SEMICLASSICAL TUNNELING EFFECT

Abstract: This work is a contribution to the theory of the quantum tunneling effect. In the literature at least two barriers are studied, for which the third-order contribution to the phase - integral asymptotic approximation of the transmission coefficient do not contribute. These are the parabolic barrier and the inverse Morse barrier. In the present work we will show that with a proper choice of the so called base function there is at least one more barrier in this category namely the Eckart-Epstein potential. The fact that the third - order contribution vanishes is a good indication that we have found an optimal choice of the base function, and the treatment to find an optimal base function may be possible to generalize to other classes of potential barriers.    For particles of a low energy compared to the energy near the top of the barrier we obtain a vary low transmission coefficient, which means that the probability for tunneling to occur is very low. There exist some cases, for example that with a double barrier which is transparent, even for certain relatively low energies but no evidence for this kind of transparency for a single barrier has been found. The present work does not give any such evidence. At the same time there are still speculations on cold fusion like effects, which would demand a higher probability for tunneling through for a single barrier.