Minimal access surgery compared with medical management for gastro-oesophageal reflux disease : five year follow-up of a randomised controlled trial (REFLUX)

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Reconciling Semiclassical and Bohmian Mechanics: II. Scattering states for discontinuous potentials

In a previous paper [J. Chem. Phys. 121 4501 (2004)] a unique bipolar decomposition, Psi = Psi1 + Psi2 was presented for stationary bound states Psi of the one-dimensional Schroedinger equation, such that the components Psi1 and Psi2 approach their semiclassical WKB analogs in the large action limit. Moreover, by applying the Madelung-Bohm ansatz to the components rather than to Psi itself, the resultant bipolar Bohmian mechanical formulation satisfies the correspondence principle. As a result, the bipolar quantum trajectories are classical-like and well-behaved, even when Psi has many nodes, or is wildly oscillatory. In this paper, the previous decomposition scheme is modified in order to achieve the same desirable properties for stationary scattering states. Discontinuous potential systems are considered (hard wall, step, square barrier/well), for which the bipolar quantum potential is found to be zero everywhere, except at the discontinuities. This approach leads to an exact numerical method for computing stationary scattering states of any desired boundary conditions, and reflection and transmission probabilities. The continuous potential case will be considered in a future publication.Comment: 18 pages, 8 figure

Clinical and economic evaluation of laparoscopic surgery compared with medical management for gastro-oesophageal reflux disease : 5-year follow-up of multicentre randomised trial (the REFLUX trial)

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Two state scattering problem to Multi-channel scattering problem: Analytically solvable model

Starting from few simple examples we have proposed a general method for finding an exact analytical solution for the two state scattering problem in presence of a delta function coupling. We have also extended our model to deal with general one dimensional multi-channel scattering problems

The Stokes Phenomenon and Schwinger Vacuum Pair Production in Time-Dependent Laser Pulses

Particle production due to external fields (electric, chromo-electric or gravitational) requires evolving an initial state through an interaction with a time-dependent background, with the rate being computed from a Bogoliubov transformation between the in and out vacua. When the background fields have temporal profiles with sub-structure, a semiclassical analysis of this problem confronts the full subtlety of the Stokes phenomenon: WKB solutions are only local, while the production rate requires global information. Incorporating the Stokes phenomenon, we give a simple quantitative explanation of the recently computed [Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 150404 (2009)] oscillatory momentum spectrum of e+e- pairs produced from vacuum subjected to a time-dependent electric field with sub-cycle laser pulse structure. This approach also explains naturally why for spinor and scalar QED these oscillations are out of phase.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figs.; v2 sign typo corrected, version to appear in PR

Reconciling Semiclassical and Bohmian Mechanics: III. Scattering states for continuous potentials

In a previous paper [J. Chem. Phys. 121 4501 (2004)] a unique bipolar decomposition, Psi = Psi1 + Psi2 was presented for stationary bound states Psi of the one-dimensional Schroedinger equation, such that the components Psi1 and Psi2 approach their semiclassical WKB analogs in the large action limit. The corresponding bipolar quantum trajectories, as defined in the usual Bohmian mechanical formulation, are classical-like and well-behaved, even when Psi has many nodes, or is wildly oscillatory. A modification for discontinuous potential stationary stattering states was presented in a second paper [J. Chem. Phys. 124 034115 (2006)], whose generalization for continuous potentials is given here. The result is an exact quantum scattering methodology using classical trajectories. For additional convenience in handling the tunneling case, a constant velocity trajectory version is also developed.Comment: 16 pages and 14 figure

Study of a class of non-polynomial oscillator potentials

We develop a variational method to obtain accurate bounds for the eigenenergies of H = -Delta + V in arbitrary dimensions N>1, where V(r) is the nonpolynomial oscillator potential V(r) = r^2 + lambda r^2/(1+gr^2), lambda in (-infinity,\infinity), g>0. The variational bounds are compared with results previously obtained in the literature. An infinite set of exact solutions is also obtained and used as a source of comparison eigenvalues.Comment: 16 page

Cosmological particle production and the precision of the WKB approximation

Particle production by slow-changing gravitational fields is usually described using quantum field theory in curved spacetime. Calculations require a definition of the vacuum state, which can be given using the adiabatic (WKB) approximation. I investigate the best attainable precision of the resulting approximate definition of the particle number. The standard WKB ansatz yields a divergent asymptotic series in the adiabatic parameter. I derive a novel formula for the optimal number of terms in that series and demonstrate that the error of the optimally truncated WKB series is exponentially small. This precision is still insufficient to describe particle production from vacuum, which is typically also exponentially small. An adequately precise approximation can be found by improving the WKB ansatz through perturbation theory. I show quantitatively that the fundamentally unavoidable imprecision in the definition of particle number in a time-dependent background is equal to the particle production expected to occur during that epoch. The results are illustrated by analytic and numerical examples.Comment: 14 pages, RevTeX, 5 figures; minor changes, a clarification in Sec. II

Kelvin mode of a vortex in a nonuniform Bose-Einstein condensate

In a uniform fluid, a quantized vortex line with circulation h/M can support long-wavelength helical traveling waves proportional to e^{i(kz-\omega_k t)} with the well-known Kelvin dispersion relation \omega_k \approx (\hbar k^2/2M) \ln(1/|k|\xi), where \xi is the vortex-core radius. This result is extended to include the effect of a nonuniform harmonic trap potential, using a quantum generalization of the Biot-Savart law that determines the local velocity V of each element of the vortex line. The normal-mode eigenfunctions form an orthogonal Sturm-Liouville set. Although the line's curvature dominates the dynamics, the transverse and axial trapping potential also affect the normal modes of a straight vortex on the symmetry axis of an axisymmetric Thomas-Fermi condensate. The leading effect of the nonuniform condensate density is to increase the amplitude along the axis away from the trap center. Near the ends, however, a boundary layer forms to satisfy the natural Sturm-Liouville boundary conditions. For a given applied frequency, the next-order correction renormalizes the local wavenumber k(z) upward near the trap center, and k(z) then increases still more toward the ends.Comment: 9 pages, 1 figur

Complex WKB Analysis of a PT Symmetric Eigenvalue Problem

The spectra of a particular class of PT symmetric eigenvalue problems has previously been studied, and found to have an extremely rich structure. In this paper we present an explanation for these spectral properties in terms of quantisation conditions obtained from the complex WKB method. In particular, we consider the relation of the quantisation conditions to the reality and positivity properties of the eigenvalues. The methods are also used to examine further the pattern of eigenvalue degeneracies observed by Dorey et al. in [1,2].Comment: 22 pages, 13 figures. Added references, minor revision