Information entropy as a measure of tunneling and quantum confinement in a symmetric double‐well potential

Abstract

Information entropic measures such as Fisher information, Shannon entropy, Onicescu energy and Onicescu Shannon entropy of a symmetric double‐well potential are calculated in both position and momentum space. Eigenvalues and eigenvectors of this system are obtained through a variation‐induced exact diagonalization procedure. The information entropy‐based uncertainty relation is shown to be a better measure than conventional uncertainty product in interpreting purely quantum mechanical phenomena, such as, tunneling and quantum confinement in this case. Additionally, the phase‐space description provides a semi‐classical explanation for this feature. Total information entropy and phase‐space area show similar behavior with increasing barrier height. image