Particle in a box with a time-dependent $\delta$-function potential

TL;DR

This paper investigates the quantum dynamics of a particle in a box with a time-dependent delta potential, revealing how adiabatic and rapid barrier insertions affect particle localization and information extraction.

Contribution

It introduces an exact integral equation for the problem and demonstrates that the quantum adiabatic theorem applies even with diverging barriers if insertion is slow.

Findings

Adiabatic insertion localizes the particle at asymmetric barriers.

Fast insertion results in a rugged wave function and unlocalization.

Numerical methods accurately track wave function evolution during barrier insertion.

Abstract

In quantum information processing, one often considers inserting a barrier into a box containing a particle to generate one bit of Shannon entropy. We formulate this problem as a one-dimensional Schr\"{o}dinger equation with a time-dependent $\delta$-function potential. It is a natural generalization of the particle in a box, a canonical example of quantum mechanics, and we present analytic and numerical investigations on this problem. After deriving an exact Volterra-type integral equation, composed of an infinite sum of modes, we show that approximate formulas with the lowest-frequency modes correctly capture the qualitative behavior of the wave function. If we take into account hundreds of modes, our numerical calculation shows that the quantum adiabatic theorem actually gives a very good approximation even if the barrier height diverges within finite time, as long as it is sufficiently longer than the characteristic time scale of the particle. In particular, if the barrier is slowly inserted at an asymmetric position, the particle is localized by the insertion itself, in accordance with a prediction of the adiabatic theorem. On the other hand, when the barrier is inserted quickly, the wave function becomes rugged after the insertion because of the energy transfer to the particle. Regardless of the position of the barrier, the fast insertion leaves the particle unlocalized so that we can obtain meaningful information by a which-side measurement. Our numerical procedure provides a precise way to calculate the wave function throughout the process, from which one can estimate the amount of this information for an arbitrary insertion protocol.