Shuffling cards, factoring numbers and the quantum baker's map

It is pointed out that an exactly solvable permutation operator, viewed as the quantization of cyclic shifts, is useful in constructing a basis in which to study the quantum baker's map, a paradigm system of quantum chaos. In the basis of this operator the eigenfunctions of the quantum baker's map are compressed by factors of around five or more. We show explicitly its connection to an operator that is closely related to the usual quantum baker's map. This permutation operator has interesting connections to the art of shuffling cards as well as to the quantum factoring algorithm of Shor via the quantum order finding one. Hence we point out that this well-known quantum algorithm makes crucial use of a quantum chaotic operator, or at least one that is close to the quantization of the left-shift, a closeness that we also explore quantitatively. © 2005 IOP Publishing Ltd.