We demonstrate that the (s-wave) geometric spectrum of the Efimov energy levels in the unitary limit is generated by the radial motion of a primitive periodic orbit (and its harmonics) of the corresponding classical system. The action of the primitiv
e orbit depends logarithmically on the energy. It is shown to be consistent with an inverse-squared radial potential with a lower cut-off radius. The lowest-order WKB quantization, including the Langer correction, is shown to reproduce the geometric scaling of the energy spectrum. The (WKB) mean-squared radii of the Efimov states scale geometrically like the inverse of their energies. The WKB wavefunctions, regularized near the classical turning point by Langers generalized connection formula, are practically indistinguishable from the exact wave functions even for the lowest ($n=0$) state, apart from a tiny shift of its zeros that remains constant for large $n$.
This paper is dedicated to the memory of Vilen Mitrofanovich Strutinsky who would have been 80 this year. His achievements in theoretical nuclear physics are briefly summarized. I discuss in more detail the most successful and far-reaching of them, n
amely (1) the shell-correction method and (2) the extension of Gutzwillers semiclassical theory of shell structure and its application to finite fermionic systems, and mention some applications in other domains of physics.
We present a case study for the semiclassical calculation of the oscillations in the particle and kinetic-energy densities for the two-dimensional circular billiard. For this system, we can give a complete classification of all closed periodic and no
n-periodic orbits. We discuss their bifurcations under variation of the starting point r and derive analytical expressions for their properties such as actions, stability determinants, momentum mismatches and Morse indices. We present semiclassical calculations of the spatial density oscillations using a recently developed closed-orbit theory [Roccia J and Brack M 2008 Phys. Rev. Lett. 100 200408], employing standard uniform approximations from perturbation and bifurcation theory, and test the convergence of the closed-orbit sum.
We discuss various bifurcation problems in which two isolated periodic orbits exchange periodic ``bridge orbit(s) between two successive bifurcations. We propose normal forms which locally describe the corresponding fixed point scenarios on the Poinc
are surface of section. Uniform approximations for the density of states for an integrable Hamiltonian system with two degrees of freedom are derived and successfully reproduce the numerical quantum-mechanical results.
We investigate the particle and kinetic-energy densities for $N$ non-interacting fermions confined in a local potential. Using Gutzwillers semi-classical Green function, we describe the oscillating parts of the densities in terms of closed non-period
ic classical orbits. We derive universal relations between the oscillating parts of the densities for potentials with spherical symmetry in arbitrary dimensions, and a ``local virial theorem valid also for arbitrary non-integrable potentials. We give simple analytical formulae for the density oscillations in a one-dimensional potential.
We apply periodic orbit theory to a two-dimensional non-integrable billiard system whose boundary is varied smoothly from a circular to an equilateral triangular shape. Although the classical dynamics becomes chaotic with increasing triangular deform
ation, it exhibits an astonishingly pronounced shell effect on its way through the shape transition. A semiclassical analysis reveals that this shell effect emerges from a codimension-two bifurcation of the triangular periodic orbit. Gutzwillers semiclassical trace formula, using a global uniform approximation for the bifurcation of the triangular orbit and including the contributions of the other isolated orbits, describes very well the coarse-grained quantum-mechanical level density of this system. We also discuss the role of discrete symmetry for the large shell effect obtained here.
We report on transcritical bifurcations of periodic orbits in non-integrable two-dimensional Hamiltonian systems. We discuss their existence criteria and some of their properties using a recent mathematical description of transcritical bifurcations i
n families of symplectic maps. We then present numerical examples of transcritical bifurcations in a class of generalized Henon-Heiles Hamiltonians and illustrate their stabilities and unfoldings under various perturbations of the Hamiltonians. We demonstrate that for Hamiltonians containing straight-line librating orbits, the transcritical bifurcation of these orbits is the typical case which occurs also in the absence of any discrete symmetries, while their isochronous pitchfork bifurcation is an exception. We determine the normal forms of both types of bifurcations and derive the uniform approximation required to include transcritically bifurcating orbits in the semiclassical trace formula for the density of states of the quantum Hamiltonian. We compute the coarse-grained density of states in a specific example both semiclassically and quantum mechanically and find excellent agreement of the results.
