Effective Classical Potential

✍ Scribed by G. Faussurier

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2001
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 255 KB
• Volume: 294
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0003-4916
• DOI: 10.1006/aphy.2001.6191

✦ Synopsis

A new method for approximating a quantum-mechanical partition function by an effective classical partition function is proposed. The associated effective classical potential is found by using a variational procedure and a Gaussian Ansatz to estimate the statistical weight of paths starting and ending at the same point in the path-integral representation of the partition function. This method can be generalized to a variational-convergent calculation of path-integral. This systematic technique involves neither perturbation nor stochastic processes. Numerical results are presented and discussed for quartic, sextic, mixed quartic-sextic, and double-well anharmonic oscillators.