Squeezed states and quantum chaos

We examine the dynamics of a wave packet that initially corresponds to a coherent state in the model of a quantum rotator excited by a periodic sequence of kicks. This model is the main model of quantum chaos and allows for a transition from regular behavior to chaotic in the classical limit. By doing a numerical experiment we study the generation of squeezed states in quasiclassical conditions and in a time interval when quantum-classical correspondence is well-defined. We find that the degree of squeezing depends on the degree of local instability in the system and increases with the Chirikov classical stochasticity parameter. We also discuss the dependence of the degree of squeezing on the initial width of the packet, the problem of stability and observability of squeezed states in the transition to quantum chaos, and the dynamics of disintegration of wave packets in quantum chaos. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics.