Quantum Mechanical Scattering...
This JAVA applet integrates the Schrödinger wave equation.
The wave funcition Psi(x,t) is initially a guassian wave packet moving to the right.
The wave function, Psi(x,t), is shown
in the shaded region below. The height of the curve is determined by the
probability density
p(x,t) = |Psi(x,t)|^2
and the color is chosen directly from Psi(x,t) by a mapping described in
Visualizing Complex Functions.
The real and imaginary parts of Psi(x,t) are shown in blue and green.
The potential energy function v(x) is shown in red.
Notes:
- The boundary conditions are periodic, so that waves which exit to the right will return on the left.
- The algorithm for integrating the Schrödinger wave equation is from: Richardson, John L., Visualizing quantum scattering on the CM-2 supercomputer, Computer Physics Communications 63 (1991) pp 84-94
WaveMap.java
John L. Richardson Silicon Graphics, Inc.
E-Mail: jlr@sgi.com http://reality.sgi.com/jlr