classical and quantal aspects) of a simple atomic system, namely hydrogen atom interacting with time independent and time dependent external fields. These include: i) static electric field, ii) static magnetic field, iii) combined electric and magnetic fields, in parallel and perpendicular configuration, iv) instantaneous and generalized van der Waals field, v) mass anisotropy and vi) linearly and circularly polarized microwave fields.

The collinear atom-diatom collision system provides one of the simplest instances of chaotic or irregular scattering. Classically, irregular scattering is manifest in the sensitive dependence of post-collision variables on initial conditions, and quantally, in the appearance of a dense spectrum of dynamical resonances. We examine the influence of kinematic factors on such dynamical resonances in collinear (He, H₂⁺) collisions by computing the transition state spectra for collinear (He, HD⁺) and (He, DH⁺) collisions using the time-dependent quantum mechanical approach. The nearest neighbor spacing distributionP(s) and the spectral rigidity Δ₃(L) for these resonances suggest that the dynamics is predominantlyirregular for collinear (He, HD⁺) and predominantlyregular for collinear (He, DH⁺). These findings are reinforced by a significantly larger “correlation hole” in ensemble averaged survival probability ≪P(t)≫ values for collinear (He, HD⁺) than for collinear (He,DH⁺). In addition we have also examined measures of classical chaos through the dependence of the final vibrational action,n_f, on the initial vibrational phaseφ_i of the diatom, and Poincaré surfaces-of-section. They show that (He, HD⁺) collisions are partly chaotic over the entire energy range (0–2.78 eV) while (He, DH⁺) collisions, in contrast, are highly regular at collision energies below the classical threshold for reaction. Above the threshold, the scattering remains regular for initial vibrational statesv=0 and 1 of DH⁺.

We shall discuss the role of chaotic intrinsic motion in dissipative dynamics of the collective coordinates for nuclear systems. Using the formalism of linear response theory, it will be shown that the dissipation in adiabatic collective motion depends on the degree of chaos in the intrinsic dynamics of a system. This gives rise to a shape dependent dissipation rate for collective coordinates when the intrinsic motion is described by the independent particle model in a nucleus. The shape dependent chaos parameter measuring the degree of chaos in the intrinsic dynamics of the nuclear system will be obtained using the interpolating Brody distribution of nearest neighbour spacings in the single particle energy spectrum. A similar shape dependence is also found to be essential for phenomenological dissipation rates used in fission dynamics calculations.

We discuss some of the models for eigenfunction localization in Hamiltonian systems. In particular, we review some of our work on classical parametric scaling of orbits and identification of localized states in a two-dimensional quartic oscillator system which is deep in the classically chaotic region. We show that visual methods are a necessary complement to quantitative methods based on information entropies. Our preliminary results indicate that the periodic orbit stability determines the degree of localization in a class of states, even when the stable regions are of negligible measure.

We describe microwave experiments used to study billiard geometries as model problems of non-integrability in quantum or wave mechanics. The experiments can study arbitrary 2-D geometries, including chaotic and even disordered billiards. Detailed results on an L-shaped pseudo-integrable billiard are discussed as an example. The eigenvalue statistics are well-described by empirical formulae incorporating the fraction of phase space that is non-integrable. The eigenfunctions are directly measured, and their statistical properties are shown to be influenced by non-isolated periodic orbits, similar to that for the chaotic Sinai billiard. These periodic orbits are directly observed in the Fourier transform of the eigenvalue spectrum.

I will show how aspects of quantum chaology are relevant even in a seemingly well understood quantum phenomenon like the photoelectric effect. This example together with recent experiments in atom optics are used to define and discuss the larger questions, recent progress made by us in resolving some of these issues and future directions.

We review some properties of periodic orbit families in polygonal billiards and discuss in particular a sum rule that they obey. In addition, we provide algorithms to determine periodic orbit families and present numerical results that shed new light on the proliferation law and its variation with the genus of the invariant surface. Finally, we deal with correlations in the length spectrum and find that long orbits display Poisson fluctuations.

We present a treatment of many-body fermionic systems that facilitates an expression of well-known quantities in a series expansion inħ. The ensuing semiclassical result contains, to a leading order of the response function, the classical time correlation function of the observable followed by the Weyl-Wigner series; on top of these terms are the periodic-orbit correction terms. The treatment given here starts from linear response assumption of the many-body theory and in its connection with semiclassical theory, it assumes that the one-body quantal system has a classically chaotic dynamics. Applications of the framework are also discussed.

Using quantum maps, we study the accuracy of semiclassical trace formulas. The role of chaos in improving the semiclassical accuracy in some systems is demonstrated quantitatively. However, our study of the standard map cautions that this may not be most general. While studying a sawtooth map we demonstrate the rather remarkable fact that at the level of the time one trace even in the presence of fixed points on singularities the trace formula may be exact, and in any case has no logarithmic divergences observed for the quantum bakers map. As a byproduct we introduce fantastic periodic curves akin to curlicues.

We, offer an alternative interpretation of the Riemann zeta functionζ(s) as a scattering amplitude and its nontrivial zeros as the resonances in the scattering amplitude. We also look at several different facets of the phase of theζ function. For example, we show that the smooth part of theζ function along the line of the zeros is related to the quantum density of states of an inverted oscillator. On the other hand, for ℜs>1/2, we show that the memory of the zeros fades only gradually through a Lorentzian smoothing of the delta functions. The corresponding trace formula for ℜs≫1 is shown to be of the same form as generated by a one-dimensional harmonic oscillator in one direction along with an inverted oscillator in the transverse direction. Quite remarkably for this simple model, the Gutzwiller trace formula can be obtained analytically and is found to agree with the quantum result.

We present numerical results on a range of related issues for a number of incommensurate TMB’s, each of which shows a metal-insulator type transition as a binding-to-hopping ratio is made to increase through some limiting value. These supplement a series of similar results on a couple of 1D lattices in a number of recent works (see below). A brief review pertaining to spectral properties and wavefunctions in incommensurate lattices is followed by results on the above TBM’s relating to an interesting correlation between the gross features of wavefunctions and the energies arranged in a particular sequence termed thelattice-ordered sequence, and also between the lattice-ordered energies and the on-site potentials. We present a qualitative explanation of these correlations on the basis of perturbation theory. Basic results on dynamics of wavepackets in relation to spectral characteristics of incommensurate TBM’s are also reviewed. Features of lattice-ordered energies and wavefunctions for the TBM’s under study are used in the framework of the so-called Maryland construction, leading to a qualitative prediction of criteria for recurrent and non-recurrent wavepacket dynamics in these lattices, and these predictions are checked against numerical iterations of the relevant ‘quantum maps’. Closely related to the dynamics of wavepackets are the transport properties of these lattices. Results are available to indicate that the unusual spectral characteristics of pseudorandom lattices lead to novel features in transport properties of these systems. In this context, low temperature a.c conductivity in these lattices is a good probe for the spectral characteristics and wavefunctions. However, not much is known about the a.c conductivity, excepting a set of early results pertaining to the low frequency regime, principally because of the fact that the a.c conductivity depends on global characteristics of the spectrum and the entire set of wavefunctions. We present a simple model whereby the gross structure of variation of the a.c conductivity with frequency can be obtained from a knowledge of the spectrum alone for the set of TMB’s under consideration. Numerical computations show that despite its simplicity, the model leads to results in good agreement with those from the Kubo-Greenwood formula for a.c conductivity.

Incommensurate quantum systems with two competing periodicities exhibit metallic (with Bloch-type extended wave functions), insulating (with exponentially localized wave functions) as well ascritical (with fractal wave functions) phases. An exact renormalization method, which takes into account the inherent incommensurability, is used to obtain the phase diagram of various quantum models for the two-dimensional electron gas and for quantum spin chains in a magnetic field. In this approach, the scaling properties of the fractal eigenstates are characterized by a fixed point or a strange invariant set of the renormalization flow. One of our novel results is the existence of self-similar fluctuations in the localized states once the exponentially decaying envelope is factorized out. In almost all cases under investigation here, the universality classes can be broadly classified as those of the nearest-neighbor square or triangular lattices.

Finite clusters of atoms or molecules, typically composed of about 50 particles (and often as few as 13 or even less) have proved to be useful prototypes of systems undergoing phase transitions. Analogues of the solid-liquid melting transition, surface melting, structural phase transitions and the glass transition have been observed in cluster systems. The methods of nonlinear dynamics can be applied to systems of this size, and these have helped elucidate the nature of the microscopic dynamics, which, as a function of internal energy (or ‘temperature’) can be in a solidlike, liquidlike, or even gaseous state. The Lyapunov exponents show a characteristic behaviour as a function of energy, and provide a reliable signature of the solid-liquid melting phase transition. The behaviour of such indices at other phase transitions has only partially been explored. These and related applications are reviewed in the present article.

In this review we present the salient features of dynamical chaos in classical gauge theories with spatially homogeneous fields. The chaotic behaviour displayed by both abelian and non-abelian gauge theories and the effect of the Higgs term in both cases are discussed. The role of the Chern-Simons term in these theories is examined in detail. Whereas, in the abelian case, the pure Chern-Simons-Higgs system is integrable, addition of the Maxwell term renders the system chaotic. In contrast, the non-abelian Chern-Simons-Higgs system is chaotic both in the presence and the absence of the Yang-Mills term. We support our conclusions with numerical studies on plots of phase trajectories and Lyapunov exponents. Analytical tests of integrability such as the Painlevé criterion are carried out for these theories. The role of the various terms in the Hamiltonians for the abelian Higgs, Yang-Mills-Higgs and Yang-Mills-Chern-Simons-Higgs systems with spatially homogeneous fields, in determining the nature of order-disorder transitions is highlighted, and the effects are shown to be counter-intuitive in the last-named system.

A detailed analysis of the control space characterization of phase locked states and chaotic attractors in Josephson junctions is presented, based on a model that includes both quadratic damping and cosine interference terms. In addition, some novel features of the nonlinear characteristics of the junction like evolution of basin boundaries, bifurcation structure analysis and scaling behaviour of Lyapunov exponent are discussed.

A very important question in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions is that of thermalization of the high energy density quark gluon plasma forud in the central rapidity region. Different approaches have been adopted by various authors to study this thermalization problem. These include phenomenological string and capacitor plate models, perturbative QCD based parton cascade models and the classical non-perturbative approach. In this paper we briefly review the earlier studies and discuss our work which emphasizes the role of non-perturbative collective effects (classical chaos) in the thermalization of the plasma. In particular, using classical equations of motion of a coloured parton in self-consistent colour fields, we have carried out a 1+1 dimensional simulation of coloured partonic matter. We find that in certain parameter domains, the system exhibits chaotic behaviour in non-abelian plasma oscillations, which then leads to thermalization of the plasma.

We discuss the nonlinear propagation of relativistically intense electromagnetic waves into collisionless plasmas with special emphasis on one dimensional plane wave solutions of the propagating, standing and modulated types. These solutions exhibit a rich variety of phenomena associated with relativistic electron mass variation and coupling between transverse electromagnetic and longitudinal fields. They have important applications to problems of laser propagation, self-focusing in overdense plasmas, particle and photon acceleration and to electromagnetic radiation around pulsars.

This paper deals with a comparison between experimental observations in a low-Reynolds-number wake behind an oscillating cylinder and the universal properties of a sine circle map. When the limit cycle due to the natural vortex shedding in the wake is modulated at a second frequency by oscillating the cylinder transversely, one obtains in phase space a flow on a two torus. The nonlinear interaction between the two oscillators results in Arnol’d tongues due to phase locking, the devil’s staircase along the critical line, and a transition from order to chaosvia the quasiperiodic route. The sine circle map describes these features adequately. A comparison between the experiment and the theory is made in terms of multifractal formalism and trajectory scaling function.

Sometime ago Ananthakrishna and coworkers had predicted the existence of chaos in jerky flow based on a nonlinear dynamical model consisting of the time evolution equations for three types of dislocations and an equation for the evolution of the stress. Our main focus here is to report the verification of this prediction by analysing the stress signals obtained from samples of AlCu alloys subjected to a constant strain rate test. The analysis of the stress signals is carried out by using several methods. The analysis shows the existence of a finite correlation dimension and a positive Lyapunov exponent. We also carry out a surrogate analysis of the time series to ascertain that the signals are not from a power law stochastic process. From the analysis we find that the minimum number of variables required for a dynamical description of the jerky flow appears to be four or five, consistent with the number of degrees of freedom envisaged in the model.

Predictability of the Indian summer monsoon is investigated by conducting three multiyear integrations with the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory’s climate model. The mean monsoon simulated by the model is realistic. It is shown that a significant fraction of the interannual variance of the simulated Indian summer monsoon may be due to internal dynamics. It is discovered that the tropical atmosphere is capable of sustaining a quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) accounting for most of the internal low frequency variability. It is also shown that neither air-sea interaction nor surface hydrology feedback is essential for the QBO of the model atmosphere. That such a QBO can arise due to modulation of the nonlinear intraseasonal oscillations by the annual cycle is demonstrated using a simple nonlinear dynamical model. The phase and the amplitude of the internal mode is unpredictable and hence may be responsible for limiting the long range predictability of the monsoon.

We study experimentally relevant effects in phase ordering dynamics using Cell Dynamical System (CDS) models. In particular, we present representative numerical results for phase ordering in random magnets and phase separation in binary fluids.

We discuss the use of coupled nonlinear stochastic differential equations to model the dynamics of complex systems, and present some analytical insights into their critical behaviour. These concern in particular the role of infrared divergences which show up in a self-consistent resummation of perturbation theory (mode-coupling approximation), and their effects on critical exponents obtained in earlier work.

Nonlinear fluctuating hydrodynamic (NFH) models for relaxation in the supercooled liquid are considered. Recent results on self consistent mode coupling theory for the slow relaxation of density fluctuations are analyzed to explain the glassy dynamics. The relaxation mechanisms for different types of models with and without wave vector dependences are discussed. For the schematic models where all wave vector dependences are dropped a sequence of time scales enters the relaxation process. For the non-ergodicity parameter very close to the ideal transition point is scaled by an exponent equal to 1/2. This is demonstrated here through an analysis of the mode-coupling equations for the wave vector dependent models that follow from equations of NFH.