Chaos and localized phases in a two-body linear kicked rotor system

Abstract

Despite the periodic kicks, a linear kicked rotor (LKR) is an integrable and exactly solvable model in which the kinetic energy term is linear in momentum. It was recently shown that spatially interacting LKRs are also integrable, and results in dynamical localization in the corresponding quantum regime. Similar localized phases exist in other nonintegrable models such as the coupled relativistic kicked rotors. This work, using a two-body LKR, demonstrates two main results; first, it is shown that chaos can be induced in the integrable linear kicked rotor through interactions between the momenta of rotors. An analytical estimate of its Lyapunov exponent is obtained. Second, the quantum dynamics of this chaotic model, upon variation of kicking and interaction strengths, is shown to exhibit a variety of phases: classically induced localization, dynamical localization, subdiffusive, and diffusive phases. We point out the signatures of these phases from the perspective of entanglement production in this system. By defining an effective Hilbert space dimension, the entanglement growth rate can be understood using appropriate random matrix averages.