Conduction bands in classical periodic potentials

TL;DR

This paper explores how allowing complex energies in a classical particle within a periodic potential leads to behaviors analogous to quantum tunneling and conduction bands, revealed through detailed numerical simulations.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of classical conduction bands in a periodic potential by analyzing complex energy effects through numerical simulations.

Findings

Classical particles can exhibit tunneling-like hopping behavior.

Classical conduction bands enable constant velocity drift.

Complex energies induce quantum-like behaviors in classical systems.

Abstract

The energy of a quantum particle cannot be determined exactly unless there is an infinite amount of time in which to perform the measurement. This paper considers the possibility that $\Delta E$, the uncertainty in the energy, may be complex. To understand the effect of a particle having a complex energy, the behavior of a classical particle in a one-dimensional periodic potential $V(x)=-\cos(x)$ is studied. On the basis of detailed numerical simulations it is shown that if the energy of such a particle is allowed to be complex, the classical motion of the particle can exhibit two qualitatively different behaviors: (i) The particle may hop from classically-allowed site to nearest-neighbor classically-allowed site in the potential, behaving as if it were a quantum particle in an energy gap and undergoing repeated tunneling processes, or (ii) the particle may behave as a quantum particle in a conduction band and drift at a constant average velocity through the potential as if it were undergoing resonant tunneling. The classical conduction bands for this potential are determined numerically with high precision.