Tunneling and its Implications

Kazuhiro Yamamoto

A quantum tunneling phenomenon in a multidimensional system is investigated in particular with emphasis on the interaction between the tunneling mode and that coupled to it. Constructing the wave function explicitly with the boundary condition that the system was in an excited state before tunneling, it is clarified how the energy is transferred to the tunneling sector. Implication to cosmology is also discussed.

P.N. Roy, P.N. Singh, D.K. Roy

Philip Ball

Researchers have determined the time taken for an atom to tunnel through a laser beam, which could have implications for quantum technologies, as Philip Ball reports

Aloïs Würger

Xavier Oriols, Ferran Martı́n, Jordi Suñé

Several practical implications of the noncrossing property of one-dimensional Bohm trajectories are examined. It is shown that the position of a Bohm particle, the average transmission, reflection and dwell times, and the probability distribution of these tunneling times, can all be obtained without actually calculating trajectories. On the other hand, the intuitive interpretation of the scattering of wave packets by potential barriers is discussed within the framework of Bohm's interpretation of quantum mechanics. In this regard, claims that Bohm's approach leads to counterintuitive results are shown to be subjective. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.