The decay of photoexcited quantum systems: a description within the statistical scattering model

TL;DR

This paper extends the statistical scattering model to describe the decay of photoexcited quantum systems, incorporating direct decay processes through an additional channel, thus broadening its applicability to molecular and atomic autoionization phenomena.

Contribution

It demonstrates how to adapt the standard statistical scattering approach to include direct decay channels in photoexcited quantum systems.

Findings

Derived correlations and fluctuations for decay observables.

Showed how to incorporate direct decay processes into the model.

Connected the extended model with previous results on quantum decay.

Abstract

The decay of photoexcited quantum systems (examples are photodissociation of molecules and autoionization of atoms) can be viewed as a half-collision process (an incoming photon excites the system which subsequently decays by dissociation or autoionization). For this reason, the standard statistical approach to quantum scattering, originally developed to describe nuclear compound reactions, is not directly applicable. Using an alternative approach, correlations and fluctuations of observables characterizing this process were first derived in [Fyodorov YV and Alhassid Y 1998 Phys. Rev. A 58, R3375]. Here we show how the results cited above, and more recent results incorporating direct decay processes, can be obtained from the standard statistical scattering approach by introducing one additional channel.