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arXiv:quant-ph/0006110 · Physical Review A

Low-energy relativistic effects and nonlocality in time-dependent tunneling

Gastón García‐Calderón, Alberto Rubio, Jorge Villavicencio

Published Mar 1, 1999• 88 citations
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Abstract

We consider exact time-dependent analytic solutions to the Schr\"odinger equation for tunneling in one dimension with cutoff wave initial conditions at $t=0.$ We obtain that as soon as $t\ensuremath{\ne}0$ the transmitted probability density at any arbitrary distance rises instantaneously with time in a linear manner. Using a simple model we find that the above nonlocal effect of the time-dependent solution is suppressed by consideration of low-energy relativistic effects. Hence at a distance ${x}_{0}$ from the potential the probability density rises after a time ${t}_{0}{=x}_{0}/c$ restoring Einstein causality. This implies that the tunneling time of a particle can never be zero.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.59.1758

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We consider exact time-dependent analytic solutions to the Schr"odinger equation for tunneling in one dimension with cutoff wave initial conditions at t=0.t=0.t=0. We obtain that as soon as t\ensuremath≠0t\ensuremath{\ne}0t\ensuremath=0 the transmitted probability density at any arbitrary distance rises instantaneously with time in a linear manner. Using a simple model we find that the above nonlocal effect of the time-dependent solution is suppressed by consideration of low-energy relativistic effects. Hence at a distance x0{x}_{0}x0​ from the potential the probability density rises after a time t0=x0/c{t}_{0}{=x}_{0}/ct0​=x0​/c restoring Einstein causality. This implies that the tunneling time of a particle can never be zero.
An exact analytic solution of the time-dependent Schrödinger equation with cutoff wave initial conditions, that goes into the stationary solution at asymptotically long times, is used to investigate the transient behavior in the time evolution of the probability density along the internal and transmitted regions of a potential barrier. The approach involves the complex poles and residues (resonant states) of the outgoing Green's function of the problem. The solution exhibits absence of propagation along the classically forbidden internal region of the potential, and along the transmitted region it splits into two propagating structures. One of them is a transient effect describing the earliest response of the system to the initial condition whereas the other structure evolves towards the stationary solution.
Analytic solutions to the time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation for cutoff wave initial conditions are used to investigate the time evolution of the transmitted probability density for tunneling. For a broad range of values of the potential barrier opacity $\ensuremath{\alpha},$ we find that the probability density exhibits two evolving structures. One refers to the propagation of a forerunner related to a time domain resonance [Phys. Rev. A 64, 0121907 (2001)], while the other consists of a semiclassical propagating wave front. We find a regime where the forerunners are absent, corresponding to positive time delays, and show that this regime is characterized by opacities $\ensuremath{\alpha}<{\ensuremath{\alpha}}_{c}.$ The critical opacity ${\ensuremath{\alpha}}_{c}$ is derived from the analytical expression for the delay time, which reflects a link between transient effects in tunneling and the delay time.
Exact analytical solutions of the time-dependent Schrödinger equation with the initial condition of an incident cutoff wave are used to investigate the traversal time for tunneling. The probability density starts from a vanishing value along the tunneling and transmitted regions of the potential. At the barrier width it exhibits, at early times, a distribution of traversal times that typically has a peak τpτ_pτp​ and a width ΔτΔτΔτ. Numerical results for other tunneling times, as the phase-delay time, fall within ΔτΔτΔτ. The Büttiker traversal time is the closest to τpτ_pτp​. Our results resemble calculations based on Feynman paths if its noisy behaviour is ignored.
Exact analytical solutions of the time-dependent Schrodinger equation with the initial condition of an incident cutoff wave are used to investigate the traversal time for tunneling. The probability density starts from a vanishing value along the tunneling and transmitted regions of the potential. At the barrier width it exhibits, at early times, a distribution of traversal times that typically has a peakp and a width ��. Numerical results for other tunneling times, as the phase-delay time, fall within ��. The Buttiker traversal time is the closest top. Our results resemble calculations based on Feynman paths if its noisy behaviour is ignored.
An exact analytical solution to the time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation with cutoff wave initial conditions is used to investigate the fast tunneling response of a rectangular potential barrier. We find that just across the tunneling region, the probability density exhibits at short times a transient behavior that may be characterized by a peak tp{t}_{p}tp​ and a width $\ensuremath{\Delta}t.$ We show that tp{t}_{p}tp​ provides the earliest tunneling response of the system and that the top-barrier S-matrix poles play an important role in the process. As a function of the barrier width, tp{t}_{p}tp​ exhibits two regimes. Along the first regime, tp{t}_{p}tp​ remains almost a constant; as the barrier width increases, a second regime appears where tp{t}_{p}tp​ grows linearly with the barrier width.