Existence of the transfer matrix for a class of nonlocal potentials in two dimensions

Farhang Loran, Ali Mostafazadeh

Published 2022-07-20Version 1

Evanescent waves are waves that decay or grow exponentially in regions of the space void of interaction. In potential scattering defined by the Schr\"odinger equation, $(-\nabla^2+v)\psi=k^2\psi$ for a local potential $v$, they arise in dimensions greater than one and are present regardless of the details of $v$. The approximation in which one ignores the contributions of the evanescent waves to the scattering process corresponds to replacing $v$ with a certain energy-dependent nonlocal potential $\hat{\mathscr{V}}_k$. We present a dynamical formulation of the stationary scattering for $\hat{\mathscr{V}}_k$ in two dimensions, where the scattering data are related to the dynamics of a quantum system having a non-self-adjoint, unbounded, and nonstationary Hamiltonian operator. The evolution operator for this system determines a two-dimensional analog of the transfer matrix of stationary scattering in one dimension which contains the information about the scattering properties of the potential. Under rather general conditions on $v$, we establish the strong convergence of the Dyson series expansion of the evolution operator and prove the existence of the transfer matrix for $\hat{\mathscr{V}}_k$ as a densely-defined operator acting in $\mathbb{C}^2\otimes L^2(-k,k)$.