ABSTRACT

This chapter considers an approximate method of solving the Schrodinger equation in the case when the wavelength of the particle is small by comparison with the distance over which the potential changes appreciably. Since the limit of short wavelength corresponds to the limit of classical mechanics, the quasiclassical approximation allows to explore the relation between classical and quantum mechanics. The chapter discusses how to match the quasiclassical wave function f in the region accessible to classical motion with the wave function in the forbidden region. Since the action function is a minimum along the classical trajectory, the pencil of trajectories adjacent to the classical one gives the minimum phase factor. The chapter examines the problem of the escape of a particle from a potential barrier; this problem reduces to the problem of the spreading of a wave packet which describes a particle which at the initial time was inside the barrier.