Caustics and Superenergy in the Quantum Bouncer

Abstract

We investigate the quantum interference and energetic phenomena associated with classical caustics in the quantum bouncing ball problem, we refer to as quantum caustics. By considering an initial Gaussian wavepacket, we show that caustics associated with the underlying classical trajectory families are exhibited. We connect the associated phase singularity chains in the vicinity of the caustic with the semiclassical Pearcey function built on the cusp catastrophe lines. We also quantify the amount of superenergy exhibited in these solutions - regions of space where the local energy exceeds the largest constituent energy eigenvalue. We give a complimentary description of the caustic and superenergy behavior using the Madelung/Bohm trajectories, which gives additional insight about the energy of the trajectories and how they traverse the phase singularity chains.

14 pages of text, 7 figures, 67 references, 4 appendices