Fake Instability in the Euclidean Formalism of Quantum Tunneling

Journal Article · Sat Nov 01 00:00:00 EST 1997 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.79.4052· OSTI ID:553124

Aoyama, H ^[1]; Harano, T; Sato, M ^[2]; Kikuchi, H ^[3]; Wada, S ^[4]

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1. Faculty of Integrated Human Studies, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-01 (Japan)
2. Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-01 (Japan)
3. Ohu University, Koriyama 963 (Japan)
4. Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-01 (Japan)

The Euclidean path-integral formalism is studied for the system without any unstable state. While the usual bounce calculation yields a fake complex energy spectrum, proper account of the global structure of the functional space is shown to lead to the real eigenvalues. For this purpose, the valley instanton is constructed by the proper valley method and the dilute-gas approximation is carried out. This establishes a general imaginary-time formalism, unifying the instanton and the bounce method. {copyright} {ital 1997} {ital The American Physical Society}

• OSTI ID: 553124
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 79, Issue 21; Other Information: PBD: Nov 1997
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

66 PHYSICS
QUANTUM MECHANICS
TUNNELING
INSTABILITY
FEYNMAN PATH INTEGRAL
ENERGY SPECTRA
FUNCTIONALS
EIGENVALUES
INSTANTONS
BOUNDARY CONDITIONS