Semiclassical matrix elements for a chaotic propagator in the scar function basis

Abstract

A semiclassical approximation for the matrix elements of a quantum chaotic propagator in the scar function basis has been derived. The obtained expression is solely expressed in terms of canonical invariant objects. For our purpose, we have used the recently developed, semiclassical matrix elements of the propagator in coherent states, together with the linearization of the flux in the neighborhood of a classically unstable periodic orbit of chaotic two-dimensional systems. The expression derived here is successfully verified to be exact for a (linear) cat map, after the theory is adapted to a discrete phase space appropriate to a quantized torus.