In the interaction picture, population transfer among coupled degrees of freedom is greatly enhanced by resonances. We show that statistically the number of resonances increases rapidly with degrees of freedom, changing the characteristic of population transfer from being bounded to diffusive. From the diffusion rate we derive simple expressions for the time scales of energy relaxation and equipartition. These expressions are supported by a wide range of experimental data. The analysis elucidates quantitatively the dependence of equipartition on resonances. [S0031-9007(98)05893-1] PACS numbers: 05.30.Ch, 31.70.Hq, 82.20.Rp Linearity is one of the most amazing features of quantum mechanics. The spectral decomposition theorem guarantees the existence of a complete orthogonal set of energy eigenstates. In the representation of energy eigenstates, populations of states do not change with time; hence population transfer among genuine eigenstates simply does not occur. However, in practice more often the wave functions of eigenstates are too difficult to solve or use. Therefore, nontrivial quantum dynamic systems are mostly described in the so-called interaction picture, in which the Hamiltonian is decomposed into a solvable major partĤ 0 and a minor perturbative partV . In the interaction picture the physical system is represented by eigenstates ofĤ 0 , which are coupled to each other bŷ V . In this picture the population changes with time. If H 0 consists of individually solvable parts representing different degrees of freedom, the population change is interpreted as energy transfer among degrees of freedom.Energy transfer among a group of coupled states is greatly enhanced when they satisfy the resonance condition n ? E ϵ "Dv ഠ 0, where n ͑n 1 , n 2 , . . .͒ is a nonzero integer array, E ͑E 1 , E 2 , . . .͒ is the energy of the coupled states, and Dv is the resonance detuning. For a simple system near the ground state, the number of involved energy levels is small, the resonance condition is satisfied only by accident. But in systems of many degrees of freedom where the number of such combinations is large, it would not be a surprise to find many resonances. In this case it is nearly impossible to track the population flow of individual states. Instead, a statistical description of the process is more useful.Energy transfer in quantum systems has been treated with various models and methods [1]. In many works the general emphasis has been greater on the nonlinear dynamics than on statistical average. Thus, these methods rely heavily on numerical computation to go beyond the mathematical formalism. On the other hand, in a series of recent papers Wolynes, Leitner, and Logan have brought novel approaches to the problem. By modeling multidimensional quantum systems with Cayley trees and analyzing their connectivity with self-consistent solutions of the renormalized Feenberg perturbation series, the authors have addressed important questions such as criterion of quantum ergodicity [2][3][4][5], energy relaxation rates...