2015/07/17 by Ofir Flom, Flom, Ofir, Asher Yahalom +7
Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Quantum Physics (quant-ph) #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1507.04842
14 pages, 8 figures
arxiv created 2015/07/17 · arxiv updated 2015/07/20
We use an one dimensional model of a square barrier embedded in an infinite potential well to demonstrate that tunneling leads to a complex behavior of the wave function and that the degree of complexity may be quantified by use of the spatial entropy function defined by S = -∫ |Ψ(x,t)|2 ln |Ψ(x,t)|2 dx. There is no classical counterpart to tunneling, but a decrease in the tunneling in a short time interval may be interpreted as an approach of a quantum system to a classical system. We show that changing the square barrier by increasing the height/width do not only decrease the tunneling but also slows down the rapid rise of the entropy function, indicating that the entropy growth is an essentially quantum effect.