WKB method for the Dirac equation with a scalar-vector coupling

Abstract

We outline a recursive method for obtaining WKB expansions of solutions of the Dirac equation in an external centrally symmetric field with a scalar-vector Lorentz structure of the interaction potentials. We obtain semiclassical formulas for radial functions in the classically allowed and forbidden regions and find conditions for matching them in passing through the turning points. We generalize the Bohr-Sommerfeld quantization rule to the relativistic case where a spin-1/2 particle interacts simultaneously with a scalar and an electrostatic external field. We obtain a general expression in the semiclassical approximation for the width of quasistationary levels, which was earlier known only for barrier-type electrostatic potentials (the Gamow formula). We show that the obtained quantization rule exactly produces the energy spectrum for Coulomb- and oscillatory-type potentials. We use an example of the funnel potential to demonstrate that the proposed version of the WKB method not only extends the possibilities for studying the spectrum of energies and wave functions analytically but also ensures an appropriate accuracy of calculations even for states with nr ∼ 1.