Statistical properties of the localization measure in a finite-dimensional model of the quantum kicked rotator

We study the quantum kicked rotator in the classically fully chaotic regime K=10 and for various values of the quantum parameter k using Izrailev's N-dimensional model for various N≤3000, which in the limit N→∞ tends to the exact quantized kicked rotator. By numerically calculating the eigenfunctions in the basis of the angular momentum we find that the localization length L for fixed parameter values has a certain distribution; in fact, its inverse is Gaussian distributed, in analogy and in connection with the distribution of finite time Lyapunov exponents of Hamilton systems. However, unlike the case of the finite time Lyapunov exponents, this distribution is found to be independent of N and thus survives the limit N=∞. This is different from the tight-binding model of Anderson localization. The reason is that the finite bandwidth approximation of the underlying Hamilton dynamical system in the Shepelyansky picture [Phys. Rev. Lett. 56, 677 (1986)] does not apply rigorously. This observation explains the strong fluctuations in the scaling laws of the kicked rotator, such as the entropy localization measure as a function of the scaling parameter Λ=L/N, where L is the theoretical value of the localization length in the semiclassical approximation. These results call for a more refined theory of the localization length in the quantum kicked rotator and in similar Floquet systems, where we must predict not only the mean value of the inverse of the localization length L but also its (Gaussian) distribution, in particular the variance. In order to complete our studies we numerically analyze the related behavior of finite time Lyapunov exponents in the standard map and of the 2×2 transfer matrix formalism. This paper extends our recent work [Phys. Rev. E 87, 062905 (2013)].