30 research outputs found
Three manifestations of the pulsed harmonic potential
We consider, in turn, three systems being acted upon by a regularly pulsed
harmonic potential (PHP). These are i) a classical particle, ii) a quantum
particle, and iii) a directed line. We contrast the mechanics of the first two
systems by parameterizing their bands of stability and periodicity. Interesting
differences due to quantum fluctuations are examined in detail. The
fluctuations of the directed line are calculated in the two cases of a binding
PHP, and an unbinding PHP. In the latter case there is a finite maximum line
length for a given potential strength.Comment: 34 Revtex pages, with 5 attached figure