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Bohm trajectory and Feynman path approaches to the “Tunneling time problem”

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Abstract

A comparison is made between the Bohm trajectory and Feynman path approaches to the long-standing problem of determining the average lime taken for a particle described by the Schrödinger wave function ψ to tunnel through a potential barrier. The former approach follows simply and uniquely from the basic postulates of Bohm's causal interpretation of quantum mechanics; the latter is intimately related to the most frequently cited approaches based on conventional interpretations. Emphasis is given to the fact that fundamentally different transmission (T)-reflection (R) decompositions, particlelike and wavelike respectively, are central to the two methods: ¦ψ¦2=[¦ψ¦2]T+[¦ψ¦2]R (Bohm trajectory approach); ψ=ψT+ψR (Feynman path approach).

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  1. Institute for Microstructural Sciences, National Research Council of Canada, K1A 0R6, Ottawa, Canada

    C. R. Leavens

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Leavens, C.R. Bohm trajectory and Feynman path approaches to the “Tunneling time problem”. Found Phys 25, 229–268 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02055206

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