What Energy Maximizes Neutron Trapping in a Finite Square Well?

atlantic
Messages
21
Reaction score
0
Free particle --> bound particle

Homework Statement



A free neutron meets a finite square well of depth V_{0}, and width 2a centered around origo.

However, the probability that the neutron emits a photon when it meets the potential well, and thus decreasing its energy is proportional to the integral \int^{t_{1}}_{t_{0}}\int^{a}_{-a} |\Psi(x,t)|^{2} dx dt. Where t_{1}-t_{0} is the time it takes the neutron to cross the well.

The question then is: "What energy is the most advantageous for the neutron to have, in order to be trapped by the potential well?"


The Attempt at a Solution


The initial energy is E_{0}, the energy of the photon is E_{p}

I'm guessing I have to find a value for E_{0}, so as to make the integral a large as possible.
 
Last edited:
Physics news on Phys.org


Is there some form of ψ here that you are neglecting to tell us (like it is the wavefunction of the neutron)? If ψ is independent of E (or E0), then I don't see how it would make a difference (unless it's as silly as to realize to treat the neutron classically, so that t1-t0 depends inversely on the square root of E, which it may be, since it talks about "the time it takes the neutron to cross the well").
 
Hello everyone, I’m considering a point charge q that oscillates harmonically about the origin along the z-axis, e.g. $$z_{q}(t)= A\sin(wt)$$ In a strongly simplified / quasi-instantaneous approximation I ignore retardation and take the electric field at the position ##r=(x,y,z)## simply to be the “Coulomb field at the charge’s instantaneous position”: $$E(r,t)=\frac{q}{4\pi\varepsilon_{0}}\frac{r-r_{q}(t)}{||r-r_{q}(t)||^{3}}$$ with $$r_{q}(t)=(0,0,z_{q}(t))$$ (I’m aware this isn’t...
Hi, I had an exam and I completely messed up a problem. Especially one part which was necessary for the rest of the problem. Basically, I have a wormhole metric: $$(ds)^2 = -(dt)^2 + (dr)^2 + (r^2 + b^2)( (d\theta)^2 + sin^2 \theta (d\phi)^2 )$$ Where ##b=1## with an orbit only in the equatorial plane. We also know from the question that the orbit must satisfy this relationship: $$\varepsilon = \frac{1}{2} (\frac{dr}{d\tau})^2 + V_{eff}(r)$$ Ultimately, I was tasked to find the initial...
Back
Top