731 research outputs found
WKB Approximation to the Power Wall
We present a semiclassical analysis of the quantum propagator of a particle
confined on one side by a steeply, monotonically rising potential. The models
studied in detail have potentials proportional to for ; the
limit would reproduce a perfectly reflecting boundary, but at
present we concentrate on the cases and 2, for which exact
solutions in terms of well known functions are available for comparison. We
classify the classical paths in this system by their qualitative nature and
calculate the contributions of the various classes to the leading-order
semiclassical approximation: For each classical path we find the action ,
the amplitude function and the Laplacian of . (The Laplacian is of
interest because it gives an estimate of the error in the approximation and is
needed for computing higher-order approximations.) The resulting semiclassical
propagator can be used to rewrite the exact problem as a Volterra integral
equation, whose formal solution by iteration (Neumann series) is a
semiclassical, not perturbative, expansion. We thereby test, in the context of
a concrete problem, the validity of the two technical hypotheses in a previous
proof of the convergence of such a Neumann series in the more abstract setting
of an arbitrary smooth potential. Not surprisingly, we find that the hypotheses
are violated when caustics develop in the classical dynamics; this opens up the
interesting future project of extending the methods to momentum space.Comment: 30 pages, 8 figures. Minor corrections in v.
The Galactic disk mass function: reconciliation of the HST and nearby determinations
We derive and parametrize the Galactic mass function (MF) below 1 \msol
characteristic of both single objects and binary systems. We resolve the long
standing discrepancy between the MFs derived from the HST and from the nearby
luminosity functions, respectively. We show that this discrepancy stemmed from
{\it two} cumulative effects, namely (i) incorrect color-magnitude determined
distances, due a substantial fraction of M dwarfs in the HST sample belonging
to the metal-depleted, thick-disk population, as corrected recently by Zheng et
al. and (ii) unresolved binaries. We show that both the nearby and HST MF for
unresolved systems are consistent with a fraction 50% of M-dwarf
binaries, with the mass of both the primaries and the companions originating
from the same underlying single MF. This implies that 30% of M dwarfs
should have an M dwarf companion and 20% should have a brown dwarf
companion, in agreement with recent determinations. The present calculations
show that the so-called "brown-dwarf desert" should be reinterpreted as a lack
of high mass-ratio (m_2/m_1\la 0.1) systems, and does not preclude a
substantial fraction of brown dwarfs as companions of M dwarfs or for other
brown dwarfs.Comment: 16 pages, Latex file, uses aasms4.sty, to appear in ApJ Letter
Asymptotic self-consistency in quantum transport calculations
Ab initio simulations of quantum transport commonly focus on a central region which is considered to be connected to infinite leads through which the current flows. The electronic structure of these distant leads is normally obtained from an equilibrium calculation, ignoring the self-consistent response of the leads to the current. We examine the consequences of this, and show that the electrostatic potential Delta phi is effectively being approximated by the difference between electrochemical potentials Delta mu, and that this approximation is incompatible with asymptotic charge neutrality. In a test calculation for a simple metal-vacuum-metal junction, we find significant errors in the nonequilibrium properties calculated with this approximation, in the limit of small vacuum gaps. We provide a scheme by which these errors may be corrected
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