Irreversible evolution of quantum chaos.

The pendulum is the simplest system having all the basic properties inherent in dynamic stochastic systems. In the present paper we investigate the pendulum with the aim to reveal the properties of a quantum analogue of dynamic stochasticity or, in other words, to obtain the basic properties of quantum chaos. It is shown that a periodic perturbation of the quantum pendulum (similarly to the classical one) in the neighborhood of the separatrix can bring about irreversible phenomena. As a result of recurrent passages between degenerate states, the system gets self-chaotized and passes from the pure state to the mixed one. Chaotization involves the states, the branch points of whose levels participate in a slow "drift" of the system along the Mathieu characteristics this "drift" being caused by a slowly changing variable field. Recurrent relations are obtained for populations of levels participating in the irreversible evolution process. It is shown that the entropy of the system first grows and, after reaching the equilibrium state, acquires a constant value.