Barrier-induced chaos in a kicked rotor: Classical subdiffusion and quantum localization

Abstract

The relation between classically chaotic dynamics and quantum localization is studied in a system that violates the assumptions of the Kolmogorov-Arnold-Moser (KAM) theorem, namely, the kicked rotor in a discontinuous potential barrier. We show that the discontinuous barrier induces chaos and more than two distinct subdiffusive energy growth regimes, the latter being an unusual feature for Hamiltonian chaos. We show that the dynamical localization in the quantized version of this system carries the imprint of non-KAM classical dynamics through the dependence of quantum break time on subdiffusion exponents. We briefly comment on the experimental feasibility of this system