Georgia Institute of Technology College of Sciences

Upon quantization, hyperbolic Hamiltonian systems generically exhibit universal spectral properties effectively described by Random Matrix Theory. Semiclassically this remarkable phenomenon can be attributed to the existence of pairs of classical periodic orbits with small action differences. So far, however, the scope of this theory has, by and large, been restricted to single-particle systems. I will discuss an extension of this program to hyperbolic coupled map lattices with a large number of sites (i.e., particles). The crucial ingredient is a two-dimensional symbolic dynamics which allows an effective representation of periodic orbits and their pairings. I will illustrate the theory with a specific model of coupled cat maps, where such a symbolic dynamics can be constructed explicitly.