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Releasing the particles

An new kind of experiment is performed, where now the edges of the box are partially opened, forming the Finite Square Well shown in Figure 1, where . In what fraction of such experiments can we expect the particles to remain in the box?

Hints: You may assume that the box is opened so quickly that, during the opening process, the particle does not have time to change its state appreciably. There is only one bound state in this finite square well, and the energy of that state may be found exactly. Finally, because there is only one bound state, observing the particle remaining in the box is equivalent to measuring its energy as .

  
Figure 1: ``Box'' (Infinite Square Well) partially opening into a Finite Square Well



Prof. Tomas Alberto Arias
Sat Apr 6 15:33:22 EST 1996