Influence of Dissipation on Quantum Tunneling in Macroscopic Systems

作者：A. O. Caldeira, A. J. Leggett · 发表于：Physical Review Letters · 年份：1981 · DOI：10.1103/physrevlett.46.211 · 被引用次数：2282 · 研究领域：Spectroscopy and Quantum Chemical Studies、Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics、Quantum, superfluid, helium dynamics

A quantum system which can tunnel, at $T=0$, out of a metastable state and whose interaction with its environment is adequately described in the classically accessible region by a phenomenological friction coefficient $\ensuremath{\eta}$, is considered. By only assuming that the environment response is linear, it is found that dissipation multiplies the tunneling probability by the factor $\mathrm{exp}[\ensuremath{-}\frac{A\ensuremath{\eta}{(\ensuremath{\Delta}q)}^{2}}{\ensuremath{\hbar}}]$, where $\ensuremath{\Delta}q$ is the "distance under the barrier" and $A$ is a numerical factor which is generally of order unity.