Abstract
Approximately 40 years ago it was realized that the time development of decaying systems might not be precisely exponential. Winter [Phys. Rev. 123, 1503 (1961)] analyzed the simplest nontrivial system—a particle tunneling out of a well formed by a wall and function. He calculated the probability current just outside the well and found irregular oscillations on a short-time scale followed by an exponential decrease followed by more oscillations and finally by a decrease as a power of the time. We have reanalyzed this system, concentrating on the survival probability of the particle in the well rather than the probability current, and find a different short-time behavior.
- Received 14 September 2001
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.65.032116
©2002 American Physical Society