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Physical review. E

Numerical time-dependent solutions of the Schrödinger equation with piecewise continuous potentials

W. van Dijk

Published Jun 15, 2016• 7 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We consider accurate numerical solutions of the one-dimensional time-dependent Schrödinger equation when the potential is piecewise continuous. Spatial step sizes are defined for each of the regions between the discontinuities and a matching condition at the boundaries of the regions is employed. The Numerov method for spatial integration is particularly appropriate to this approach. By employing Padé approximants for the time-evolution operator, we obtain solutions with significantly improved precision without increased CPU time. This approach is also appropriate for adaptive changes in spatial step size even when there is no discontinuity of the potential.

DOI
10.1103/physreve.93.063307

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We consider accurate numerical solutions of the one-dimensional time-dependent Schrödinger equation when the potential is piecewise continuous. Spatial step sizes are defined for each of the regions between the discontinuities and a matching condition at the boundaries of the regions is employed. The Numerov method for spatial integration is particularly appropriate to this approach. By employing Padé approximants for the time-evolution operator, we obtain solutions with significantly improved precision without increased CPU time. This approach is also appropriate for adaptive changes in spatial step size even when there is no discontinuity of the potential.
The objective of this study is to numerically solve and apply two approximate methods to investigate the Time Independent Schrödinger Equation (TISE) in one dimension for an infinite potential square well. These two numerical methods are the Numerov Method (NM) and Matrix Method (MM). As a simulation tool, MATLAB, a high-level programming language and an efficient simulation tool, is used for modeling and solving TISE in one dimension. Exact analytical solutions for these potential functions are obtained and compared with numerical solutions and computational techniques. The energy eigenvalues and Eigen functions of a particle (such as an electron) restricted to move inside this potential are discussed as an illustration. The numerically calculated energies of several states with increasing numbers of points were obtained from both methods and compared with the simulation results of the exact solution. As an exemplary case, the first five wave functions are accurately determined numerically where the discreteness is found since the wave function vanishes at the boundary. The obtained results show very good agreement and the similarity is clearly confirmed between the three cases. This agreement confirms that this approach was highly accurate and efficient. The accuracy and the convergence of the numerical obtained results were easily checked. The stability of these methods is due to the fact that there are no restrictions on the time steps to be taken. The merits of these numerical methods are to avoid a huge expense in time when solving Schrödinger equation.
In this paper, one of the numerical solution method of one- particle, one dimensional timeindependentSchrodinger equation are presented that allows one to obtain accurate bound state eigenvalues and functions for an arbitrary potential energy function V(x).For each case, we draw eigen functions versus the related reduced variable for the correspondingenergies. The paper ended with a comparison of the result obtained by the numerical solutions withthose obtained via the analytical solutions. The agreement between the results obtained by analyticalsolution method and numerical solution is represents the top Numerov method for numerical solutionSchrodinger equation with different potentials energy.
A simple yet exact method of solving the Schrodinger equation across an arbitrary one-dimensional piecewise-linear potential is described. It is based on the analytical solution of the Schrodinger equation across a linear potential, where the solution can be expressed as a linear combination of the Airy functions. Proper boundary conditions are imposed at the interface between adjacent linear intervals of the potential, and a transfer-matrix procedure is utilized in the derivation. The quantum mechanical transmission coefficient across a potential barrier and eigenenergies of a potential well can also be easily calculated using this method.
Analytical solutions to the time-dependent Shrödinger equation in one dimension are developed for time-independent potentials, one consisting of an infinite wall and a repulsive delta function. An exact solution is obtained by means of a convolution of time-independent solutions spanning the given Hilbert space with appropriately chosen spectral functions. Square-integrability and the boundary conditions are satisfied. The probability for the particle to be found inside the potential well is calculated and shown to exhibit non-exponential decay decreasing at large times as t−3t^{-3}t−3. The result is generalized for all square-integrable solutions to this problem.
This chapter focuses on widely used approximate method: the numerical integration of the Schrodinger equation, restricting ourselves to one dimension for simplicity. There is a plethora of approaches that yield highly accurate numerical eigenvalues and eigenfunctions. In quantum mechanics one sometimes seeks after bound stationary states that satisfy given physical boundary conditions. Boundary conditions at infinity play a relevant role in quantum mechanics, in which case one looks for bound states that vanish asymptotically at the end points of coordinate interval. Solving the propagation matrix equation exactly for every coordinate pair in the physical interval is as difficult as solving the original differential equation. However, sometimes the former is preferable to develop approximate numerical algorithms for the accurate calculation of eigenvalues and eigenfunctions. The perturbation method based on the Taylor expansion only requires derivatives of the potential energy function, which one obtains easily in most cases and appears to be preferable for the systematic improvement of the approximate propagation matrix.