Quantum decay into a non-flat continuum

Abstract

We study the decay of a prepared state into non-flat continuum. We find that the survival probability $P(t)$ might exhibit either stretched-exponential or power-law decay, depending on non-universal features of the model. Still there is a universal characteristic time $t_0$ that does not depend on the functional form. It is only for a flat continuum that we get a robust exponential decay that is insensitive to the nature of the intra-continuum couplings. The analysis highlights the co-existence of perturbative and non-perturbative features in the local density of states, and the non-linear dependence of $1/t_0$ on the strength of the coupling.

10 pages, 4 figures

References in corpus (3)

• Non-exponential decay via tunneling in tight-binding lattices and the optical Zeno effect
• Bound states in the continuum in a single-level Fano-Anderson model
• Decays in Quantum Hierarchical Models

Cited by in corpus (1)

• Quantum anomalies and linear response theory