CHAOS IN ATOMIC PHYSICS

The influence of quantum chaos on small atomic systems is reviewed. It now seems clear that chaos in the usually understood sense (e.g. exponential sensitivity to perturbations) is not found in isolated quantum systems. However, there are phenomena which appear only when the corresponding classical system is chaotic. The stability of the classical dynamics, in other words whether it is regular or chaotic, has a profound effect on the character of the corresponding quantum spectrum and wavefunctions.