We develop a new variant of the wave-packet analysis and solve the tunneling time problem for one particle. Our approach suggests an individual asymptotic description of the quantum subensembles of transmitted and reflected particles both at the final and initial stage of tunneling. We find the initial states of both subensembles, which are non-orthogonal. The latter reflects ultimately the fact that at the initial stage of tunneling it is impossible to predict whether a particle will be transmitted through or reflected off the barrier. At the same time, in this case, one can say about the to-be-transmitted and to-be-reflected subensembles of particles. We show that before the interaction of the incident packet with the barrier both the number of particles and the expectation value of the particle's momentum are constant for each subensemble. Besides, these asymptotic quantities coincide with those of the corresponding scattered subensemble. On the basis of this formalism we define individual delay times for both scattering channels. Taking into account the spreading of wave packets, we define the low bound of the scattering time to describe the whole quantum ensemble of particles. All three characteristic times are derived in terms of the expectation values of the position and momentum operators. The condition which must be fulfilled for completed scattering events is derived. We propose also the scheme of a {\it gedanken} experiment that allows one to verify our approach.
We develop a new variant of the wave-packet analysis and solve the tunneling time problem for one particle. Our approach suggests an individual asymptotic description of the quantum subensembles of transmitted and reflected particles both at the final and initial stage of tunneling. We find the initial states of both subensembles, which are non-orthogonal. The latter reflects ultimately the fact that at the initial stage of tunneling it is impossible to predict whether a particle will be transmitted through or reflected off the barrier. At the same time, in this case, one can say about the to-be-transmitted and to-be-reflected subensembles of particles. We show that before the interaction of the incident packet with the barrier both the number of particles and the expectation value of the particle's momentum are constant for each subensemble. Besides, these asymptotic quantities coincide with those of the corresponding scattered subensemble. On the basis of this formalism we define individual delay times for both scattering channels. Taking into account the spreading of wave packets, we define the low bound of the scattering time to describe the whole quantum ensemble of particles. All three characteristic times are derived in terms of the expectation values of the position and momentum operators. The condition which must be fulfilled for completed scattering events is derived. We propose also the scheme of a {\it gedanken} experiment that allows one to verify our approach.
A new variant of the packet analysis to solve the tunneling time problem for the so-called completed elastic scattering (a potential barrier of an arbitrary form is located in the finite spatial interval) is presented. In particular, we propose an explanation of the "paradoxes" of wave packet tunneling, and elaborate a rule enabling one to extract the tunneling times for a particle from the analysis of tunneling the corresponding wave packet. It is shown that the quantum ensembles of transmitted and reflected particles are statistically independent not only after the scattering but also before this event. We find the corresponding counterparts for the transmitted and reflected packets, which describe separately both scattering channels at early times, and define the expectation values of delay times for each channel. Besides, to describe jointly all particles at the stage when they cannot be divided into two independent subensembles, we find the scattering time taking into account broadening the packets. We derive the condition to be satisfied for the completed scattering. The times above are defined in terms of the well-known quantum-mechanical averages for the position and wave-number operators.
It is shown that in the case of the one-particle one-dimensional scattering problem for a given time-independent potential, for each state of the whole quantum ensemble of identically prepared particles, there is an unique pair of (subensemble's) solutions to the Schrödinger equation, which, as we postulate, describe separately transmission and reflection: in the case of nonstationary states, for any instant of time, these functions are orthogonal and their sum describes the state of all particles; evolving with constant norms, one of them approaches at late times the transmitted wave packet and another approaches the reflected packet. Both for transmission and reflection, 1) well before and after the scattering event, the average kinetic energy of particles is the same, 2) the average starting point differs, in the general case, from that for all particles. It is shown that for reflection, in the case of symmetric potential barriers, the domain of the motion of particles is bounded by the midpoint of the barrier region. We define (exact and asymptotic) transmission and reflection times and show that the basic results of our formalism can be, in principle, checked experimentally.
A complete one-dimensional scattering of a spinless particle on a time-independent potential barrier is considered. To describe separately transmitted and reflected particles in the corresponding subsets of identical experiments, we introduce the notions of scattering channels for transmission and reflection. We find for both channels the (unitary) scattering matrices and reconstruct, by known out asymptotes (i.e., by the transmitted and reflected wave packets), the corresponding in asymptotes. Unlike the out asymptotes for transmission and reflection, their in asymptotes represent nonorthogonal functions. As is shown, the position distributions of to-be-transmitted and to-be-reflected particles, except their average positions, are unpredictable. At the same time, the momentum distributions of these particles are physically meaningful and can be observed to the full. We show that both the subensembles of particles must start (on the average) from the same spatial point, and the momentum distributions of to-be-scattered and scattered particles must be the same for each scattering channel. Taking into account these properties, we define the (individual) delay times for transmission and reflection for wave packets of an arbitrary width. Besides, to estimate the duration of the scattering event, we derive the expression for a (total) scattering time.
We present a renewed wave-packet analysis based on the following ideas: if a quantum one-particle scattering process and the corresponding state are described by an indivisible wave packet to move as a whole at all stages of scattering, then they are elementary; otherwise, they are combined; each combined process consists from several alternative elementary ones to proceed simultaneously; the corresponding (normed) state can be uniquely presented as the sum of elementary ones whose (constant) norms give unit, in sum; Born's formula intended for calculating the {\it expectation} values of physical observables, as well as the standard timing procedure are valid only for elementary states and processes; only an elementary time-dependent state can be considered as the quantum counterpart to some classical one-particle rajectory. By our approach, tunneling a non-relativistic particle through a static one-dimensional potential barrier is a combined process consisting from two elementary ones, transmission and reflection. In the standard setting of the problem, we find an unique pair of solutions to the Schrödinger equation, which describe separately transmission and reflection. On this basis we introduce (exact and asymptotic) characteristic times for transmission and reflection.
In this paper, we discuss the tunneling time of a quantum particle through a rectangular barrier. The reflection and transmission times associated with the wave packets representing the particle are discussed. By using an initial Gaussian momentum distribution, we carry out a comparative analysis of the stationary phases of the incident, reflected, and transmitted wave packets leading to the reflection and transmission times $\ensuremath{\Delta}{t}_{R}$ and $\ensuremath{\Delta}{t}_{T},$ respectively. In the present treatment of this old and very known problem we take into account the deformations of the reflected and transmitted momentum distributions. These deformations produce a dependence of the reflection and transmission times on the location of the initial wave packet. In a parallel calculation, by numerically monitoring the time evolution of the system, we characterize a reflection and a transmission time. Such times agree with the ones obtained via the stationary phase method.
We introduce a formalism for the calculation of the time of arrival t at a detector of particles traveling through interacting environments. We develop a general formulation that employs quantum canonical transformations from the free to the interacting cases to compute t. We interpret our results in terms of a Positive Operator Valued Measure. We then compute the probability distribution in times of arrival at a detector of those particles that, after their initial preparation, have undergone quantum tunneling or reflection due to the presence of potential barriers. We obtain the expected retardation or advancement for transmitted wave packets, and non-foreseen double bump structures for some cases of reflection.