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Auteurs principaux: Garbrecht, Björn, Wagner, Nils
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2025
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Accès en ligne:https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.04907
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author Garbrecht, Björn
Wagner, Nils
author_facet Garbrecht, Björn
Wagner, Nils
contents In the study of quantum-mechanical tunneling processes, numerous approaches have been developed to determine the decay rate of states initially confined within a metastable potential region. Virtually all analytical treatments, however, fall into one of two superficially unrelated conceptual frameworks: the resonant-state approach and the instanton method. Whereas the concept of resonant states and their associated decay widths is grounded in physical reasoning by capturing the regime of uniform probability decay, the instanton method lacks a comparably clear physical interpretation. We demonstrate the equivalence of the two approaches, revealing that the contour-deformation prescription in the functional integral put forward by Callan and Coleman directly corresponds to the outgoing Gamow--Siegert boundary conditions defining resonant states.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_04907
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Instantons meet resonances: Unifying two seemingly distinct approaches to quantum tunneling
Garbrecht, Björn
Wagner, Nils
High Energy Physics - Theory
Mathematical Physics
Quantum Physics
In the study of quantum-mechanical tunneling processes, numerous approaches have been developed to determine the decay rate of states initially confined within a metastable potential region. Virtually all analytical treatments, however, fall into one of two superficially unrelated conceptual frameworks: the resonant-state approach and the instanton method. Whereas the concept of resonant states and their associated decay widths is grounded in physical reasoning by capturing the regime of uniform probability decay, the instanton method lacks a comparably clear physical interpretation. We demonstrate the equivalence of the two approaches, revealing that the contour-deformation prescription in the functional integral put forward by Callan and Coleman directly corresponds to the outgoing Gamow--Siegert boundary conditions defining resonant states.
title Instantons meet resonances: Unifying two seemingly distinct approaches to quantum tunneling
topic High Energy Physics - Theory
Mathematical Physics
Quantum Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.04907