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Journal of Modern Physics

Macroscopic Quantum Tunneling

Bi Qiao, Kongzhi Song

Published Jan 1, 2013• 10 citations
Publisher

Abstract

In this work, a mechanism of macroscopic quantum tunneling is studied, which shows this sort of phenomena may exist even in the bio-field system. The relevant Davydov solitons fields and the Feynman digraph have been constructed based on the nonlinear Green function theory, which allows one to get a synchronous resonance model to explain the macroscopic quantum tunneling, such as in double potential wells system. Furthermore, the functional of quantum information density can also be applied to drive the object into a type of soliton structure of quantum information density, which allows the system to possess property of the macroscopic quantum tunneling.

DOI
10.4236/jmp.2013.41009

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In this work, a mechanism of macroscopic quantum tunneling is studied, which shows this sort of phenomena may exist even in the bio-field system. The relevant Davydov solitons fields and the Feynman digraph have been constructed based on the nonlinear Green function theory, which allows one to get a synchronous resonance model to explain the macroscopic quantum tunneling, such as in double potential wells system. Furthermore, the functional of quantum information density can also be applied to drive the object into a type of soliton structure of quantum information density, which allows the system to possess property of the macroscopic quantum tunneling.
The quantum tunneling phenomenon has long been explained by quantum mechanics using abstract concepts such as probability waves and wave function collapse. However, the essence of its microscopic physical mechanism—how and why a particle can traverse a classically forbidden region—has never been clearly elucidated, leading to a schism between the physical laws governing the micro- and macro-worlds. Based on the Great Tao Model and the Unified Theory of Atomic and Molecular Structure, this paper, for the first time, constructs a complete, self-consistent, and quantifiable framework for a classical physical explanation. The core of this framework clarifies the microscopic physical mechanisms of "local weakening of the Existence Field" and "formation of a directional field channel", reducing the tunneling process to a deterministic sequence of events: "information coupling → field weakening → channel formation → classical penetration". The study rigorously derives the quantitative relationships between the field strength weakening coefficient, the field channel width, and the penetration probability. Its mathematical form is compatible with the empirical formula of quantum mechanics, but its physical connotation is fundamentally different. Case studies demonstrate that this theory can uniformly explain the atomic-scale resolution of scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), the deterministic energy release in α-decay, and the physical necessity for the impossibility of macroscopic object tunneling. Starting from the first principles of classical physics, this paper provides a new paradigm for understanding tunneling that aligns with physical intuition, has a clear mechanism, and is subject to experimental verification, achieving a logical unification of micro- and macro-physical laws.
We consider the theoretical problem of resonant phenomena in the macroscopic quantum tunneling for an rf superconducting quantum interference device in the presence of an external irradiating field. The transition probability between different flux states is studied by varying the external parameters of the double-well potential describing the system in a way that the pumping level in the left potential well is close to one of the levels in the right potential well. The dependence of the transition probability on the external drive of the system shows two resonance peaks, the former connected with the resonant tunneling and the latter with the resonant pumping. The relative position of the peaks depends on the pumping frequency $\ensuremath{\omega}$ and on the system parameters.
We have developed a quantitative theory of resonant tunneling of magnetic flux between discrete macroscopically distinct quantum states in superconducting quantum interference device systems. The theory is based on the standard density-matrix approach. Its elements include the discussion of the two different relaxation mechanisms that exist for the double-well potential, and description of the ``photon-assisted'' tunneling driven by external rf radiation. It is shown that in the case of coherent flux dynamics, rf radiation should lead to splitting of the peaks of resonant flux tunneling, indicating that the resonant tunneling is a convenient tool for studying macroscopic quantum coherence of flux.
It is well known that increasing the nonlinearity due to repulsive atomic interactions in a double-well Bose-Einstein condensate suppresses quantum tunneling between the two sites. Here we find analogous behavior in the dynamical tunneling of a Bose-Einstein condensate between period-one resonances in a single driven potential well. For small nonlinearities we find unhindered tunneling between the resonances, but with an increasing period as compared to the noninteracting system. For nonlinearities above a critical value we generally observe that the tunneling shuts down. However, for certain regimes of modulation parameters we find that dynamical tunneling reemerges for large enough nonlinearities, an effect not present in spatial double-well tunneling. We develop a two-mode model in good agreement with full numerical simulations over a wide range of parameters, which allows the suppression of tunneling to be attributed to macroscopic quantum self-trapping.
Abstract. We study the effects of the environment at zero temperature on tunneling in an open system described by a static double-well potential. We show that the evolution of the system in an initial Schrödinger cat state, can be summarized in terms of three main physical phenomena, namely decoherence, quantum tunneling and noise-induced activation. Using large-scale numerical simulations, we obtain a detailed picture of the main stages of the evolution and of the relevant dynamical processes. The tunneling of a particle through a potential barrier is a fundamental effect in quantum mechanics. Macroscopic quantum tunneling can be associated with the tunneling of a many-body wavefunction through a potential barrier, and therefore provides a more stringent test of the validity of quantum mechanics than one particle case. One place where the study of macroscopic quantum tunneling is experimentally accesible is in the tunneling of a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) out of an optical trap. These systems have a controllable number of atoms and hence straddle the boundary between microscopic and macroscopic, and hence between quantum and classical systems. Proposals to perform interference experiments using confined atoms