Phys. Rev. A 71, 012109 (2005) [7 pages]Nonexponential decay of an unstable quantum system: Small-Q-value s-wave decayReceived 27 August 2004; published 31 January 2005 We study the decay process of an unstable quantum system, especially the deviation from the exponential decay law. We show that the exponential period no longer exists in the case of the s-wave decay with small Q value, where the Q value is the difference between the energy of the initially prepared state and the minimum energy of the continuous eigenstates in the system. We also derive the quantitative condition that this kind of decay process takes place and discuss what kind of system is suitable to observe the decay. © 2005 The American Physical Society URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevA.71.012109
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevA.71.012109
PACS:
03.65.Xp
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