title: Cross-section fluctuations in chaotic scattering systems.
abstract: Exact analytical expressions for the cross-section correlation functions of chaotic scattering systems have hitherto been derived only under special conditions. The objective of the present article is to provide expressions that are applicable beyond these restrictions. The derivation is based on a statistical model of Breit-Wigner type for chaotic scattering amplitudes which has been shown to describe the exact analytical results for the scattering (S)-matrix correlation functions accurately. Our results are given in the energy and in the time representations and apply in the whole range from isolated to overlapping resonances. The S-matrix contributions to the cross-section correlations are obtained in terms of explicit irreducible and reducible correlation functions. Consequently, the model can be used for a detailed exploration of the key features of the cross-section correlations and the underlying physical mechanisms. In the region of isolated resonances, the cross-section correlations contain a dominant contribution from the self-correlation term. For narrow states the self-correlations originate predominantly from widely spaced states with exceptionally large partial width. In the asymptotic region of well-overlapping resonances, the cross-section autocorrelation functions are given in terms of the S-matrix autocorrelation functions. For inelastic correlations, in particular, the Ericson fluctuations rapidly dominate in that region. Agreement with known analytical and experimental results is excellent.
authors.affiliation: Theory Department, CERN, CH-1211 Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Torleif E O
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Ericson
authors.affiliation: Institut für Kernphysik, Technische Universität Darmstadt, D-64289 Darmstadt, Germany.|Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Al. Lotników 32/46, 02-668 Warzawa, Poland.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dietz
authors.affiliation: Institut für Kernphysik, Technische Universität Darmstadt, D-64289 Darmstadt, Germany.
authors.forename: Achim
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Richter