TIME-REVERSAL SYMMETRY-BREAKING AND THE FIELD-THEORY OF QUANTUM CHAOS

Recent studies have shown that the quantum statistical properties of s ystems which are chaotic in their classical limit can be expressed in terms of an effective field theory. Within this description, spectral properties are determined by low energy relaxation modes of the classi cal evolution operator. It is in the interaction of these modes that q uantum interference effects are encoded. In this paper we review this general approach and discuss how the theory is modified to account for time-reversal symmetry breaking. To keep our discussion general, we w ill also briefly describe how the theory is modified by the presence o f an additional discrete symmetry such as inversion. Throughout, paral lels are drawn between quantum chaotic systems and the properties of w eakly disordered conductors. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.