https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/i2011-11041-4
Letter
How quantum bound states bounce and the structure it reveals
Department of Physics, North Carolina State University, 27695, Raleigh, NC, USA
* e-mail: dean_lee@ncsu.edu
Received:
26
October
2010
Accepted:
27
February
2011
Published online:
21
March
2011
We investigate how quantum bound states bounce from a hard surface. Our analysis has applications to ab initio calculations of nuclear structure and elastic deformation, energy levels of excitons in semiconductor quantum dots and wells, and cold atomic few-body systems on optical lattices with sharp boundaries. We develop the general theory of elastic reflection for a composite body from a hard wall. On the numerical side we present ab initio calculations for the compression of alpha particles and universal results for two-body states. On the analytical side we derive a universal effective potential that gives the reflection scattering length for shallow two-body states.
© SIF, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, 2011
