The existence of particle outflow in the decay of many-body system leads to a special description with two sets of state eigenvectors and corresponding complex eigenvalues. Using such eigenvectors the general time behavior of the decaying system is obtained. As an example, we consider the problem of a particle decay of the many-body system to demonstrate the difference between this problem and the problem of a single particle in potential well. We also consider the case of particle scattering by an optical potential and show that the existence of outflow also leads to two sets of state eigenvectors, but with real energy eigenvalues.
The existence of particle outflow in the decay of many-body system leads to a special description with two sets of state eigenvectors and corresponding complex eigenvalues. Using such eigenvectors the general time behavior of the decaying system is obtained. As an example, we consider the problem of a particle decay of the many-body system to demonstrate the difference between this problem and the problem of a single particle in potential well. We also consider the case of particle scattering by an optical potential and show that the existence of outflow also leads to two sets of state eigenvectors, but with real energy eigenvalues.
Gamow vectors are generalized eigenvectors of the Hamiltonian with complex eigenvalues that describe exponentially decaying (or growing) states. The energy wavefunctions corresponding to Gamow vectors have a pole immediately below (or above) the real axis in the complex energy plane. Although complex energy values were introduced more than half a century ago for the theory of alpha decay, they have become disreputable and have been banished from quantum mechanics textbooks because of mathematical problems and incorrect physical interpretation. Developments in modern mathematics have now provided a mathematical foundation that has led to the correct physical interpretation. In this article, energy eigenvectors with complex eigenvalues are first introduced by explicitly considering a specific simple decaying system. Then, an elementary account of the properties of Gamow vectors is given. The results from the decaying system provide a motivation for the introduction of Gamow vectors and some of the background information needed to understand their properties.
The problem of decaying states and resonances is examined within the framework of scattering theory in a rigged Hilbert space formalism. The stationary free,’’in,’’ and ’’out’’ eigenvectors of formal scattering theory, which have a rigorous setting in rigged Hilbert space, are considered to be analytic functions of the energy eigenvalue. The value of these analytic functions at any point of regularity, real or complex, is an eigenvector with eigenvalue equal to the position of the point. The poles of the eigenvector families give origin to other eigenvectors of the Hamiltonian: the singularities of the ’’out’’ eigenvector family are the same as those of the continued S matrix, so that resonances are seen as eigenvectors of the Hamiltonian with eigenvalue equal to their location in the complex energy plane. Cauchy theorem then provides for expansions in terms of ’’complete’’ sets of eigenvectors with complex eigenvalues of the Hamiltonian. Applying such expansions to the survival amplitude of a decaying state, one finds that resonances give discrete contributions with purely exponential time behavior; the background is of course present, but explicitly separated. The resolvent of the Hamiltonian, restricted to the nuclear space appearing in the rigged Hilbert space, can be continued across the absolutely continuous spectrum; the singularities of the continuation are the same as those of the ’’out’’ eigenvectors. The free, ’’in’’ and ’’out’’ eigenvectors with complex eigenvalues and those corresponding to resonances can be approximated by physical vectors in the Hilbert space, as plane waves can. The need for having some further physical information in addition to the specification of the total Hamiltonian is apparent in the proposed framework. The formalism is applied to the Lee–Friedrichs model and to the scattering of a spinless particle by a local central potential.
We construct an eigenvalue problem by confining many-body system to a bounded domain with the boundary condition that the wave function vanishes. By changing the boundary, however, the eigenvalues of the energy can be varied continuously. The D-matrix is defined for a series of bounded problems with the same value for the ground state energy. The D-matrix is related to the S-matrix, enabling us to calculate the S-matrix at a given energy. The Schrodinger equation for the system is transformed to a diffusion equation by regarding time as imaginary. Initial ensemble, representing an approximate wave function, is evolved, through Monte Carlo simulation of random walks and branching, to the ground state ensemble. The limitations of investigation are: 1. Ingoing and outgoing channels have two fragments. 2. The interaction between the fragments is negligible outside the boundary mentioned above. 3. The particles are bosons or we know the zeros of the wave function. First we consider the scattering of a particle by a potential, which is equivalent to the two-body problem, in one dimension. Here we use the Poschl-Teller potential for which the exact solution is known. We use this case to investigate a new sampling method and study of various parameters. Next we consider three particles in one dimension. Here we take interaction to be a potential well, where at least one of the interactions is attractive so that a two-body bound state is possible.
A few-body quantum mechanical system is examined. It is assumed that the scattering operator of the system is a sum of two-body potential operators. Some odd ends in the sum commute. Four-dimensional perturbation potentials and second quantized formalism is used for a solution of the problem. The scattering of two distinct particles in a force field is considered as an example. For this case, the system of the integral equations for the scattering amplitudes are obtained. These amplitudes permit us to construct channel Möller operators. It has been shown that such system has unique solution equivalent to the solution of the corresponding Schrödinger equation.
General properties of many-body systems Definition of individual system So far we have studied the properties of single-body systems in prescribed external potentials. An individual physical system comprises a wave and a particle, both evolving in three-dimensional Euclidean space. Of course, isolating a system and representing the influence of other matter by an ‘external potential’ is an approximation to the real state of affairs in that we neglect the source of the potential. As a fundamental theory of matter quantum mechanics should apply to a closed many-body system (and ultimately to the universe as a whole) and reduce to a theory of systems of a few degrees of freedom as a special case under conditions where it is legitimate to neglect the ‘rest of the universe’. The extension of the quantum theory of motion to many-body systems is straightforward, although it displays some striking features not evident in the one-body case. To begin with, we define an individual n-body system as comprising: ( a ) A wavefunction ψ = ψ( x 1 , …, x n , t ) defined in a 3 n -dimensional configuration space in which x l , …, x n provide a set of rectangular Cartesian coordinates. ( b ) A set of n point particles pursuing trajectories x i ( t ) i = 1, …, n , in three-dimensional Euclidean space. A single configuration space trajectory is equivalent to n particle trajectories in Euclidean space. When we speak of a ‘many-body system’ we mean then a single wavefunction together with a set of particles.
We reexamine the problem of particle decay within the Hamiltonian formalism. By deforming contours of integration, the survival amplitude is expressed as a sum of purely exponential contributions arising from the simple poles of the resolvent on the second sheet plus a background integral along a complex contour $\ensuremath{\Gamma}$ running below the location of the poles. We observe that the time dependence of the survival amplitude in the small-time region is strongly correlated to the asymptotic behavior of the energy spectrum of the system; we compute the small-time behavior of the survival amplitude for a wide variety of asymptotic behaviors. In the special case of the Lee model, using a formal procedure of analytic continuation, we show that a complete set of complex energy eigenvectors of the Hamiltonian can be associated with the poles of the resolvent and the background contour $\ensuremath{\Gamma}$. These poles and points along $\ensuremath{\Gamma}$ correspond to the discrete and the continuum states, respectively. In this context, each unstable particle is associated with a well-defined object, which is a discrete generalized eigenstate of the Hamiltonian having a complex eigenvalue, with its real and negative imaginary parts being the mass and half-width of the particle, respectively. Finally, we briefly discuss the analytic continuation of the scattering amplitude within this generalized scheme, and note the appearance of "redundant poles" which do not correspond to discrete solutions of the modified eigenvalue problem.