CONTINUOUS QUANTUM MEASUREMENTS AND CHAOS

The quantized standard map (kicked rotor) is coupled to macroscopic systems acting as measuring devices for the probability distribution of the action variable or some of its moments. As a result of such measurements, which are continuous in time but have a limited time resolution, localization of the action variable is destroyed in sufficiently long time scales and replaced by diffusion. The diffusion constant, in general, differs from that of the classical chaotic diffusion and depends on the measurement performed. © 1990 The American Physical Society.