The unstable state and its representation in quantum decay theory

Luciano Fonda, G. C. Ghirardi

Luciano Fonda, G. C. Ghirardi

Marvin D. Girardeau

Diego G. Arbó, Mario A. Castagnino, Fabián H. Gaioli +1 more

Marvin D. Girardeau

Abstract The salient features of generalized second‐quantization representations for nonrelativistic systems of composite particles are reviewed and their application to a reformulation of the quantum theory of reactive collisions is discussed. Such representations allow the properties of the bound composite states to be built explicitly into the algebra of states and observables. A single unperturbed Hamiltonian simultaneously describes the free propagation of the various species of bound composites as well as of their unbound constituents, while the interaction Hamiltonian describes only true scattering and reaction processes. The inclusion of the binding of all composites in the unperturbed Hamiltonian cures the divergences in the Born series arising from bound‐state poles. Unstable composites can be included in a natural way, leading to an explicit representation for the kinematics and dynamics of their decay and their contribution to collision phenomena.

Y. Strauss, Lawrence Paul Horwitz, Eli Eisenberg

We discuss the quantum Lax–Phillips theory of scattering and unstable systems. In this framework, the decay of an unstable system is described by a semigroup. The spectrum of the generator of the semigroup corresponds to the singularities of the Lax–Phillips S-matrix. In the case of discrete (complex) spectrum of the generator of the semigroup associated with resonances, the decay law is exactly exponential. We explain how this profound difference between the quantum Lax–Phillips theory and the description of unstable systems in the framework of the standard quantum theory emerges. The states corresponding to these resonances (eigenfunctions of the generator of the semigroup) lie in the Lax–Phillips Hilbert space, and therefore all physical properties of the resonant states can be computed. In the special case of a time-independent potential problem lifted trivially to the quantum Lax–Phillips theory, we show that the Lax–Phillips S-matrix is unitarily related to the S-matrix of standard scattering theory by a unitary transformation parametrized by the spectral variable σ of the Lax–Phillips theory. Analytic continuation in σ has some of the properties of a method developed some time ago for application to dilation analytic potentials. We work out an illustrative example of the theory using a Lee–Friedrichs model, which is generalized to a rank one potential in the Lax–Phillips Hilbert space.