Abstract Stochastic fluctuation of barrier height and width of a symmetric double well plays a very significant role in the corresponding dynamics by increasing the semiclassical transmission probability and Shannon entropy of the system. The population of the system has been observed to be spread into several under barrier states starting from the or [ , where and are the wave functions describing the two lowest degenerate states] in presence of the stochastic fluctuation. This distribution over several states is manifested by steady increase in Shannon entropy. However, any arbitrary value of the stochastic fluctuation cannot increase the populations of the upper energy states and consequently no gain in the net value of Shannon entropy results. There is an optimum frequency for which the Shannon entropy passes through a maximum, which is also found out in this work. We have also calculated the semiclassical WKB like transmission probability as a function of time and it is clear that the random fluctuation of barrier causes the transmission probability to increase to a significant amount. As the total energy of the system remains below the potential barrier, this transmission probability is equivalent to tunneling probability. It has been clearly shown that if the fluctuation is made to be periodic (without changing the frequency and magnitude of the fluctuation) it cannot effect any significant change in the overall dynamics.
Abstract Stochastic fluctuation of barrier height and width of a symmetric double well plays a very significant role in the corresponding dynamics by increasing the semiclassical transmission probability and Shannon entropy of the system. The population of the system has been observed to be spread into several under barrier states starting from the or [ , where and are the wave functions describing the two lowest degenerate states] in presence of the stochastic fluctuation. This distribution over several states is manifested by steady increase in Shannon entropy. However, any arbitrary value of the stochastic fluctuation cannot increase the populations of the upper energy states and consequently no gain in the net value of Shannon entropy results. There is an optimum frequency for which the Shannon entropy passes through a maximum, which is also found out in this work. We have also calculated the semiclassical WKB like transmission probability as a function of time and it is clear that the random fluctuation of barrier causes the transmission probability to increase to a significant amount. As the total energy of the system remains below the potential barrier, this transmission probability is equivalent to tunneling probability. It has been clearly shown that if the fluctuation is made to be periodic (without changing the frequency and magnitude of the fluctuation) it cannot effect any significant change in the overall dynamics.
The working principle of a large number of modern scientific equipment has been applied to the quantum tunneling effect. Although the explanations for the relevant principles of this effect are clarified, the calculation process is very complex and difficult to understand. Previous studies combine specific applications without theoretical model references. This study adopts the method of using the time-independent Schrodinger equation to solve the wave function, which is more convenient to obtain the expression of transmission probability. Then, one discusses the relationship between transmission probability and potential barrier width, potential barrier spacing, and incident particle energy. The experimental results show that the transmission probability decreases exponentially from 1 to 0 as the potential barrier width gradually increases. As the potential barrier width increases, the transmission probability exhibits a clear periodic oscillation relationship, the oscillation period remains unchanged, and this paper derives the relationship between the oscillation period and the potential barrier width. As the incident energy of particles gradually increases, the transmission probability exhibits periodic changes, and the minimum value of transmission probability increases with the periodic changes. Based on the analysis, the smaller the potential barrier width, the greater the incident energy, and the more likely quantum tunneling occurs.
We present the Shannon entropy of the Schrödinger equation with an asymmetric rectangular multiple well, in which the potential well width is equal but the barrier width is in an arithmetic sequence. When the confined potential is small, we notice that the wave function of the particle is distributed inside the entire interval, but its distribution is mainly confined inside the wells as the confined potential increases. For the higher excited state, we find that the magnitude inside the barrier is always bigger than that inside the well. However, in the double-well case the magnitude is the biggest in the leftmost second barrier for Vconf=1000 meV, but it is in the rightmost barrier in the triple well case. For large confined potential, the momentum entropy density (MED) will be concentrated to the center of the total rectangular multiple well with the increasing confined potential. Likewise, we see that the momentum entropy densities of the ground, first and second excited states are overlapped in the triple well case, but they are all overlapped in the four well case. Particularly, in the double well case, the position entropy densities of ground state and 2nd excited state as well as the 1st and 3rd excited states occupy each well. In the triple well case, however, the position entropy densities of ground state and 2nd excited state occupy each one of three wells, but the 1st and 3rd excited states occupy one of four wells. The position entropy density (PED) of each state in four well case is distributed in each well of them as the confined potential is very large. When the number of wells increases, there exist some additional oscillations in the PED. For the higher excited state, the oscillator frequency of the PED increases inside the well but decreases inside the barrier as the confined potential depth increases. For the lower states, as the potential well depth increases the MED extends outward from the original central distribution, but the main distribution is concentrated to the center of the total system for the higher excited state. We also note that both the position entropy Sx and the momentum entropy Sp do not decrease or increase as the parameter Vconf increases, but their sum always satisfies the BBM inequality.
Information entropic measures such as Fisher information, Shannon entropy, Onicescu energy and Onicescu Shannon entropy of a symmetric double‐well potential are calculated in both position and momentum space. Eigenvalues and eigenvectors of this system are obtained through a variation‐induced exact diagonalization procedure. The information entropy‐based uncertainty relation is shown to be a better measure than conventional uncertainty product in interpreting purely quantum mechanical phenomena, such as, tunneling and quantum confinement in this case. Additionally, the phase‐space description provides a semi‐classical explanation for this feature. Total information entropy and phase‐space area show similar behavior with increasing barrier height. image
We first study the Shannon information entropies of constant total length multiple quantum well systems and then explore the effects of the number of wells and confining potential depth on position and momentum information entropy density as well as the corresponding Shannon entropy. We find that for small full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the position entropy density, the FWHM of the momentum entropy density is large and vice versa. By increasing the confined potential depth, the FWHM of the position entropy density decreases while the FWHM of the momentum entropy density increases. By increasing the potential depth, the frequency of the position entropy density oscillation within the quantum barrier decreases while that of the position entropy density oscillation within the quantum well increases. By increasing the number of wells, the frequency of the position entropy density oscillation decreases inside the barriers while it increases inside the quantum well. As an example, we might localize the ground state as well as the position entropy densities of the 1st, 2nd, and 6th excited states for a four-well quantum system. Also, we verify the Bialynicki–Birula–Mycieslki (BBM) inequality.
Nelson's stochastic mechanics formulates quantum dynamics as a real-time conservative diffusion process in which a particle undergoes Brownian-like motion with a fluctuation amplitude fixed by Planck's constant. While being mathematically equivalent to the Schrödinger formulation, this approach provides an alternative dynamical framework that enables the study of time-resolved quantities that are not straightforwardly defined within the standard operator-based approach. In the present work, Nelson's stochastic mechanics is employed to investigate tunneling-time statistics for bound states in double-well potentials. Using first-passage time theory within this framework, both the mean tunneling time, τˉ, and the full probability distribution, p(τ), are computed. The theoretical predictions are validated through extensive numerical simulations of stochastic trajectories for two representative potentials. For the square double-well potential, analytical expressions for τˉ are derived and are shown to be in excellent agreement with simulations. In the high-barrier limit, the results reveal a direct relation between the stochastic-mechanical and quantum-mechanical tunneling times, expressed as τQM=(π/2)τˉ, where τQM corresponds to half the oscillation period of the probability of finding the particle in either well. This relation is further confirmed for generic double-well systems through a WKB analysis. As a concrete application, the inversion dynamics of the ammonia molecule is analyzed, yielding an inversion frequency of approximately 24 GHz, in close agreement with experimental observations. These results highlight the potential of stochastic mechanics as a conceptually coherent and quantitatively consistent framework for analyzing tunneling phenomena in quantum systems.