English

Subtleties in Quantum Mechanical Metastability

Quantum Physics 2008-02-03 v2 Condensed Matter High Energy Physics - Theory

Abstract

We present a detailed discussion of some features of quantum mechanical metastability. We analyze the nature of decaying (quasistationary) states and the regime of validity of the exponencial law, as well as decays at finite temperature. We resort to very simple systems and elementary techniques to emphasize subtle aspects of the problem.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.quant-ph/9608039,
  title  = {Subtleties in Quantum Mechanical Metastability},
  author = {R. M. Cavalcanti and C. A. A. de Carvalho},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:quant-ph/9608039},
  year   = {2008}
}

Comments

8 pages, revtex, a few minor changes, some references added