Resonance Enhanced Tunneling

Abstract

Time evolution of tunneling in thermal medium is studied using a standard model of environment interaction. A semiclassical formula for the particle motion in a metastable state of one dimensional system is combined with the quantum tunneling rate through a potential barrier, to derive the tunneling rate in medium. Effect of dissipation is clarified in a real-time formalism. If the friction η from environment is small enough, the nonlinear resonance effect due to the anharmonic terms in the potential well is shown to enhance the tunneling rate at finite times of order 1/η.