Coupled Instantons In A Four-Well Potential With Application To The Tunneling Of A Composite Particle

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Hoodbhoy, Pervez, Ismail, M. Haashir, Mufassir, M.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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_version_ 1866914359771398144
author Hoodbhoy, Pervez
Ismail, M. Haashir
Mufassir, M.
author_facet Hoodbhoy, Pervez
Ismail, M. Haashir
Mufassir, M.
contents Coupled instantons are introduced by generalizing the double well potential to multiple mutually coupled wells. Physically this corresponds to the simultaneous tunneling of multiple degrees of freedom. A system with four equal minima is examined in detail. It has three instanton types or flavors with distinct actions. For weak coupling and subject to there being a single large (or small) parameter, the interactive system can be handled perturbatively. The zero mode problem arising from time translation symmetry is handled via the Fadeev-Popov procedure. A diagrammatic procedure allows corrections to the fluctuation determinant to be calculated systematically. Independent instanton contributions are summed over by extending the dilute gas approximation to three flavors and energy splittings of the lowest four states is calculated. All tunneling amplitudes are concisely expressed in terms of elementary functions. While the model is possibly useful for a variety of physical systems, an application is made here to the tunneling of a composite particle in one dimension.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2504_15607
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Coupled Instantons In A Four-Well Potential With Application To The Tunneling Of A Composite Particle
Hoodbhoy, Pervez
Ismail, M. Haashir
Mufassir, M.
Quantum Physics
Other Condensed Matter
Mathematical Physics
Nuclear Theory
Coupled instantons are introduced by generalizing the double well potential to multiple mutually coupled wells. Physically this corresponds to the simultaneous tunneling of multiple degrees of freedom. A system with four equal minima is examined in detail. It has three instanton types or flavors with distinct actions. For weak coupling and subject to there being a single large (or small) parameter, the interactive system can be handled perturbatively. The zero mode problem arising from time translation symmetry is handled via the Fadeev-Popov procedure. A diagrammatic procedure allows corrections to the fluctuation determinant to be calculated systematically. Independent instanton contributions are summed over by extending the dilute gas approximation to three flavors and energy splittings of the lowest four states is calculated. All tunneling amplitudes are concisely expressed in terms of elementary functions. While the model is possibly useful for a variety of physical systems, an application is made here to the tunneling of a composite particle in one dimension.
title Coupled Instantons In A Four-Well Potential With Application To The Tunneling Of A Composite Particle
topic Quantum Physics
Other Condensed Matter
Mathematical Physics
Nuclear Theory
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.15607