Classical picture of postexponential decay

Journal Article · Thu Apr 15 00:00:00 EDT 2010 · Physical Review. A

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVA.81.042714· OSTI ID:21408630

Torrontegui, E; Muga, J G ^[1]; Martorell, J ^[2]; Sprung, D W. L. ^[3]

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1. Departamento de Quimica Fisica, Universidad del Pais Vasco-Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, Apdo. 644, E-48080 Bilbao (Spain)
2. Departament d'Estructura i Constituents de la Materia, Universitat Barcelona, E-08028 Barcelona (Spain)
3. Department of Physics and Astronomy, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4M1 (Canada)

Postexponential decay of the probability density of a quantum particle leaving a trap can be reproduced accurately, except for interference oscillations at the transition to the postexponential regime, by means of an ensemble of classical particles emitted with constant probability per unit time and the same half-life as the quantum system. The energy distribution of the ensemble is chosen to be identical to the quantum distribution, and the classical point source is located at the scattering length of the corresponding quantum system. A one-dimensional example is provided to illustrate the general argument.

• OSTI ID: 21408630
• Journal Information: Physical Review. A, Vol. 81, Issue 4; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.81.042714; (c) 2010 The American Physical Society; ISSN 1050-2947
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
DECAY
DISTRIBUTION
ENERGY SPECTRA
HALF-LIFE
INTERFERENCE
ONE-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
POINT SOURCES
PROBABILITY
SCATTERING LENGTHS
DIMENSIONS
LENGTH
RADIATION SOURCES
SPECTRA