Strong Scarring of Logarithmic Quasimodes

Abstract

We consider a semiclassical (pseudo)differential operator on a compact surface $(M,g)$, such that the Hamiltonian flow generated by its principal symbol admits a hyperbolic periodic orbit $\gamma$ at some energy $E_0$. For any $\epsilon>0$, we then explicitly construct families of quasimodes of this operator, satisfying an energy width of order $\epsilon \frac{h}{|\log h|}$ in the semiclassical limit, but which still exhibit a "strong scar" on the orbit $\gamma$, i.e. that these states have a positive weight in any microlocal neighbourhood of $\gamma$. We pay attention to optimizing the constants involved in the estimates. This result generalizes a recent result of Brooks \cite{Br13} in the case of hyperbolic surfaces. Our construction, inspired by the works of Vergini et al. in the physics literature, relies on controlling the propagation of Gaussian wavepackets up to the Ehrenfest time.