January 9, 2006
Yossi Strauss
Title: Contractive semigroups and model operators in the description of resonances in quantum mechanics
One of the fundamental and important phenomena observed in scattering experiments of quantum particles is that of the formation of resonances. Basic problems in the theoretical study of resonances include:
The appropriate description of quantum resonances is an old and difficult problem dating back to the early days of quantum mechanics (for example: Gamow, 1928 and Wigner-Weisskopf, 1930). Over the years several successful methods were developed for dealing with the questions raised above. However, certain aspects of the nature of resonances are still not clear.
A new framework appropriate for the study of the problem of resonances, developed in analogy to the structure of the Lax-Phillips scattering theory, has been introduced recently. This formalism involves two basic ingredients:
I will describe the new framework, present the results of its application to certain simple models and indicate some of the insights provided by the new formalism.