Journal article
On the Time-Dependent Analysis of Gamow Decay
- Abstract:
-
Gamow's explanation of the exponential decay law uses complex "eigenvalues" and exponentially growing "eigenfunctions". This raises the question, how Gamow's description fits into the quantum mechanical description of nature, which is based on real eigenvalues and square integrable wave functions. Observing that the time evolution of any wave function is given by its expansion in generalized eigenfunctions, we shall answer this question in the most straightforward manner, which at the same ti...
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- Publication status:
- Published
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Bibliographic Details
- Journal:
- Eur. J. Phys.
- Volume:
- 32
- Issue:
- 5
- Pages:
- 1311
- Publication date:
- 2010-11-24
- DOI:
- EISSN:
-
1361-6404
- ISSN:
-
0143-0807
Item Description
- Keywords:
- Pubs id:
-
pubs:104672
- UUID:
-
uuid:1b8d3452-42ab-4fda-a254-bd575add85cd
- Local pid:
- pubs:104672
- Source identifiers:
-
104672
- Deposit date:
- 2012-12-19
Terms of use
- Copyright date:
- 2010
- Notes:
-
10 pages, 4 figures; heuristic argument simplified, different example
discussed, calculation of decay rate added
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