dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaKlein Tunnelling and the Klein Paradox
| Authors | A Calogeracos, N Dombey |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | quant-ph/9806052 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/9806052 |
| DOI | 10.1142/S0217751X99000312 |
| Journal | Int.J.Mod.Phys. A14 (1999) 631-644 |
Abstract
The Klein paradox is reassessed by considering the properties of a finite square well or barrier in the Dirac equation. It is shown that spontaneous positron emission occurs for a well if the potential is strong enough. The vacuum charge and lifetime of the well are estimated. If the well is wide enough, a seemingly constant current is emitted. These phenomena are transient whereas the tunnelling first calculated by Klein is time-independent. Klein tunnelling is a property of relativistic wave equations, not necessarily connected to particle emission. The Coulomb potential is investigated in this context: it is shown that a heavy nucleus of sufficiently large $Z$ will bind positrons. Correspondingly, it is expected that as $Z$ increases the Coulomb barrier will become increasingly transparent to positrons. This is an example of Klein tunnelling.
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"abstract": "The Klein paradox is reassessed by considering the properties of a finite\nsquare well or barrier in the Dirac equation. It is shown that spontaneous\npositron emission occurs for a well if the potential is strong enough. The\nvacuum charge and lifetime of the well are estimated. If the well is wide\nenough, a seemingly constant current is emitted. These phenomena are transient\nwhereas the tunnelling first calculated by Klein is time-independent. Klein\ntunnelling is a property of relativistic wave equations, not necessarily\nconnected to particle emission. The Coulomb potential is investigated in this\ncontext: it is shown that a heavy nucleus of sufficiently large $Z$ will bind\npositrons. Correspondingly, it is expected that as $Z$ increases the Coulomb\nbarrier will become increasingly transparent to positrons. This is an example\nof Klein tunnelling.",
"arxiv_id": "quant-ph/9806052",
"authors": [
"A Calogeracos",
"N Dombey"
],
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"quant-ph"
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"doi": "10.1142/S0217751X99000312",
"journal_ref": "Int.J.Mod.Phys. A14 (1999) 631-644",
"title": "Klein Tunnelling and the Klein Paradox",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/9806052"
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