Abstract. We study the autocorrelation function of different types of eigenfunctions in quantum mechanical systems with either chaotic or mixed classical limits. We obtain an expansion of the autocorrelation function in terms of the correlation distance. For localized states in billiards, like bouncing ball modes or states living on tori, a simple model using only classical input gives good agreement with the exact result. In particular, a prediction for irregular eigenfunctions in mixed systems is derived and tested. For chaotic systems, the expansion of the autocorrelation function can be used to test quantum ergodicity on different length scales.

PACS numbers: 05.45.Mt, 02.50.Ey, 03.65.SQ, 05.45.−a

Print publication: Issue 3 (25 January 2002)
Received 20 April 2001, in final form 14 September 2001
Published 11 January 2002