We show that finite Fermi systems governed by a mean field and a few-body interaction generically possess spectral fluctuations of the Wigner-Dyson type and are, thus, chaotic. Our argument is based on an analogy to the metal-insulator transition. We construct a sparse random-matrix scaffolding ensemble (ScE) that mimics this transition. Our claim then follows from the fact that the generic random-matrix ensemble modeling a fermionic interacting many-body system is much less sparse than ScE.

• Received 3 November 2009

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.83.031130