It is shown that non-stationary solutions of the Schrödinger equation, which describes the quantum dynamics of a particle in the field of a one-dimensional delta potential (1DDP), are divided into two classes: some define pure states that have no free dynamics as
t→∓∞; others define states with asymptotically free dynamics but represent mixed states in whose space the asymptotic superselection rule holds. That is, according to the Schrödinger equation, {\it pure scattering} states predicted by the conventional model of this scattering process do not exist. On mixed scattering states, the Hamiltonian with 1DDP is defined only in superselection sectors. The scattering process with one-sided incidence of a particle on 1DDP represents a decoherence process in a closed system.
The Schrödinger equation for the scattered particle is converted into an integral equation, in which the kernel is obtained by the use of the condition that the events described by the solutions of the equation must be causally related, i.e., that causes must always precede the effects which they produce. The integral equation is iterated once, and it is found that its solution corresponds to the usual description of a scattering process in terms of an undeflected wave traversing the system plus a radially scattered wave moving outwards. In the second part, it is shown that a simple relation exists between solutions of Schrödinger's equation of the sort just described and the solution of the initial-value problem associated with the equation of motion for a free particle. By this means a solution of the scattering problem is set up which describes how the wave function develops as the wave which it describes propagates through the system. The series which results was first given by Feynman. As an example, the first Born approximation for the scattering problem is developed by each approach.
For many problems in quantum mechanics it proves to be useful to write the Schrödinger equation as an integral equation rather than as a differential equation. In this paper we describe how the transformation of the Schrödinger equation from differential form to integral form may be accomplished. Two methods are described, one appropriate to bound-state theory and one appropriate to scattering theory. It is shown that the bound-state wave function is also a solution of the integral equation (Lippman-Schwinger equation) appropriate to scattering theory.