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Quantum versus classical phase-locking transition in a driven-chirped oscillator

Classical and quantum-mechanical phase locking transition in a nonlinear oscillator driven by a chirped frequency perturbation is discussed. Different limits are analyzed in terms of the dimensionless parameters $% P_{1}=ε/\sqrt{2m\hbar ω_{0}α}$ and $P_{2}=(3\hbar β)/(4m\sqrtα)$ ($ε,$ $α,$ $β$ and $ω_{0}$ being the driving amplitude, the frequency chirp rate, the nonlinearity parameter and the linear frequency of the oscillator). It is shown that for $P_{2}\ll P_{1}+1$, the passage through the linear resonance for $P_{1}$ above a threshold yields classical autoresonance (AR) in the system, even when starting in a quantum ground state. In contrast, for $% P_{2}\gg P_{1}+1$, the transition involves quantum-mechanical energy ladder climbing (LC). The threshold for the phase-locking transition and its width in $P_{1}$ in both AR and LC limits are calculated. The theoretical results are tested by solving the Schrodinger equation in the energy basis and illustrated via the Wigner function in phase space.