format: text

text:
# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

The periodic orbit theory (POT) initiated by M. Gutzwiller over three decades ago  has proven to be a successful tool for the semiclassical description of chaotic systems . Several extensions of Gutzwiller’s semiclassical trace formula to systems with regular and mixed dynamics  have made it possible to describe quantum shell effects in many physical systems in terms of the shortest classical periodic orbits (see  for recent surveys).

However, in all the approaches mentioned so far, the spin degrees of freedom have not been incorporated in the semiclassical theories. This becomes, in particular, necessary when one wants to apply the POT to systems with spin-orbit interactions, such as nuclei, atoms, or semiconductor nanostructures. Littlejohn and Flynn  have developed a semiclassical theory of systems with multi-component wavefunctions and applied it  to the WKB quantization of integrable spherical systems with the standard spin-orbit interaction; Frisk and Guhr  have extended their method to deformed systems with spin-orbit interaction. None of these authors have, however, developed an explicit trace formula. Bolte and Keppeler  have recently derived a relativistic trace formula from the Dirac equation. They studied several non-relativistic limits and rederived the Littlejohn-Flynn (LF) approach in the limit of a strong spin-orbit coupling, thereby justifying some ad hoc assumptions made in . A problem that has remained unsolved in the strong-coupling limit is that of the so-called mode conversion: the semiclassical description breaks down in those points (or subspaces) of the classical phase space where the spin-orbit interaction locally becomes zero.

In the present paper we shall apply the above methods to various two- and three-dimensional model systems, test their ability to reproduce the coarse-grained quantum-mechanical level densities of these systems, and explore their limitations. We shall also discuss the mode conversion problem that arises in the strong-coupling limit. Some preliminary results of our investigations have been presented in .

Our paper is organized as follows. After a short reminder of semiclassical trace formulae for coarse-grained quantum systems in sec 2, we review in sec 3 the approaches of  which we then apply in the following. In sec 4.1 we investigate the two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) with a spin-orbit interaction of Rashba type in an external magnetic field. In sec 4.2 we add to this system a laterally confining anisotropic harmonic-oscillator potential as a model for an anisotropic semiconductor quantum dot. Section 5 is devoted to a three-dimensional harmonic oscillator potential with standard spin-orbit interaction of Thomas type, as in the shell model for light atomic nuclei (see, e.g., ). In sec 6, we finally discuss the mode conversion problem and present some supporting evidence for the diabatic spin-flip hypothesis proposed in .

## 2 Trace formulae with coarse-graining

The primary object of the semiclassical trace formulae is the level density (or density of states)

$$g\left(E\right)=\underset{k}{}\delta \left(EE_k\right)$$
(1)
of a system described quantum-mechanically by the stationary Schrödinger equation

$`\widehat{H}\varphi _k=E_k\varphi _k.`$ (2)
We stay throughout in the non-relativistic limit and assume the energy spectrum $`\left\{E_k\right\}`$ to be discrete. Classically, the system is described by a Hamilton function $`H(𝐫,𝐩)=E`$ and the equations of motion derived from it. The function $`H(𝐫,𝐩)`$ may be understood as the phase-space symbol of the operator $`\widehat{H}`$ in the limit $`\mathrm{}0`$.

The level density (1) can be written as a sum of a smooth part and an oscillating part:

$$g\left(E\right)=\stackrel{~}{g}\left(E\right)+\delta g\left(E\right).$$
(3)
The smooth part $`\stackrel{~}{g}\left(E\right)`$ is in the POT given by the contribution of all orbits with zero length . It is often easily evaluated by the (extended) Thomas-Fermi theory or by a numerical Strutinsky averaging  of the quantum spectrum (see  for the relation of all three methods). The oscillating part $`\delta g\left(E\right)`$ is semiclassically approximated by trace formulae of the form

$$\delta g_{sc}\left(E\right)=\underset{po}{}𝒜_{po}\left(E\right)\mathrm{cos}\left(\frac{1}{\mathrm{}}S_{po}\left(E\right)\frac{\pi }{2}\sigma _{po}\right).$$
(4)
The sum is here over all periodic orbits ($`po`$) of the classical system, including all repetitions of each primitive periodic orbit ($`ppo`$). $`S_{po}\left(E\right)`$ is the action integral and $`\sigma _{po}`$ the so-called Maslov index of a periodic orbit. The amplitude $`𝒜_{po}\left(E\right)`$ depends on the integrability and the continuous symmetries of the system. When all periodic orbits are isolated in phase space, the amplitude is given by

$`𝒜_{po}\left(E\right)={\displaystyle \frac{1}{\pi \mathrm{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{T_{ppo}}{\sqrt{\left|det\left(\stackrel{~}{\text{M}}_{po}1\mathrm{l}\right)\right|}}},`$ (5)
where $`T_{ppo}`$ is the period of the primitive orbit and $`\stackrel{~}{\text{M}}_{po}`$ the stability matrix of the periodic orbit. Examples of amplitude factors for systems with continuous symmetries or for integrable systems may be found in the literature quoted in the introduction.

The $`po`$ sum in (4) does not converge in most cases; it must in general be understood as a an asymptotic series that is only semiconvergent. However, much practical use can be made of trace formulae if one does not attempt to obtain an exact energy spectrum (given by the poles of the level density), but if one is interested only in the coarse-grained level density. For this, we define a smoothed quantum-mechanical level density by a convolution of (1) with a normalized Gaussian:

$$g_\gamma \left(E\right)=\frac{1}{\sqrt{\pi }\gamma }\underset{k}{}e^{\left[\left(EE_k\right)/\gamma \right]^2}.$$
(6)
Here $`\gamma `$ is a measure of the desired energy resolution. Applying the convolution to the right-hand side of (3) will, for small enough $`\gamma `$, not affect the smooth part $`\stackrel{~}{g}\left(E\right)`$. The convolution of the oscillating part, applied to the semiclassical trace formula (4) and evaluating the integration as usual in the stationary-phase approximation, leads to the the coarse-grained trace formula

$`\delta g_{sc}\left(E\right)={\displaystyle \underset{po}{}}e^{\left(\gamma T_{po}/2\mathrm{}\right)^2}𝒜_{po}\left(E\right)\mathrm{cos}\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{\mathrm{}}}S_{po}\left(E\right){\displaystyle \frac{\pi }{2}}\sigma _{po}\right).`$ (7)
The only difference to (4) is the additional exponential factor which suppresses the contributions from orbits with longer periods. Due to this factor, the periodic orbit sum now converges for not too small values of $`\gamma `$. Our choice of the Gaussian function in (6) is rather arbitrary; cf  where the regularization of the trace formula is discussed in terms of a general smooth test function. In many physical systems, experimentally observable quantum oscillations could be well approximated through such coarse-grained trace formulae in terms of only a few short periodic orbits (see  for examples). Balian and Bloch  have used a small imaginary part of the energy, which corresponds to using a Lorentzian smoothing function.

## 3 Periodic orbit theory with spin degrees of freedom

In our present study, we want to apply the POT to systems of fermions with spin $`s=1/2`$, in which the spin degrees of freedom are involved through an explicit spin dependence of the Hamiltonian. We write it as

$`\widehat{H}=\widehat{H}_01\mathrm{l}+\widehat{H}_1,\widehat{H}_0={\displaystyle \frac{\widehat{𝐩}^2}{2m}}+V\left(𝐫\right),`$ (8)
and assume the spin-dependent part to have the following general form of a spin-orbit interaction:

$`\widehat{H}_1=\mathrm{}\kappa \widehat{𝐂}(𝐫,\widehat{𝐩})𝝈\text{ }.`$ (9)
Here $`𝝈\text{ }=(\sigma _x,\sigma _y,\sigma _z)`$ is the vector built of the three Pauli matrices and $`1\mathrm{l}`$ is the unit $`2\times 2`$ matrix acting in the spin space spanned by the Pauli spinors. The Planck constant $`\mathrm{}`$ in (9) comes from the spin operator $`\widehat{𝐬}=\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{}𝝈\text{ }`$. The constant $`\kappa `$ is such that the spin-orbit term has the correct dimension of an energy; it is composed of natural (or material) constants but does not contain $`\mathrm{}`$. The vector $`𝐂(𝐫,𝐩)`$, which is the phase-space symbol of the operator $`\widehat{𝐂}(𝐫,\widehat{𝐩})`$, may be interpreted as an internal magnetic field with arbitrary dependence on the classical phase-space variables $`𝐫,𝐩`$. In the standard non-relativistic reduction of the Dirac equation, $`\widehat{𝐂}(𝐫,\widehat{𝐩})`$ becomes

$`\widehat{𝐂}(𝐫,\widehat{𝐩})=\left[\mathbf{}\text{ }V\left(𝐫\right)\times \widehat{𝐩}\right],`$ (10)
with $`\kappa =1/4m^2c^2`$; $`V\left(𝐫\right)`$ is an external electrostatic potential. For the spherical Coulomb potential, (9) and (10) yield the Thomas term (corrected by a factor 2) well-known in atomic physics.

It is by no means trivial, now, how to define a classical Hamiltonian corresponding to (8), since there is no direct classical analogue of the spin. Whereas numerous attempts have been made over the last seven decades or so to describe the spin classically or semiclassically, only two approaches have lent themselves to an inclusion of spin degrees of freedom in semiclassical trace formulae. These are the approaches developed by Littlejohn and Flynn , with extensions by Frisk and Guhr , and of Bolte and Keppeler . We refer to these original papers for all details, as well as for exhaustive references to the earlier literature. Here we shall briefly present the resulting formulae which will be applied and tested for various model systems in the following sections.

Bolte and Keppeler  started from the Dirac Hamiltonian to derive a relativistic trace formula which, to our knowledge, has not yet been applied to physical systems. They also started from the non-relativistic Pauli equation for a charged particle with spin 1/2 in an external magnetic field $`𝐁\left(𝐫\right)`$, for which we have

$`\widehat{H}_0={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2m}}\left[\widehat{𝐩}{\displaystyle \frac{e}{c}}𝐀\left(𝐫\right)\right]^2+V\left(𝐫\right),\widehat{H}_1={\displaystyle \frac{e\mathrm{}}{2mc}}𝐁\left(𝐫\right)𝝈\text{ }.`$ (11)
Using the same techniques as in the derivation of their relativistic trace formula, they discuss two limits for introducing the semiclassical approximation. The Zeeman term $`\widehat{H}_1`$ in (11) is not a spin-orbit interaction, but Bolte and Keppeler  argue that the extension of their methods to the more general form (9) is straight forward. We therefore present their approach below for the general spin-orbit Hamiltonian (9).

### 3.1 Weak coupling limit

In the “weak coupling” limit (WCL), the semiclassical approximation is systematically performed by the usual expansion in powers of $`\mathrm{}`$. Because of the explicit appearance of $`\mathrm{}`$ in $`\widehat{H}_1`$, the limit $`\mathrm{}0`$ leads to the classical Hamiltonian $`H_{cl}(𝐫,𝐩)=H_0(𝐫,𝐩)`$ whose periodic orbits enter the trace formula. The spin degrees of freedom here are not coupled to the classical motion. Their contribution to the trace formula enters through the trace of a $`2\times 2`$ matrix $`\text{d}\left(t\right)`$ obeying the “spin transport equation”

$`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{d}}{\mathrm{d}t}}\text{d}\left(t\right)=\mathrm{i}\kappa \left[𝐂(𝐫,𝐩)𝝈\text{ }\right]\text{d}\left(t\right),\text{d}\left(0\right)=1\mathrm{l},`$ (12)
to be evaluated along each periodic orbit $`𝐫_{po}\left(t\right)`$, $`𝐩_{po}\left(t\right)`$ found from $`H_0(𝐫,𝐩)`$. This equation describes the spin precession about the instantaneous internal magnetic field $`𝐂(𝐫,𝐩)`$ along the periodic orbit. Using the solution of (12) for each orbit, the trace formula is given, to leading order in $`\mathrm{}`$, by

$$\delta g_{sc}\left(E\right)=\underset{po}{}𝒜_{po}\left(E\right)\mathrm{tr}\text{d}\left(T_{po}\right)\mathrm{cos}\left(\frac{1}{\mathrm{}}S_{po}\left(E\right)\frac{\pi }{2}\sigma _{po}\right),$$
(13)
where $`T_{po}=`$ d$`S_{po}\left(E\right)`$/d$`E`$ is the period of each (repeated) orbit. Since the periodic orbits are not affected by the spin motion, the only difference to the standard trace formula (4) is the appearance of the spin modulation factor $`\mathrm{tr}\text{d}\left(T_{po}\right)`$; all other ingredients are evaluated in the usual manner for the unperturbed periodic orbits of $`H_0`$. One may therefore consider this treatment as an adiabatic limit of fast spin motion and slow spatial motion $`𝐫\left(t\right)`$, but Bolte and Keppeler  argue that this adiabatic assumption is not needed for the formula (13) to be true to leading order in $`\mathrm{}`$.

Through the factor $`\mathrm{tr}\text{d}\left(T_{po}\right)`$ the contribution of a given periodic orbit depends on the overlap of the spin directions at the beginning and the end of its period. An orbit for which these two directions are identical has simply $`\mathrm{tr}\text{d}\left(T_{po}\right)=2`$, whereas an orbit for which these directions are antiparallel does not contribute at all to the trace formula (13).

For self-retracing orbits, i.e., librations between two turning points in coordinate space, the spin precession described by (12) is reversed at each turning point, and hence the spin direction is brought back to its initial value after a full period. Such orbits therefore only acquire a trivial factor $`\mathrm{tr}\text{d}\left(T_{po}\right)=2`$ compared to the trace formula (4). For systems which possess only self-retracing periodic orbits (see, e.g., the examples in secs 5 and 6), the formula (13) thus reduces to the trivial recipe of incorporating the spin by a simple degeneracy factor 2 in the level density, which cannot account for the spin-orbit interaction effects.

### 3.2 Strong coupling limit

To obtain the “strong coupling” limit (SCL), Bolte and Keppeler  follow the philosophy of  by absorbing the Planck constant $`\mathrm{}`$ in (11) into the Bohr magneton $`\mu =e\mathrm{}/2mc`$, thus considering $`\mu `$ as a constant in the semiclassical limit $`\mathrm{}0`$. Similarly, for the spin-orbit Hamiltonian (9) one absorbs $`\mathrm{}`$ into the constant $`\overline{\kappa }=\mathrm{}\kappa `$. The fact that this corresponds to a double limit $`\mathrm{}0`$ and $`\kappa \mathrm{}`$, with $`\overline{\kappa }=\mathrm{}\kappa `$ kept constant, justifies the name “strong coupling” limit.

The symbol of the full Hamiltonian in phase space now remains a $`2\times 2`$ matrix which after diagonalization leads to the two classical Hamiltonians

$`H_\pm (𝐫,𝐩)=H_0(𝐫,𝐩)\pm \overline{\kappa }\left|𝐂(𝐫,𝐩)\right|,`$ (14)
which can be considered as two adiabatic Hamiltonians with opposite spin polarizations. They create two classes of dynamics, whose periodic orbits must be superposed in the final trace formula. Such a trace formula has, however, not been derived explicitly so far. Littlejohn and Flynn  argued that a non-canonical transformation of the phase-space variables $`𝐫,𝐩`$ would be necessary to calculate the amplitudes. Frisk and Guhr  surmised, based upon Fourier transforms of quantum spectra, that this is not necessary, provided that the actions $`S_{po}^\pm `$ of the periodic orbits generated by the Hamiltonians $`H_\pm `$ be corrected by some phases accumulated along the periodic orbits:

$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\mathrm{}}}S_{po}^\pm {\displaystyle \frac{1}{\mathrm{}}}S_{po}^\pm +\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Phi }_\pm ,\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Phi }_\pm ={\displaystyle _{po}}\left(\lambda _\pm ^\mathrm{B}+\lambda _\pm ^{\mathrm{NN}}\right)dt.`$ (15)
The phase velocities $`\lambda _\pm ^\mathrm{B},\lambda _\pm ^{\mathrm{NN}}`$, which have been called the “Berry” and the “no-name” terms , arise as first-order $`\mathrm{}`$ corrections in the semiclassical expansion of the symbol of the Hamiltonian matrix. Bolte and Keppeler  have used their techniques to give this prescription a rigorous justification. For the Hamiltonians (14) with (10), the above phase velocities can be calculated most easily in terms of the polar angles $`\theta ,\varphi `$ defining the unit vector of the instantaneous direction of $`𝐂(𝐫,𝐩)`$, i.e., $`𝐞_C=(\mathrm{cos}\varphi \mathrm{sin}\theta ,\mathrm{sin}\varphi \mathrm{sin}\theta ,\mathrm{cos}\theta )`$, and of the Hesse matrix of the potential, V$`{}_{ij}{}^{\prime \prime }=^2V\left(𝐫\right)/r_ir_j`$ ($`i,j=x,y,z`$), evaluated along the periodic orbits, and are given by

$`\lambda _\pm ^\mathrm{B}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left(1\mathrm{cos}\theta \right)\dot{\varphi },\lambda _\pm ^{\mathrm{NN}}={\displaystyle \frac{\overline{\kappa }}{2}}𝐞_C^T\text{V}^{\prime \prime }𝐞_C.`$ (16)
Clearly, in the SCL the spin affects the classical dynamics, albeit only in an adiabatic, polarized fashion. Moreover, there is a serious limitation to the procedure outlined above. Whenever $`𝐂=\mathrm{𝟎}`$ at a given point in (or in a subspace of) phase space, the two Hamiltonians $`H_\pm `$ become degenerate and singularities arise, both in the classical equations of motion and in the calculation of the phase corrections (16) and the stabilities of the periodic orbits. Such points are called “mode conversion” (MC) points. A similar situation occurs in the chemistry of molecular reactions when two or more adiabatic surfaces intersect. The MC poses a difficult problem in semiclassical physics and chemistry, that has not been satisfactorily solved so far for systems with more than one spatial dimension (see  for a discussion of the MC in one dimension).

For self-retracing periodic orbits, all components of the momentum $`𝐩`$ are zero at the turning points. Hence, a spin-orbit interaction of the standard Thomas type (10) will in the SCL lead to MC at the turning points. In this case, both the WCL and the SCL break down, and an improved treatment becomes necessary to include such orbits in a semiclassical trace formula. A new approach that is free of the MC problem has just been proposed ; its results will be presented in a forthcoming paper.

## 4 Two-dimensional electron systems with Rashba term

In this section we shall investigate a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) with a spin-orbit interaction of the Rashba type . We will include also an external magnetic field and an external potential $`V\left(𝐫\right)=V(r_x,r_y)`$ which causes a lateral confinement of the 2DEG (see, e.g., ). The Rashba term can be written in the form

$`\widehat{H}_1=\mathrm{}\kappa \widehat{𝐂}(𝐫,\widehat{𝐩})\widehat{𝝈\text{ }},\widehat{𝐂}(𝐫,\widehat{𝐩})=\left(\begin{array}{c}v_z^{}\widehat{p}_y\\ v_z^{}\widehat{p}_x\\ \widehat{p}_yV\left(𝐫\right)/r_x\widehat{p}_xV\left(𝐫\right)/r_y\end{array}\right).`$ (20)
Here $`v_z^{}`$ is the mean gradient of the electrostatic potential in the $`z`$ direction that confines the electron gas to the $`(x,y)`$ plane, so that $`z=p_z=0`$, and the constant $`\kappa `$ depends on the band structure of the semiconductor in which the 2DEG is confined . Note that the Rashba term (20) is of the standard form (10).

We shall in sec 4.1 study the case of the free 2DEG for $`V\left(𝐫\right)=0`$ in an external perpendicular homogeneous magnetic field, for which a quantum-mechanically exact trace formula is easily derived. We shall see that the WCL approach yields an analytical semiclassical trace formula which is exact only to leading order in $`\mathrm{}\kappa `$ and in the limit $`\kappa 0`$. The SCL approach, however, for which we also obtain an analytical result, is demonstrated to fail for $`\kappa 0`$, but to include correctly the higher-order terms in $`\mathrm{}\kappa `$, and to become exact in the strong-coupling limit. In sec 4.2, we add an anisotropic harmonic confinement potential $`V\left(𝐫\right)`$ to this system, where the WCL can be applied successfully in numerical calculations. When the external magnetic field is switched off, the remaining system has only self-retracing orbits for which both the WCL and the SCL fail. The MC problem arising in the SCL for this system will be discussed in section 6.

### 4.1 Free 2DEG with Rashba term in an external magnetic field

We first discuss the free 2DEG with the Rashba spin-orbit interaction (20) in a homogeneous magnetic field $`𝐁=B_0𝐞_z`$. The corresponding vector potential $`𝐀`$ is included by replacing the momentum operator in the usual way: $`\widehat{𝐩}\widehat{𝝅\text{ }}=\widehat{𝐩}e𝐀/c`$. The total Hamiltonian then reads

$`\widehat{H}={\displaystyle \frac{\widehat{𝝅\text{ }}^2}{2m^{}}}1\mathrm{l}+\mathrm{}\kappa \widehat{𝐂}(𝐫,\widehat{𝝅\text{ }})𝝈\text{ },\widehat{𝐂}(𝐫,\widehat{𝝅\text{ }})=\left(\begin{array}{c}v_z^{}\widehat{\pi }_y\\ v_z^{}\widehat{\pi }_x\\ 0\end{array}\right),`$ (24)
where, using the symmetric gauge for $`𝐀`$, the mechanical momentum is given by

$`\widehat{𝝅\text{ }}=\left(\begin{array}{c}\widehat{p}_x\\ \widehat{p}_y\\ 0\end{array}\right){\displaystyle \frac{eB_0}{2c}}(\begin{array}{c}r_y\\ r_x\\ \mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0}\end{array}).`$ (31)
Here $`m^{}`$ is the effective mass of the electron and $`e`$ its charge. We have omitted the spin contribution to the Zeeman term which could be trivially included by adding the magnetic field to $`\widehat{𝐂}`$.

The quantum-mechanical eigenvalues of the Hamiltonian (24) are known analytically :

$`E_0=\mathrm{}\omega _c/2,E_n^\pm =\mathrm{}\omega _c\left(n\pm \sqrt{1/4+\mathrm{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}n\stackrel{~}{\kappa }^2}\right),n=1,2,3,\mathrm{}`$ (32)
Here $`\omega _c=eB_0/m^{}c`$ is the cyclotron frequency, and $`\stackrel{~}{\kappa }=\kappa v_z^{}\sqrt{m^{}/\omega _c}`$ is a renormalized coupling constant which we have defined in such a way that the Planck constant $`\mathrm{}`$ appears explicitly in all our formulae.<sup>1</sup><sup>1</sup>1In the literature on the Rashba term, the constant $`\alpha =\mathrm{}^2\kappa v_z^{}`$ is frequently used, see  The exact level density is then given by

$`g\left(E\right)=\delta \left(EE_0\right)+{\displaystyle \underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}\left[\delta \left(EE_n^+\right)+\delta \left(EE_n^{}\right)\right].`$ (33)
Using Poisson summation (see, e.g., , sec 3.2.2), this result can be identically transformed to an exact quantum-mechanical trace formula. The smooth part of (33) is $`\stackrel{~}{g}\left(E\right)=2/\mathrm{}\omega _c`$, and the oscillating part becomes

$`\delta g\left(E\right)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2}{\mathrm{}\omega _c}}{\displaystyle \underset{\pm }{}}\left(1\pm {\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}\stackrel{~}{\kappa }^2}{\sqrt{1/4+2E\stackrel{~}{\kappa }^2/\omega _c+\mathrm{}^2\stackrel{~}{\kappa }^4}}}\right)`$ (34)
$`\times {\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}\mathrm{cos}\left[k\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}\pi ({\displaystyle \frac{E}{\mathrm{}\omega _c}}+\mathrm{}\stackrel{~}{\kappa }^2\pm \sqrt{1/4+2E\stackrel{~}{\kappa }^2/\omega _c+\mathrm{}^2\stackrel{~}{\kappa }^4})\right].`$
We will now analyze the system semiclassically, using both the WCL and the SCL approach. In the weak-coupling limit, we first need the trace formula for the unperturbed system without spin-orbit coupling, corresponding to $`\widehat{H}_0=\widehat{𝝅\text{ }}^2/2m^{}`$. This is the quantized Landau level system, whose exact trace formula is that of a one-dimensional harmonical oscillator with the cyclotron frequency $`\omega _c`$ and reads  (without spin degeneracy factor)

$`\delta g^{\left(\kappa =0\right)}\left(E\right)={\displaystyle \frac{2}{\mathrm{}\omega _c}}{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}\left(1\right)^k\mathrm{cos}\left(k{\displaystyle \frac{2\pi E}{\mathrm{}\omega _c}}\right).`$ (35)
For the Rashba term in (24), the spin transport equation (12) can be solved analytically , and the spin modulation factor becomes

$`\mathrm{tr}\text{d}\left(kT_{po}\right)=\left(1\right)^k\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}\mathrm{cos}\left[k\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}\pi \sqrt{1/4+2E\stackrel{~}{\kappa }^2/\omega _c}\right].`$ (36)
With (13), the complete semiclassical trace formula in the WCL can therefore be written as

$`\delta g_{sc}^{WCL}\left(E\right)={\displaystyle \frac{2}{\mathrm{}\omega _c}}{\displaystyle \underset{\pm }{}}{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}\mathrm{cos}\left[k\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}\pi ({\displaystyle \frac{E}{\mathrm{}\omega _c}}\pm \sqrt{1/4+2E\stackrel{~}{\kappa }^2/\omega _c})\right].`$ (37)
This result is not the same as the exact quantum-mechanical one (34), but it contains the correct terms of leading order in $`\mathrm{}`$, in accordance with the derivation of Bolte and Keppeler , and the correct leading-order term in $`\stackrel{~}{\kappa }^2`$. The missing terms would come about by going to higher orders in the semiclassical $`\mathrm{}`$ expansion. Note also that (37) becomes exact in the limit $`\stackrel{~}{\kappa }0`$.

Recently, Keppeler and Winkler  have analyzed the anomalous magnetoresistance oscillations of a quasi-2DEG in GaAs semiconductors, employing two kinds of spin-orbit interactions one of which was of the Rashba type (24). They applied the WCL trace formula (13) and obtained good agreement with quantum-mechanical results. As the spin-orbit interaction in GaAs is rather weak, we assume that their results were not sensitive to the missing higher-order semiclassical terms, which explains their good agreement.

It is very instructive now to compare the above result with that of an analysis using the strong-coupling limit. The SCL Hamiltonians (14) become $`H_\pm (𝐫,𝐩)=H_0(𝐫,𝐩)\pm \overline{\stackrel{~}{\kappa }}\sqrt{2\omega _cH_0(𝐫,𝐩)}`$ with $`\overline{\stackrel{~}{\kappa }}=\mathrm{}\stackrel{~}{\kappa }`$. It is easy to see that $`H_0(𝐫,𝐩)=E_0`$ is a constant of motion. The equations of motion derived from $`H_\pm `$ therefore become linear, representing one-dimensional harmonic oscillators like for the Landau orbits of the unperturbed system $`H_0`$. Instead of the cyclotron frequencies $`\omega _c`$ they have, however, the modified eigenfrequencies

$`\omega _\pm =\omega _c\left(1\pm \overline{\stackrel{~}{\kappa }}\sqrt{\omega _c/2E_0}\right).`$ (38)
Since $`𝐂(𝐫,𝐩)`$ does not change its sign along the modified Landau orbits, the system does not suffer from the mode conversion problem and the SCL can be safely applied. The action integrals of the primitive orbits are simply found to be $`S_\pm =2\pi E_0/\omega _c`$, like for the unperturbed system, but expressing them in terms of the conserved total energy $`E=E_0\pm \overline{\stackrel{~}{\kappa }}\sqrt{2\omega _cE_0}`$ one finds

$`S_\pm \left(E\right)=2\pi \left({\displaystyle \frac{E}{\omega _c}}+\overline{\stackrel{~}{\kappa }}^2\sqrt{2E\overline{\stackrel{~}{\kappa }}^2/\omega _c+\overline{\stackrel{~}{\kappa }}^4}\right).`$ (39)
The phase velocities (16) are easily found to be $`\lambda _\pm ^B=\dot{\varphi }/2=\pm \omega _\pm /2`$ and $`\lambda _\pm ^{NN}=0`$, so that the overall phase correction (15) becomes $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Phi }_\pm =\pm \pi `$ for each repetition of the primitive orbits. Inserting these results into the trace formula of the one-dimensional harmonic oscillator, i.e., eq (35) with $`\omega _c`$ replaced by $`\omega _\pm `$, using $`T_\pm =2\pi /\omega _\pm =\mathrm{d}S_\pm /\mathrm{d}E`$, and summing over both orbit types, we obtain the semiclassical trace formula in the SCL (exhibiting again the $`\mathrm{}`$ contained in $`\overline{\stackrel{~}{\kappa }}`$)

$`\delta g_{sc}^{SCL}\left(E\right)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2}{\mathrm{}\omega _c}}{\displaystyle \underset{\pm }{}}\left(1\pm {\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}\stackrel{~}{\kappa }^2}{\sqrt{2E\stackrel{~}{\kappa }^2/\omega _c+\mathrm{}^2\stackrel{~}{\kappa }^4}}}\right)`$ (40)
$`\times {\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}\mathrm{cos}\left[k\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}\pi ({\displaystyle \frac{E}{\mathrm{}\omega _c}}+\mathrm{}\stackrel{~}{\kappa }^2\pm \sqrt{2E\stackrel{~}{\kappa }^2/\omega _c+\mathrm{}^2\stackrel{~}{\kappa }^4})\right].`$
It is interesting to note that hereby the Berry term, yielding the phase correction $`k\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Phi }_\pm =\pm k\pi `$, cancels the alternating sign $`\left(1\right)^k`$ in (35). We note that the result (40) would be exactly identical to the quantum-mechanical result (34), were it not for the missing term 1/4 under the roots. We see, therefore, that the SCL result will fail in the limit $`\stackrel{~}{\kappa }0`$, since the alternating sign $`\left(1\right)^k`$ arises precisely from that missing term 1/4 in the actions. On the other hand, the SCL trace formula (40) does correctly include the higher-order terms in $`\mathrm{}\stackrel{~}{\kappa }^2`$, both in actions and amplitudes, becoming exact in the limit of a large spin-orbit coupling parameter $`\stackrel{~}{\kappa }`$, as could be hoped. Note that (40) becomes exact also in the limit of large energy $`E`$. That the SCL trace formula fails in the limit $`\stackrel{~}{\kappa }0`$ is not surprising because of the non-analytic behaviour of the Hamiltonians (14), as already pointed out in .

### 4.2 A quantum dot with external magnetic field

We now add a lateral confining potential $`V(r_x,r_y)`$ to the previous system. This is a simple model for a two-dimensional quantum dot which nowadays can easily be manufactured in semiconductor heterostructures. We choose the confining potential to be harmonic, so that the Hamiltonian becomes

$`\widehat{H}={\displaystyle \frac{\widehat{𝝅\text{ }}^2}{2m^{}}}1\mathrm{l}+{\displaystyle \frac{m^{}}{2}}(\omega _x^2r_x^2+\omega _y^2r_y^2)1\mathrm{l}+\mathrm{}\kappa \widehat{𝐂}(𝐫,\widehat{𝝅\text{ }})\widehat{𝝈\text{ }}.`$ (41)
The Rashba term $`\widehat{𝐂}`$ now acquires also a $`z`$ component like in (20) and reads:

$`\widehat{𝐂}(𝐫,\widehat{𝝅\text{ }})=\left(\begin{array}{c}v_z^{}\widehat{\pi }_y\\ v_z^{}\widehat{\pi }_x\\ m^{}\omega _x^2r_x\widehat{\pi }_ym^{}\omega _y^2r_y\widehat{\pi }_x\end{array}\right).`$ (45)
In the case where the two oscillator frequencies $`\omega _x`$ and $`\omega _y`$ are identical, the total system has axial symmetry and is integrable even including the spin-orbit term, with the eigenvalues of the total angular momentum in $`z`$ direction, $`\widehat{J}_z=\widehat{L}_z+\widehat{s}_z`$, being constants of the motion. An exact trace formula can then be found by the EBK quantization following the methods of . We will not discuss the integrable system here and refer the interested reader to . A less trivial situation arises when the frequencies $`\omega _x`$ and $`\omega _y`$ are different and the system with spin-orbit coupling is no longer integrable.

Since a realistic spin-orbit coupling in most semiconductors is weak, wee shall here only use the WCL to derive a semiclassical trace formula for the Hamiltonian (41). The system without spin-orbit coupling is biquadratic in the space and momentum variables and can be transformed to become separable in its normal modes. The normal-mode frequencies are

$`\omega _\pm =\left[{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left(\omega _c^2+\omega _x^2+\omega _y^2\pm \sqrt{\left(\omega _c^2+\omega _x^2+\omega _y^2\right)^24\omega _x^2\omega _y^2}\right)\right]^{1/2}.`$ (46)
The exact eigenenergies are thus given in terms of two oscillator quantum numbers $`n_+`$ and $`n_{}`$:

$`E_{n_+,n_{}}=\mathrm{}\omega _+\left(n_++1/2\right)+\mathrm{}\omega _{}\left(n_{}+1/2\right)n_\pm =0,1,2,\mathrm{}`$ (47)
The semiclassical trace formula for such a system is known  and quantum-mechanically exact:

$`\delta g^{\left(\kappa =0\right)}\left(E\right)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{\pm }{}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\mathrm{}\omega _\pm }}{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}\left(1\right)^k{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\mathrm{sin}\left[k\pi \left(\omega _{}/\omega _\pm \right)\right]}}\mathrm{sin}(k{\displaystyle \frac{2\pi E}{\mathrm{}\omega _\pm }}).`$ (48)
Note that this formula is only useful when $`\omega _+/\omega _{}`$ is irrational. For rational frequency ratios, careful limits must be taken to cancel all singularities, see  for details. However, for a finite external field $`B_00`$, the ratio $`\omega _+/\omega _{}`$ can always be made irrational by an infinitesimal change of the field strength, so that equation (48) is adequate for all practical purposes. The semiclassical origin of this trace formula is given by the existence of only two isolated rotating orbits with frequencies $`\omega _+`$ and $`\omega _{}`$, whose shapes in coordinate space are ellipses. Each orbit contributes one of the above two sums; $`k`$ is the repetition number of the primitive orbits (which have $`k=1`$).

We next have to calculate the spin modulation factors by solving the equation (12) along the unperturbed elliptic orbits. This could only be done numerically. It is, however, sufficient to calculate the modulation factors for the primitive orbits only. Using the property $`\mathrm{tr}\text{d}\left(kT_{po}\right)=\mathrm{tr}\text{d}^k\left(T_{po}\right)`$, the final trace formula in the WCL is then given by:

$`\delta g_{sc}\left(E\right)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{\pm }{}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\mathrm{}\omega _\pm }}{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}\left(1\right)^k{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{tr}\text{d}^k\left(T_\pm \right)}{\mathrm{sin}\left[k\pi \left(\omega _{}/\omega _\pm \right)\right]}}\mathrm{sin}(k{\displaystyle \frac{2\pi E}{\mathrm{}\omega _\pm }}),`$ (49)
where $`T_\pm =2\pi /\omega _\pm `$ are the periods of the unperturbed primitive orbits.

In fig 1 we compare results for the oscillating parts $`\delta g\left(E\right)`$ of the coarse-grained level density for $`\gamma =0.3\mathrm{}\omega _0`$; all energies are in units of $`\mathrm{}\omega _0`$. The deformation of the confinement potential was fixed by $`\omega _x=\omega _0`$ and $`\omega _y=1.23\omega _0`$, and the cyclotron frequency was chosen to be $`\omega _c=0.2\omega _0`$. In our numerical calculations we have set $`\mathrm{}=\omega _0=m^{}=e=c=v_z^{}=1`$. In these units, the spin-orbit coupling parameter was chosen to be $`\kappa =0.1`$. The heavy solid lines in the upper three panels represent the full quantum-mechanical result obtained from an exact diagonalization of the Hamiltonian (41) in the basis of $`\stackrel{~}{H}_0`$. In the top panel, the semiclassical trace formula (48) without spin-orbit interaction is shown (only $`k=1`$ and $`k=2`$ contribute visibly). It clearly demonstrates that the effect of the spin-orbit interaction on the level density, even at this resolution, is dramatic. In the next two panels, the spin-orbit interaction has been included into the semiclassical WCL trace formula (49), using the numerical spin modulation factors. We see that the agreement is improved radically, especially if the second repetitions ($`k=2`$) are added. The difference between quantum mechanics (QM) and semiclassics (SC) can clearly be seen only in the close-up (second panel), which selects the energy region $`11\text{ }<\text{ }E/\left(\mathrm{}\omega _0\right)\text{ }<\text{ }21`$, where the disagreement actually is worst. The bottom panel shows the energy dependence of the two spin modulation factors $`\mathrm{tr}\text{d}\left(T_+\right)`$ and $`\mathrm{tr}\text{d}\left(T_{}\right)`$ of the primitive orbits. Clearly, the strong long-range modulation in the amplitude of $`\delta g\left(E\right)`$ is the result of the spin-orbit interaction; it is correctly reproduced in the WCL approach through the inclusion of the spin modulation factors.

This concludes the discussion of the system with magnetic field $`B_00`$. We notice at this point that the case $`B_0=0`$ with irrational frequency ratio $`\omega _x/\omega _y`$ is not accessible in the WCL. This follows from the fact that in the system without spin-orbit coupling, the only periodic orbits are the self-retracing librations along the principal axes. As already discussed at the end of sec 3.1, the WCL fails here in that it gives only the trivial modulation factor tr$`\text{d}\left(T_{po}\right)=2`$ for both orbits. On the other hand, the SCL suffers from the MC problem. We will discuss this problem explicitly in sec 6, where we return to the above system with $`B_0=0`$.

## 5 Three-dimensional harmonic oscillator with standard spin-orbit interaction

We now discuss a three-dimensional system with a spin-orbit interaction of the Thomas type, as it is well-known from non-relativistic atomic and nuclear physics. In order to be able to perform as many calculations as possible analytically, we choose again a harmonic-oscillator potential for $`V\left(𝐫\right)`$. This potential is not only the prototype for any system oscillating harmonically around its ground state, but it has actually been used in nuclear physics as a realistic shell model<sup>2</sup><sup>2</sup>2The angular-momentum dependent $`\widehat{L}^2`$ term included in the Nilsson model  is of minor importance in light nuclei; it is left out here to simplify our investigation for light nuclei , provided that the spin-orbit interaction was included with the correct sign .

We thus start from the following Hamiltonian

$`\widehat{H}=\widehat{H}_01\mathrm{l}+\mathrm{}\kappa \widehat{𝐂}(𝐫,\widehat{𝐩})\widehat{𝝈\text{ }},\widehat{𝐂}(𝐫,\widehat{𝐩})=V\left(𝐫\right)\times \widehat{𝐩},`$ (50)
with

$`\widehat{H}_0={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\widehat{𝐩}^2+V\left(𝐫\right),V\left(𝐫\right)={\displaystyle \underset{i=x,y,z}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\omega _i^2r_i^2.`$ (51)
Here $`𝐫=(r_x,r_y,r_z)`$ and $`𝐩=(p_x,p_y,p_z)`$ are three-dimensional vectors. We express the three oscillator frequencies in terms of two deformation parameters $`\alpha `$, $`\beta `$:

$`\omega _x=\omega _0,\omega _y=\left(1+\alpha \right)\omega _0,\omega _z=\left(1+\alpha \right)^\beta \omega _0.`$ (52)
and use $`\mathrm{}\omega _0`$ as energy units. For $`\alpha =0`$, $`\beta =1`$ the system has spherical symmetry, for $`\beta =1`$ and $`\alpha 0`$ it has only axial symmetry. $`\kappa `$ will be measured in units of $`\left(\mathrm{}\omega _0\right)^1`$.

We shall first (sec 5.1) briefly discuss the quantum-mechanical spectrum of the system, and then (sec 5.2) investigate it in more detail by the semiclassical methods. The most interesting case is that where the oscillator frequencies are mutually irrational, so that the unperturbed classical Hamiltonian $`H_0`$ has only self-retracing periodic orbits. In this case the WCL cannot handle the spin-orbit coupling, and we must resort to the SCL. As we will show, the leading periodic orbits with shortest periods in this case do not undergo mode conversion. We therefore use this system for a representative case study, for which a trace formula can be successfully derived (cf ) within the SCL.

### 5.1 Quantum-mechanical spectrum

In general, the system (50) is not integrable. There are, however, two well-known integrable cases for which the quantum spectrum is analytically known: the separable system (51) without coupling ($`\kappa =0`$), and the spherical system ($`\alpha =0`$) including coupling. The unperturbed harmonic oscillator has the spectrum

$`E_{n_xn_yn_z}={\displaystyle \underset{i=x,y,z}{}}\mathrm{}\omega _i(n_i+1/2).n_i=0,1,2,\mathrm{}`$ (53)
The spherical system ($`\alpha =0`$) with coupling $`\kappa 0`$, for which $`\widehat{𝐂}(𝐫,\widehat{𝐩})=\omega _0^2\widehat{𝐋}`$, has the spectrum

$`E_{nlj}=\mathrm{}\omega _0\left(2n+l+3/2\right)+\kappa \left(\mathrm{}\omega _0\right)^2\times \{\begin{array}{cc}l& \text{for}j=l+1/2,\\ \left(l+1\right)& \text{for}j=l1/2,\end{array}`$ (56)
where $`n,l=0,1,2,\mathrm{}`$ and $`j=l\pm 1/2`$ is the total angular momentum. The spin-orbit term is only to be included for $`l>0`$. Each level $`E_{nlj}`$ has the usual angular momentum degeneracy $`\left(2j+1\right)`$ which equals 2 for $`l=0`$. Note that in nuclear physics, $`\kappa `$ is negative .

The non-integrable cases require numerical methods for determining the energy spectrum. Here we used the diagonalization in the basis $`\mathrm{i}^{n_y}|n_x,n_y,n_z,s_z`$ of the unperturbed Hamiltonian $`\widehat{H}_0`$ (51) with the eigenenergies (53), where $`|s_z`$ with $`s_z=\pm 1`$ are the spin eigenstates of $`\widehat{\sigma }_z`$. The inclusion of the phase $`\mathrm{i}^{n_y}`$ leads to real matrix elements; furthermore, the conservation of the signatures $`\left(1\right)^{n_x+n_y+n_z}`$ and $`\left(1\right)^{n_x+n_y}s_z`$ allows one to separate the Hamiltonian matrix into smaller uncoupled blocks (see  for details).

### 5.2 Semiclassical analysis

#### 5.2.1 Smooth level density

When one wants to compare results of semiclassical trace formulae with quantum-mechanical level densities, one has to subtract from the latter the smooth part $`\stackrel{~}{g}\left(E\right)`$ (see sec 2). For the Hamiltonian (50), $`\stackrel{~}{g}\left(E\right)`$ can be calculated analytically within the extended Thomas-Fermi (TF) method, which has been done already long ago . The result, as an expansion both in $`\mathrm{}`$ and powers of $`\kappa `$, reads

$`\stackrel{~}{g}\left(E\right)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{E^2}{\mathrm{}^3\omega _x\omega _y\omega _z}}\left\{1+\mathrm{}^2\kappa ^2\left(\omega _x^2+\omega _y^2+\omega _z^2\right)+𝒪\left(\mathrm{}^4\kappa ^4\right)\right\}`$ (57)
$`+`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2E}{3\mathrm{}^2\omega _x\omega _y\omega _z}}\left\{\mathrm{}^3\kappa ^3\left(\omega _x^2\omega _y^2+\omega _y^2\omega _z^2+\omega _z^2\omega _x^2\right)+𝒪\left(\mathrm{}^5\kappa ^5\right)\right\}`$
$``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\left(\omega _x^2+\omega _y^2+\omega _z^2\right)}{12\mathrm{}\omega _x\omega _y\omega _z}}\{1+\mathrm{}^2\kappa ^2{\displaystyle \frac{\left(\omega _x^2+\omega _y^2+\omega _z^2\right)^2+2\left(\omega _x^2\omega _y^2+\omega _y^2\omega _z^2+\omega _z^2\omega _x^2\right)}{\left(\omega _x^2+\omega _y^2+\omega _z^2\right)}}+𝒪\left(\mathrm{}^4\kappa ^4\right)\}.`$
In the literature, the smooth part is often assumed to be given by the TF model. This leads, however, only to the leading term proportional to $`E^2`$. For an accurate determination of $`\stackrel{~}{g}\left(E\right)`$, the leading $`\mathrm{}`$ and $`\mathrm{}^2`$ corrections relative to the TF term may not be neglected.

#### 5.2.2 Trace formulae for the integrable cases

The exact spectra of the integrable cases offer again the possibility to derive trace formulae that are exact in all orders of $`\mathrm{}`$. For the unperturbed harmonic oscillators, these are known  and need not be repeated here. For the spherical case with spin-orbit interaction, the methods of  lead to the following result:

$`\delta g\left(E\right)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{E}{\left(\mathrm{}\omega _0\right)^2}}{\displaystyle \underset{\pm }{}}{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\left(1\pm \kappa \mathrm{}\omega _0\right)^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\mathrm{sin}\left[2k\pi /\left(1\pm \kappa \mathrm{}\omega _0\right)\right]}}\mathrm{sin}\left(k{\displaystyle \frac{ET_\pm }{\mathrm{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{\pi }{2}}k\sigma _\pm \right)`$ (58)
$`+`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\mathrm{}\omega _0}}{\displaystyle \underset{\pm }{}}{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{\left(\pm 1+2\kappa \mathrm{}\omega _0\right)}{2\left(1\pm \kappa \mathrm{}\omega _0\right)^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\mathrm{sin}\left[2k\pi /\left(1\pm \kappa \mathrm{}\omega _0\right)\right]}}\mathrm{sin}\left(k{\displaystyle \frac{ET_\pm }{\mathrm{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{\pi }{2}}k\sigma _\pm \right)`$
$`+`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\mathrm{}\omega _0}}{\displaystyle \underset{\pm }{}}{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\left(1\pm \kappa \mathrm{}\omega _0\right)^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{cos}\left[2k\pi /\left(1\pm \kappa \mathrm{}\omega _0\right)\right]}{\mathrm{sin}^2\left[2k\pi /\left(1\pm \kappa \mathrm{}\omega _0\right)\right]}}\mathrm{cos}\left(k{\displaystyle \frac{ET_\pm }{\mathrm{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{\pi }{2}}k\sigma _\pm \right)`$
$`+`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\mathrm{}\omega _0}}{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{\left(1\right)^{k+1}}{2\mathrm{sin}^2\left(k\pi \kappa \mathrm{}\omega _0\right)}}\mathrm{cos}\left(k{\displaystyle \frac{ET_0}{\mathrm{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{\pi }{2}}k\sigma _0\right),`$
where the three periods $`T_\pm `$ and $`T_0`$ are given by

$`T_\pm ={\displaystyle \frac{2\pi }{\omega _0\left(1\pm \kappa \mathrm{}\omega _0\right)}},T_0={\displaystyle \frac{2\pi }{\omega _0}},`$ (59)
and the phases

$`\sigma _\pm ={\displaystyle \frac{\pm \mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}}{1\pm \kappa \mathrm{}\omega _0}},\sigma _0=4\kappa \mathrm{}\omega _0`$ (60)
play the role of non-integer Maslov integers. When added to the smooth part (57), eq (58) reproduces the exact quantum spectrum (56). This trace formula thus serves us as a test limit of the semiclassical results derived below in the non-integrable deformed cases. In $`T_0`$ we recognize the period of the classical orbits of the unperturbed Hamiltonian; the shifted periods $`T_\pm `$ have to be explained by the periodic orbits of the perturbed system.

In the limit $`\kappa 0`$, the sum of the smooth term (57) with $`\omega _x`$=$`\omega _y`$=$`\omega _z`$=$`\omega _0`$ and the oscillating term (58) yields the exact trace formula of the isotropic three-dimensional harmonic oscillator  (which here includes the spin degeneracy factor 2)

$`g\left(E\right)={\displaystyle \frac{1}{\left(\mathrm{}\omega _0\right)^3}}\left[E^2{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}\left(\mathrm{}\omega _0\right)^2\right]\left\{1+2{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}\left(1\right)^k\mathrm{cos}\left(k{\displaystyle \frac{2\pi E}{\mathrm{}\omega _0}}\right)\right\}.`$ (61)
#### 5.2.3 Fourier transforms

Since we have no explicit quantum spectra of the perturbed system and therefore cannot derive an exact trace formula, we resort to the method of Fourier transforms of the quantum spectrum  in order to extract information on the periods of the system. The Hamiltonian (50) has the scaling property

$`\widehat{H}(\eta 𝐫,\eta \widehat{𝐩})=\eta ^2\widehat{H}(𝐫,\widehat{𝐩}).`$ (62)
We see below that this scaling property holds also in the classical limit if the SCL is used. As a consequence, the energy dependence of the classical dynamics and thus of the periodic orbits is simply given by a scaling, and their actions go like $`S_{po}\left(E\right)=T_{po}E`$, whereby the periods $`T_{po}=2\pi /\omega _{po}`$ are energy independent (but depend on $`\kappa `$). Therefore, the peaks in the Fourier transforms of $`\delta g\left(E\right)`$ with respect to the variable $`E`$ will give us directly the periods $`T_{po}`$ in the time domain, whereby the peak heights are given by the semiclassical amplitudes $`𝒜_{po}`$ and their signs give information on the relative Maslov indices.

In fig 2 we present a series of Fourier transforms of $`\delta g\left(E\right)`$ obtained from the numerically diagonalized quantum spectra with a coarse-graining parameter $`\gamma =0.5\mathrm{}\omega _0`$. Shown are here the squares of the Fourier amplitudes in the time domain, plotted for different spin-orbit coupling strengths $`\kappa `$. A slightly anisotropic ratio of frequencies $`\omega _x=\omega _0`$, $`\omega _y=1.1215\omega _0`$, $`\omega _z=1.2528\omega _0`$ was chosen. For $`\kappa =0`$, the system then has only the three isolated librating orbits along the principal axes. Indeed, wee see at $`\kappa =0`$ the three dominant peaks with the corresponding primitive periods $`T_i=2\pi /\omega _i`$ $`\left(i=x,y,z\right)`$. Their second harmonics $`\left(k=2\right)`$ are also resolved; however, due to their larger periods they are of smaller amplitude. For $`\kappa >0`$ this simple peak structure is split and ends in a completely different spectrum at $`\kappa =0.2\left(\mathrm{}\omega _0\right)^1`$. The dotted lines are the predictions from the semiclassical SCL analysis given in the next subsection; the plots on the right-hand side indicate the shapes of the periodic orbits for increasing $`\kappa `$.

#### 5.2.4 Semiclassical treatment in the SCL approach

We now analyze the system semiclassically in the SCL. According to sec 3.2, the classical Hamiltonians to be used are

$`H_\pm (𝐫,𝐩)={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}p^2+V\left(𝐫\right)\pm \overline{\kappa }\left|𝐂(𝐫,𝐩)\right|,`$ (63)
with $`𝐂`$ given in (50) and $`\overline{\kappa }=\mathrm{}\kappa `$ as discussed in sec 3.2. The spin-orbit term destroys the integrability of the harmonic oscillator, but the scaling property (62) is still fulfilled. Therefore the above Fourier spectra should give us the correct periods of the periodic orbits defined by the Hamiltonians (63).

a) Periodic orbits

The equations of motion for the Hamiltonians (63) become

$`\dot{r}_i`$ $`=`$ $`p_i\pm ϵ_{ijk}\overline{\kappa }\left|𝐂\right|^1\left(C_j\omega _k^2r_kC_k\omega _j^2r_j\right),`$
$`\dot{p}_i`$ $`=`$ $`\omega _i^2r_i\pm ϵ_{ijk}\overline{\kappa }|𝐂|^1(C_j\omega _i^2p_kC_k\omega _i^2p_j).i,j,k\{x,y,z\}`$ (64)
This is a non-linear coupled system of six equations, and the search for periodic orbits is not easy. We have determined them numerically by a Newton-Raphson iteration employing the stability matrix . Special care must be taken at the MC points where $`𝐂(𝐫,𝐩)=0`$ and hence the equations (64) are ill defined. In general, this leads to discontinuities in the shapes of the periodic orbits, due to which their stabilities cannot be defined. We shall return to the MC problem in sec 6. It turns out that there exist periodic orbits which are free of MC, i.e., for which $`𝐂(𝐫,𝐩)`$ never becomes zero. The existence of some particularly simple orbits follows from the fact that the three planes $`r_k=p_k=0`$ $`\left(k=x,y,z\right)`$ in phase space are invariant under the Hamiltonian flow. The coupled equations of motion for the class of two-dimensional orbits lying in the ($`i,j`$) planes are

$`\dot{r}_i`$ $`=`$ $`p_iϵ_{ijk}\overline{\kappa }\mathrm{sign}\left(C_k\right)\omega _j^2r_j,`$
$`\dot{p}_i`$ $`=`$ $`\omega _i^2r_iϵ_{ijk}\overline{\kappa }\mathrm{sign}\left(C_k\right)\omega _i^2p_j,i,j,k\{x,y,z\}`$ (65)
where $`i`$ and $`j`$ refer to the in-plane variables and $`k`$ to the normal of each plane. Assuming that there exist solutions with $`C_k0`$, we can put $`\mathrm{sign}\left(C_k\right)=1`$, since to each such orbit, there exists a time-reversed partner which belongs to the opposite of the two Hamiltonians $`H_\pm `$. Hence we obtain the system of equations

$`\dot{r}_i`$ $`=`$ $`p_iϵ_{ijk}\overline{\kappa }\omega _j^2r_j,`$
$`\dot{p}_i`$ $`=`$ $`\omega _i^2r_iϵ_{ijk}\overline{\kappa }\omega _i^2p_j,i,j,k\{x,y,z\}`$ (66)
which now are strictly linear and can be solved by finding the normal modes. The solutions are two periodic orbits of ellipse form in each invariant plane $`(i,j)`$. For the two Hamiltonians $`H_\pm `$ this gives altogether twelve planar periodic orbits which come in doubly degenerate pairs. We therefore find six different orbits (denoted by $`\gamma _{ij}^\pm `$ in fig 5 below) with the frequencies

$`\omega _{ij}^\pm =\left[\left(\omega _j^2+\omega _i^2+2\overline{\kappa }^2\omega _i^2\omega _j^2+\sqrt{\left(\omega _j^2\omega _i^2\right)^2+8\overline{\kappa }^2\omega _i^2\omega _j^2\left(\omega _i^2+\omega _j^2\right)}\right)\right]^{1/2}.`$ (67)
The rhs of fig 3 shows these frequencies versus the spin-orbit coupling parameter $`\overline{\kappa }`$. On the lhs we illustrate the periodic orbits for $`\overline{\kappa }0`$ (ellipses) and the unperturbed libration orbits for $`\overline{\kappa }=0`$. The periods $`T_{ij}^\pm =2\pi /\omega _{ij}^\pm `$ fit perfectly the positions of the most pronounced peaks in the Fourier spectra of fig 2 (cf the dotted lines there), when the appropriate deformations $`\omega _i`$, $`\omega _j`$ are chosen. Some of the minor peaks may be attributed to non-planar orbits (see below).

In the spherical limit, the same procedure leads to a very simple analytical result. Due to the conserved angular momentum $`𝐋=𝐫\times 𝐩`$, most periodic orbits are planar circles. In each plane, the equations of motion are similar to (66), with the two eigenfrequencies $`\omega ^\pm `$ and corresponding periods $`T^\pm `$ given by

$`\omega ^\pm =\omega _0\left(1\pm \overline{\kappa }\omega _0\right),T^\pm ={\displaystyle \frac{2\pi }{\omega _0\left(1\pm \overline{\kappa }\omega _0\right)}}.`$ (68)
The periods $`T^\pm `$ are exactly equal to the two periods $`T_\pm `$ in (59) that appear in the exact trace formula (58) of the spherical system.<sup>3</sup><sup>3</sup>3Note that in the present SCL approach, the constant $`\overline{\kappa }`$ includes a factor $`\mathrm{}`$, see sec 3.2 However, the unperturbed harmonic oscillator period $`T_0=2\pi /\omega _0`$ that also appears in (58) cannot be explained by the present solutions in the SCL. We surmise that it might be connected to the existence of straight-line librating orbits; these lie, however, on mode conversion surfaces and cannot be treated in the present approach. In our ongoing studies  where the MC problem is avoided, we can, indeed, confirm the existence of periodic orbits with the period $`T_0`$.

Besides the above harmonic planar solutions, the full non-linear system (64) leads also to non-planar three-dimensional periodic solutions with $`𝐂(𝐫,𝐩)>0`$ (or $`<0`$) for which mode conversion does not occur. Some of these numerically obtained orbits evaluated at $`\overline{\kappa }=0.2\omega _0^1`$ are shown in fig 4. We also give their periods $`T_{po}`$ and partial traces $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_i`$ which determine their stabilities (see below). The orbit $`\gamma _{332}^{}`$ has the period $`T_{po}=10.08\omega _0^1`$ which seems to be supported numerically by a small peak seen in the uppermost Fourier spectrum of fig 2. The periods of the other orbits from fig 4 could not clearly be identified in the Fourier spectra; some of these orbits are too unstable and some of the periods lie too close to those of the leading planar orbits.

Stability amplitudes and trace formula for isolated orbits

The amplitude $`𝒜_{po}`$ of a periodic orbit in the trace formula is strongly dependent on its stability. For isolated orbits in a two-dimensional system, the factor $`\left|det\left(\stackrel{~}{\text{M}}_{po}1\mathrm{l}\right)\right|`$ in (5) equals $`\left|2\text{tr}\stackrel{~}{\text{M}}_{po}\right|=\left|2\left(\lambda _1+\lambda _2\right)\right|=\left|2\left(\lambda _1+1/\lambda _1\right)\right|`$, where $`\lambda _i`$ ($`i=1,2`$) are the eigenvalues of the stability matrix $`\stackrel{~}{\text{M}}_{po}`$, and thus the quantity tr$`\stackrel{~}{\text{M}}_{po}`$ contains all information about the stability of an orbit. For a system in $`d2`$ dimensions, we can write

$`\left|det\left(\stackrel{~}{\text{M}}_{po}1\mathrm{l}\right)\right|={\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{d1}{}}}\left|\mathrm{\Lambda }_i2\right|,`$ (69)
where the “partial traces” $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_i`$ are the sums of pairs $`\lambda _i`$, $`1/\lambda _i`$ of mutually inverse eigenvalues of the $`\left(2d2\right)`$ dimensional stability matrix $`\stackrel{~}{\text{M}}_{po}`$: $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_i=\lambda _i+1/\lambda _i`$ ($`i=1,2,\mathrm{},d`$$``$1). An orbit is stable when $`\left|\mathrm{\Lambda }_i\right|<2`$ for all $`i`$, unstable when $`\left|\mathrm{\Lambda }_i\right|>2`$ for all $`i`$, and mixed stable (or loxodromic) in all other cases. For the latter cases, the stability depends on the phase-space direction of a perturbation. Whenever $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_i=+2`$ for any partial trace, a bifurcation occurs and the stability denominator (69) becomes zero. In such a situation one has to resort to uniform approximations  in order to obtain finite semiclassical amplitudes. Non-isolated periodic orbits with $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_i=2`$ occur in degenerate families for systems with continuous symmetries and are characteristic of integrable systems; for these, the amplitudes must be obtained differently . The symmetry breaking away from integrability can also be handled perturbatively  or with suitable uniform approximations .

Most of the orbits that we have found, both planar and non-planar, undergo bifurcations when the spin-orbit parameter $`\overline{\kappa }`$ or the deformation parameters $`\alpha `$, $`\beta `$ are varied. A typical scenario is illustrated in fig 5, where $`\alpha `$ is varied at fixed $`\overline{\kappa }=0.1\omega _0^1`$ and $`\beta =2`$. Shown are the partial traces $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_i`$ of the involved orbits. One of the planar ellipse orbits ($`\gamma _{\mathrm{xy}}^{}`$) lying in the $`(x,y)`$ plane undergoes an isochronous pitchfork bifurcation at $`\alpha =0.3977`$. The new-born pair of orbits ($`\gamma _{\mathrm{bif}}^{}`$) are degenerate with respect to a reflection at the $`(x,y)`$ plane. They are non-planar warped ellipses which rotate out of the $`(x,y)`$ plane when $`\alpha `$ is increased, and then approach the $`(x,z)`$ plane. Through an inverse pitchfork bifurcation at $`\alpha =0.4450`$, they finally merge with another planar ellipse orbit ($`\gamma _{\mathrm{zx}}^{}`$) lying in the $`(x,z)`$ plane. Near $`\alpha 0.425`$, the orbit $`\gamma _{\mathrm{bif}}^{}`$ suffers from two more bifurcations (the other orbits involved thereby are not shown).

This example shows that the classical dynamics of the Hamiltonians $`H_\pm `$ is mixed and quite complicated due to the unavoidable bifurcations. In principle, isolated bifurcations can be handled using the by now well-known uniform approximations . These fail, however, when two bifurcations lie so close that the difference between the corresponding actions $`S_{po}`$ becomes comparable to or less than $`\mathrm{}`$. It would lead outside the scope of the present study to attempt to regulate the Gutzwiller amplitudes by uniform approximations. In fig 6 we show by crosses the critical values of the frequencies $`\omega _y`$ and $`\omega _z`$ (in units of $`\omega _x=\omega _0`$) versus $`\overline{\kappa }`$, at which bifurcations of the planar orbits $`\gamma _{ij}^\pm `$ occur for fixed values of the deformation parameter $`\beta =2`$ (left) and $`\beta =3`$ (right). The other deformation parameter $`\alpha `$ is given via (52). In the deformation regions below the dashed lines, where no bifurcations occur, the semiclassical amplitudes can be used without further uniform approximation.

For the contributions of all the isolated periodic orbits away from the bifurcations, we therefore use the trace formula

$`\delta g_\gamma \left(E\right)={\displaystyle \frac{1}{\mathrm{}\pi }}{\displaystyle \underset{po}{}}e^{\left(\gamma T_{po}/2\mathrm{}\right)^2}{\displaystyle \frac{T_{ppo}}{\sqrt{_{i=1}^{d1}\left|\mathrm{\Lambda }_i2\right|}}}\mathrm{cos}\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{\mathrm{}}}S_{po}+\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Phi }_{po}{\displaystyle \frac{\pi }{2}}\sigma _{po}\right),`$ (70)
whereby the sum $`po`$ explicitly includes all periodic orbits of both Hamiltonians $`H_\pm `$. The Maslov indices $`\sigma _{po}`$ were evaluated with the methods developed by Creagh et al , employing the recipes given in appendix D of . The terms $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Phi }_{po}`$ are the phase corrections (15). For the planar ellipse orbits lying in the $`(i,j)`$ planes, we find $`\lambda _\pm ^B=0`$ and $`\lambda _\pm ^{NN}=\overline{\kappa }\omega _k^2/2`$, so that $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Phi }_{po}=\overline{\kappa }\pi \omega _k^2/\omega _{ij}^\pm `$.

In fig 7 we show the results obtained for the situation $`\alpha =0.1212`$, $`\beta =2`$, $`\overline{\kappa }=0.1\omega _0^1`$, for which no close-lying bifurcations exist. The quantum-mechanical coarse-grained level density $`\delta g\left(E\right)`$ is shown by the solid lines (QM) and includes the spin-orbit interaction in both curves a) and b). The semiclassical results (SC) are shown by dashed lines; in a) without spin-orbit interaction, which again demonstrates that the latter dramatically changes the level density; in b) with spin-orbit interaction through the trace formula (70). Only the six primitive planar orbits have been used. We see that this already leads to an excellent agreement with quantum mechanics, except at very low energies where semiclassics usually cannot be expected to work. The curve SC in the lowest panel c) shows the semiclassical result over a larger energy scale.

Similar results were obtained in the region of deformations and $`\overline{\kappa }`$ values below the dashed lines in fig 6, where bifurcations do not occur. In all these cases, it turned out that the inclusion of the six primitive planar orbits was sufficient within the resolution given by the coarse-graining width $`\gamma =0.5\mathrm{}\omega _0`$. This result is in agreement with the Fourier analysis of sec 5.2.3 of the quantum spectra, where all dominant peaks correspond to the periods of these six orbits.

## 6 The problem of mode conversion

In this section we want to discuss the mode conversion (MC) problem that arises in the strong-coupling limit (SCL) following . In particular, we will discuss an intuitive method, suggested by Frisk and Guhr , to partially avoid the MC problem. This method can qualitatively explain some of the peaks observed in the Fourier spectra of the quantum-mechanical level densities $`\delta g\left(E\right)`$. It can, however, not be used to calculate the amplitudes $`𝒜_{po}`$ required for the semiclassical trace formula.

To this purpose, we return to the 2DEG with lateral harmonic confinement discussed in sec 4.2, but without external magnetic field ($`B_0=0`$). We shall again assume the oscillator frequencies $`\omega _x`$ and $`\omega _y`$ to be incommensurable (i.e., $`\omega _x/\omega _y`$ is irrational). Then, the system without spin-orbit interaction has only the isolated self-retracing librating orbits along the axes, and the weak-coupling limit (WCL) approach of  cannot handle the spin-orbit interaction (except for a trivial spin factor 2 in the trace formula). We therefore have to resort to the SCL approach. In order to simplify the discussion and focus on the important points, we set $`m^{}=1`$ and ignore the diagonal elements of the spin-orbit interaction. We thus start from the Hamiltonian

$`\widehat{H}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left(\widehat{p}_x^2+\widehat{p}_y^2+\omega _x^2r_x^2+\omega _y^2r_y^2\right)1\mathrm{l}+\mathrm{}\kappa (\begin{array}{cc}0& \widehat{p}_x\mathrm{i}\widehat{p}_y\\ \widehat{p}_x+\mathrm{i}\widehat{p}_y& 0\end{array}),`$ (73)
which in the SCL leads to the classical Hamiltonians ($`\overline{\kappa }=\mathrm{}\kappa `$)

$`H_\pm ={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left(p_x^2+p_y^2+\omega _x^2r_x^2+\omega _y^2r_y^2\right)\pm \overline{\kappa }\sqrt{p_x^2+p_y^2}.`$ (74)
Before taking the semiclassical limit, we first perform a Fourier analysis of the quantum spectrum of (73) which is easily diagonalized in the unperturbed harmonic-oscillator basis. The Hamiltonian (73) does not possess the scaling property (62) of the three-dimensional system studied in sec 5. However, we can use the method of  by scaling the parameter $`\overline{\kappa }`$ away. Dividing equation (74) by $`\overline{\kappa }^2`$ and introducing the scaled variables $`\stackrel{~}{r}_i=r_i/\overline{\kappa }`$, $`\stackrel{~}{p}_i=p_i/\overline{\kappa }`$, we obtain the scaled Hamiltonians

$`\stackrel{~}{H}_\pm ={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left(\stackrel{~}{p}_x^2+\stackrel{~}{p}_y^2+\omega _x^2\stackrel{~}{r}_x^2+\omega _y^2\stackrel{~}{r}_y^2\right)\pm \sqrt{\stackrel{~}{p}_x^2+\stackrel{~}{p}_y^2}=E/\overline{\kappa }^2=e,`$ (75)
so that the classical dynamics does not depend explicitly on $`\overline{\kappa }`$ but is determined only by the scaled energy variables $`e`$. Therefore, a Fourier transform of the quantum spectra along the path in the ($`E,\kappa `$) plane with constant $`E/\kappa ^2`$ leads in the time domain to the quasiperiods $`\stackrel{~}{T}_{po}^\pm =s_{po}^\pm \left(e\right)/e`$ of the periodic orbits of the Hamiltonians (75), whereby $`s_{po}^\pm `$ are their scaled actions.

In the lower part of fig 9 below we show the result of the Fourier transforms, taken at two different scaled energies. For $`e=10^5\mathrm{}\omega _0/\overline{\kappa }^2`$ (dashed line) only two peaks are seen. For $`e=30\mathrm{}\omega _0/\overline{\kappa }^2`$ (solid line), these are slightly shifted and remain the dominant peaks, whereas four additional small peaks appear (the second of these extra peak is almost absorbed in the left dominant peak).

We now analyze the classical dynamics of the Hamiltonians (75). Like in the three-dimensional system analyzed in sec 5.2.4, we can find orbits lying in the invariant subspaces of phase space with $`\stackrel{~}{r}_i=\stackrel{~}{p}_i=0`$ for one of the degrees of freedom $`i`$ ($`x`$ or $`y`$). For the other degree, the one-dimensional equations of motion become

$`\dot{\stackrel{~}{r}}_i`$ $`=`$ $`\stackrel{~}{p}_i\pm \mathrm{sign}\stackrel{~}{p}_i,`$
$`\dot{\stackrel{~}{p}}_i`$ $`=`$ $`\omega _i^2\stackrel{~}{r}_i.`$ (76)
On the axes $`\stackrel{~}{p}_i=0`$ in phase space these equations are ill defined. It is still possible to solve the equations for $`\stackrel{~}{p}_i0`$, which leads to portions of a circle in the $`(\stackrel{~}{p}_i,\stackrel{~}{r}_i)`$ plane for each sign of $`\stackrel{~}{p}_i`$. One may then connect these partial trajectories to form periodic orbits whose shapes have, however, kinks. This is illustrated in the upper part a) of fig 8. Due to the kinks, these orbits are not differentiable and their stabilities cannot be defined. Their periods can, however, be calculated analytically and become

$`T_{i,+}^{\mathrm{adia}}\left(e\right)={\displaystyle \frac{2}{\omega _i}}\mathrm{arccos}\left({\displaystyle \frac{12e}{1+2e}}\right),T_{i,}^{\mathrm{adia}}\left(e\right)={\displaystyle \frac{4\pi }{\omega _i}}{\displaystyle \frac{2}{\omega _i}}\mathrm{arccos}\left({\displaystyle \frac{12e}{1+2e}}\right).`$ (77)
From the area enclosed by the orbits, we can also obtain the scaled actions:

$`s_{i,\pm }^{\mathrm{adia}}\left(e\right)=\left(e{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\right)T_{i,\pm }^{\mathrm{adia}}\left(e\right){\displaystyle \frac{2}{\omega _i}}\sqrt{2e}.`$ (78)
We use the superscript “adia” because the Hamiltonians $`H_\pm `$ correspond to the adiabatic situation where the spin polarizations are fixed.

An alternative way to use the partial solutions found from (76) has been proposed by Frisk and Guhr : instead of joining the two portions obtained for both signs of $`\stackrel{~}{p}_i`$ on one and the same of the Hamiltonians $`H_\pm `$, one switches between the $`H_\pm `$, enforcing a spin flip at the MC points: $`H_+H_{}`$. This corresponds to the transition from the adiabatic to a diabatic basis. The orbits thus obtained are continuous circles with continuous derivatives, as illustrated in the lower part b) of fig 8, and correspond to simple harmonic librations along the $`i`$ axes. Their periods and actions are easily found to be

$`T_i^{\mathrm{dia}}={\displaystyle \frac{2\pi }{\omega _i}},s_i^{\mathrm{dia}}\left(e\right)=\left(e+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\right){\displaystyle \frac{2\pi }{\omega _i}}.`$ (79)
The superscript “dia” indicates that we call these the diabatic orbits. Their periods are those of the Hamiltonian without spin-orbit coupling: $`T_i^{\mathrm{dia}}=T_i^{\left(0\right)}=2\pi /\omega _i`$. Although their shapes are continuous and differentiable, their stabilities still cannot be calculated, because the Hessian matrices of the $`H_\pm `$ in phase space are singular at the MC points. In the limit $`e\mathrm{}`$, the pairs of adiabatic orbits merge into the diabatic orbits, and we get

$`T_{i,\pm }^{\mathrm{adia}}\left(e\right)T_i^{\mathrm{dia}},{\displaystyle \frac{s_{i,\pm }^{\mathrm{adia}}\left(e\right)}{e}}{\displaystyle \frac{s_i^{\mathrm{dia}}\left(e\right)}{e}}T_i^{\mathrm{dia}}.`$ (80)
In the upper part of fig 9, we show the curves $`s_{i,\pm }^{\mathrm{adia}}\left(e\right)/e`$ by the short and long dashed lines, and the curves $`s_i^{\mathrm{dia}}\left(e\right)/e`$ by the solid lines. We see that their values at $`e=30\mathrm{}\omega _0/\overline{\kappa }^2`$ correspond exactly to the six peaks appearing in the corresponding Fourier spectrum. The two dominant peaks correspond to the diabatic orbits, and the four small peaks correspond to the adiabatic orbits. For $`e=10^5\mathrm{}\omega _0/\overline{\kappa }^2`$, the only two peaks correspond to the asymptotic values of $`s_i^{\mathrm{dia}}\left(e\right)/e=T_i^{\mathrm{dia}}`$, in agreement with the limit (80).

The evidence of diabatic orbits according to the above spin-flip hypothesis had already been observed by Frisk and Guhr . They did, however, not recognize any signatures in their Fourier spectra corresponding to periods of adiabatic orbits involved with MC points, such as we have found them in the four minor peaks of fig 9. Their conclusion was therefore that spin-flips always occur at the MC points. Our results seem to suggest that both kind of dynamics occur. The dominant Fourier peaks are, indeed, those corresponding to the diabatic orbits which undergo spin flips at the MC points. However, there must also exist a finite probability that the orbits stay on the adiabatic surfaces $`H\pm =E`$, leading to the smaller peaks positioned at the correct adiabatic quasiperiods $`s\left(e\right)/e`$.

The semiclassical amplitudes required for the trace formula cannot be calculated for the present system, neither using diabatic nor adiabatic orbits. The fully polarized treatment of the spin variables used in the SCL approach is obviously not flexible enough to account for the full dynamics, although the Fourier analysis of the quantum spectra suggest that there is some partial truth to it. A more complete semiclassical description of the spin motion should allow for a balanced mixture of adiabatic and diabatic spin motion.

## 7 Summary and conclusions

We have derived semiclassical trace formulae for several nonrelativistic two- and three-dimensional fermion systems with spin-orbit interactions of Rashba and Thomas type. We have thereby employed the weak-coupling limit (WCL) developed by Bolte and Keppeler , and the strong-coupling limit (SCL) of Littlejohn and Flynn  with extensions and justifications of .

In the WCL approach, the spatial motion of the particles is taken into account only using the periodic orbits of the system without spin-orbit interaction. The spin motion is included adiabatically via the trace of a spin transport matrix d$`\left(t\right)`$ which describes the spin precession about the instantaneous magnetic field provided by the spin-orbit interaction. Nevertheless, we found that for a 2DEG in an external magnetic field with and without lateral anharmonic confinement, the WCL yields excellent results. In the free case, for which an exact trace formula can be derived, the semiclassical WCL reproduces the exact leading-order terms both in $`\mathrm{}`$ and in the spin-orbit coupling constant $`\kappa `$. In the laterally confined case, the gross-shell structure of the coarse-grained quantum level density was very accurately reproduced numerically. From our results it can be seen that in the limit of very large spin-orbit constants $`\kappa `$, the missing higher-order terms may restrict the applicability of this method. A particular situation, where the WCL approach misses the effects of the spin-orbit interaction totally, is that where only self-retracing isolated periodic orbits exist, for which the trace of d$`\left(T_{po}\right)`$ only yields a trivial spin degeneracy factor 2.

We have studied the SCL approach for two systems possessing exclusively self-retracing isolated orbits for which the WCL approach fails, namely two- and three-dimensional harmonic oscillators with irrational frequency ratios. In the SCL approach the mode conversion (MC) problem, arising at points in phase space where the spin-orbit interaction locally is zero, imposes severe restrictions, since singularities in the equations of motion and the linear stability analysis of periodic orbits arise at the MC points. However, in the three-dimensional case, which provides a realistic shell model for light atomic nuclei, we found that the leading orbits with shortest periods are free of MC and lead to excellent results of the semiclassical trace formula for the coarse-grained level density, as long as bifurcations of these orbits are avoided. (The latter, when they are sufficiently separated in phase space, can be taken into account using well-developed uniform approximations and do, in principle, not affect the applicability of the SCL approach.)

In the two-dimensional model of an anisotropic quantum dot, the MC problem could not be avoided. By a Fourier analysis of the quantum spectrum we have provided some support of the diabatic spin-flip hypothesis put forward by Frisk and Guhr . We have to extend their conclusions, though, in the sense that there is evidence for a mixture of both diabatic and adiabatic classical motion on the two spin-polarized energy surfaces $`H_\pm =E`$, whereby the diabatic periods dominate the Fourier spectra. But even in the diabatic spin-flip limit, the semiclassical amplitudes of the trace formula cannot be calculated, and the MC problem therefore remains essentially unsolved. The connection between the existence of MC points and real spin-flip processes should therefore be taken with caution. In order to study the physical relevance of spin flips in the presence of a spin-orbit interaction, there is a definite need for a better analytical semiclassical treatment of the spin degrees of motion that is free of singularities and allows for a balanced mixture of adiabatic and diabatic spin motion. A new approach  in which the MC problem does not arise is presently being developed and will be presented in more detail in a forthcoming paper.

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to J. Bolte, S. Keppeler, M. Langenbuch, M. Mehta, M. Pletyukhov, O. Zaitsev and U. Rössler for stimulating discussions. This work has been supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.