Energy diffusion in strongly driven quantum chaotic systems

Abstract The energy evolution of a quantum chaotic system under the perturbation that harmonically depends on time is studied for the case of large perturbation, in which the rate of transition calculated from the Fermi golden rule exceeds the frequency of perturbation. It is shown that the energy evolution retains its diffusive character, with the diffusion coefficient that is asymptotically proportional to the magnitude of perturbation and to the square root of the density of states. The results are supported by numerical calculation. They imply the absence of the quantum-classical correspondence for the energy diffusion and the energy absorption in the classical limit h̄ → 0.