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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Unbound States in an Almost Infinite Deep Potential
Tong Liu* and Xu Xia*
The behavior of a quantum particle in an almost infinite deep potential is
investigated. By means of analytical and numerical methods, it is
demonstrated that even if the potential is infinitely deep, the particle’s
eigenstate can still be unbound, which contradicts the previous belief that an
infinite deep potential can only sustain bound states. These findings shed
new light on the eigenstate problem of quantum mechanics.
1. Introduction
In the textbook of quantum mechanics,[1] it is well known that in
1D infinite deep potential well, there are only bound state. While
in order to obtain unbound states, it requires that the potential
well should be finite deep or bounded.[2,3] If the maximum height
of the potential well is set to zero, when the eigenvalue of the
particle is less than 0, the particle is bound in the potential well,
which is called the bound state; while the eigenvalue is greater
than 0, the particle will not be bound in the potential well, and the
quantum state at this time is called scattering or unbound state.[4]
Moreover, a large number of examples seem to prove that the
scattering state corresponds to the continuous spectrum, while
the bound state corresponds to the discrete spectrum.[5,6]
However, quantum mechanics always brings surprises. In
1929, von Neumann et al. found that there is still a class of nor-
malizable bound states whose eigenvalues are embedded in the
continuous spectrum,[7] so they are also called bound states in
the continuous. Since then, bound states in various continuous
spectra have also been found in various systems with multifari-
ous potential field structures.[8,9]
In this work, we intend to answer another question: can an in-
finite deep potential well produce the unbound state, alternatively
how can we modify the definition of infinite depth to produce the
unbound state. Thus, we introduce the following model,
E𝜓n = 𝜓n+1 + 𝜓n−1 + V sec(2𝜋𝛼n + 𝜃)2 𝜓n (1)
T. Liu
Department of Applied Physics
School of Science
Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications
Nanjing 210003, China
E-mail: t6tong@njupt.edu.cn
X. Xia
Academy of Mathematics and System Sciences
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Beijing 100190, China
E-mail: xiaxu14@mails.ucas.ac.cn
The ORCID identification number(s) for the author(s) of this article
can be found under https://doi.org/10.1002/andp.202200424
DOI: 10.1002/andp.202200424
Ann. Phys. (Berlin) 2022, 2200424 2200424 (1 of 4)
www.ann-phys.org
where V is the potential strength, E is the
eigenvalue of systems, and 𝜓n is the am-
plitude of wave function at the nth lattice.
This model can be regarded as a quan-
tum particle jumping left and right in a
1D discrete potential well, namely V(n) =
sec(2𝜋𝛼n)2 . The parameter 𝜃 in Equa-
tion (1) can not only keep the energy spec-
trum of the equation unchanged, but also
simplify the calculation process of the
Lyapunov exponent. Without losing generality, we unitize the
nearest-neighbor hopping √ amplitude and a typical choice for irra-
tional parameter 𝛼 is 𝛼 = ( 5 − 1)∕2. So far, there have been sev-
eral literatures on quasiperiodic and mobility edge models,[10–12]
however none of them have considered the n2 case, moreover, the
ref. [10] is under the bound potential, whereas the current model
is under the unbounded potential. Obviously, when n takes some
special integers, V(n) → ∞, the schematic diagram of the poten-
tial well profile is shown in Figure 1. When the lattice number n
becomes larger, V(n) is more likely to approach infinity, such as
V(6119) ≈ 48 559 157. Nevertheless, V(n) can reach infinity only
when n gets to infinity, which is different from the infinite deep
potential well in a finite space, therefore this model describes the
motion of a quantum particle in an almost infinite deep well.
Next, we will demonstrate this model host unbound states both
analytically and numerically.
2. Mathematical Proofs
In order to demonstrate that Equation (1) can host unbound
states, we introduce a quantity to distinguish bound state and
unbound states, namely the Lyapunov exponent 𝛾. With regard
to bound state, 𝛾 > 0; while for unbound states, 𝛾 = 0.[13] Now
we provide the analytical derivation of the Lyapunov exponent.
The Lyapunov exponent 𝛾 can be calculated by taking the prod-
uct of the transfer matrix T(𝜃), that is, multiplying the transfer
matrix n times consecutively, then we write
( )
∏
n−1
∏
n−1
E − V sec(2𝜋𝛼l + 𝜃)2 −1
Tn (𝜃) = T(2𝜋𝛼l + 𝜃) = (2)
1 0
l=0 l=0
then the Lyapunov exponent is log ||Tn (𝜃)||∕n when n tends to
the infinite in the thermodynamic limit.
The method we use here to calculate the Lyapunov exponent is
the complexified phase approach, specifically by continuing the
imaginary part of the phase 𝜖, this case also has the correspond-
ing Lyapunov exponent, that is
∏
n−1
Tn (𝜃 + i𝜖) = T(2𝜋𝛼l + 𝜃 + i𝜖) (3)
l=0
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√
Thus we get 𝛾𝜖B (E) = 2𝜋𝜖 + ln | E2 ±4 | − ln(2) + o(1). And as a
2

function of 𝜖, 𝛾𝜖B (E) is a convex, piecewise linear function whose

slope is an integer multiplied by 2𝜋, so we can √
conclude that
when 𝜖 tends to infinity as 𝛾𝜖B (E) = 2𝜋𝜖 + ln | E2 ±4 | − ln(2). By
2

Equation (6), it can be inferred

√
that when 𝜖 is very large, 𝛾𝜖 (E) =
𝛾𝜖B (E) + ln(2) − 2𝜋𝜖 = ln | E2 ±4 |.
2

Since 𝛾𝜖 is a convex function that is linear in sections and has a

slope that is an integer multiplied by 2𝜋, it can be concluded that
the Lyapunov exponent for any given value of 𝜖 can be expressed
as:
√ √
E + E2 − 4 E − E2 − 4
𝛾(E) = max{ln | |, ln | |} (9)
2 2
Figure 1. The diagrammatic sketch of the almost infinite deep well V(n) =
According to Equation (9), when E > 2, 𝛾(E) > 0, the eigen-
sec(2𝜋𝛼n)2 . It clearly shows that even if n is small, V(36) and V(269) are
much greater than 10 000, which has formed a deep potential well. states with the eigenvalues E > 2 are bounded in the almost in-
finite deep well; while E < 2, 𝛾(E) ≡ 0, the eigenstates with the
eigenvalues E < 2 are unbounded and spread throughout the
then the Lyapunov exponent 𝛾(𝜖) is limn→∞ log ||Tn (𝜃 + i𝜖)||∕n. physical space. Thus, E = 2 is similar to the zero potential en-
Relying on Avila’s global theory,[14] if we obtain the Lyapunov ergy of the finite deep potential well, separating bound state and
exponent 𝛾(𝜖) when 𝜖 is sufficiently large, we can also obtain unbound states, this is the main innovation of this work.
the Lyapunov exponent 𝛾 = 𝛾(0) when 𝜖 = 0. First, rewriting the
transfer matrix
( ) 3. Numerical Verification
E − V sec(2𝜋𝛼l + 𝜃)2 −1
T(𝜃) = To verify the above theoretical results, we present detailed numer-
1 0 (4) ical analysis to support the theoretical predications given in the
previous section. We directly diagonalize Equation (1) to obtain
= sec(2𝜋𝛼l + 𝜃)2 B(𝜃)
the eigenvalues E and the corresponding eigenstates 𝜓. Then, it
is fairly straightforward to calculate the typical diagnostic quan-
where tity, namely the inverse participation ratio (IPR), to distinguish
( ) bound and unbounded states. The IPR of a normalized eigen-
E cos(2𝜋𝛼l + 𝜃)2 − V − cos(2𝜋𝛼l + 𝜃)2 state 𝜓 is defined as[15]
B(𝜃) = (5)
cos(2𝜋𝛼l + 𝜃)2 0
∑
L
IPR = 𝜓n4 , (10)
Then 𝛾 can be expressed as n=1

𝛾𝜖 (E) = lim log ||Tn (𝜃 + i𝜖)||∕n where L denotes the total number of sites and n is the lattice
n→∞ number. The IPR of the unbounded state scales like L−1 and ap-
1 proaches 0 in the large L limit, while it is finite for the bounded
= lim ln |Bn (𝜃 + i𝜖)|d𝜃 + ln | sec(𝜃 + i𝜖)2 |d𝜃 (6) state even if L tends to infinity.[16,17] Figure 2 plots the eigenvalue
n→∞ n∫ ∫
E and IPR of the corresponding eigenstate as a function of the po-
=𝛾𝜖B (E) + ln(2) − 2𝜋𝜖 tential strength V. The blue solid lines represents the critical en-
ergy E = 2. As expected from the calculation results of Lyapunov
where exponent, when E > 2, the red and yellow curves indicates that
the value of IPR is finite, which corresponds to bound state; while
1 E < 2, the black curves indicates that the value of IPR approaches
𝛾𝜖B (E) = lim ln ||Bn (𝜃 + i𝜀)||d𝜃
n→∞ n∫ zero, which corresponds to unbound states. Therefore, numeri-
(7) cal results illustrate that E = 2 is indeed separating bounded and
∏
n−1
unbounded states.
Bn (𝜃 + i𝜖) = B(2𝜋𝛼l + 𝜃 + i𝜖) As shown in Figure 2, when the eigenvalue E > 2, all IPR
l=0
curves appear red and yellow color, with no black color, hence
there are no bound states in the continuous part of the spectrum.
When 𝜖 tends to the infinity, a direct calculation of B(𝜃 + i𝜖)
We also numerically checked this phenomenon, have not found
results are
bound states in the continuous.
( ) To strengthen the credibility of this result, we implement the fi-
1 2𝜋𝜖 i2𝜋(𝜃+𝛼) E −1 nite size analysis of IPR. The size of the system L is chosen as the
B(𝜃 + i𝜖) = − e e + o(1) (8)
2 1 0 mth Fibonacci number Fm . The advantage of this arrangement is

Ann. Phys. (Berlin) 2022, 2200424 2200424 (2 of 4) © 2022 Wiley-VCH GmbH


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Figure 2. Eigenvalues of Equation (1) as a function of V. Different colors
of the curves indicate different magnitudes of the IPR, the black curves
denote the unbound state and the red/yellow curves denote the bound
state. The blue solid line represents the critical energy E = 2. The total
number of sites is set to be L = 610.
Figure 3. The finite size analysis of IPR versus the inverse system size
1∕L. The incommensurate potential intensity V = 0.5. The system size L
(Fibonacci numbers) is chosen as 144, 233, 377, 610, 987, 1597, 2584,
4181, 6765.
that the golden ratio can be approximately replaced√by the ratio
of two successive Fibonacci numbers, that is, 𝛼 = ( 5 − 1)∕2 =
limm→∞ Fm−1 ∕Fm . We plot the trend of IPR as the system size in-
creases in Figure 3, as shown, for eigenvalues E less than 2, the
trend of IPR seems to follow the power-law decreasing behavior,
and approaches zero in the thermodynamic limit L → ∞. This
demonstrates that the eigenstates below the mobility edge E = 2
are indeed unbounded.
To visually illustrate the unbound states, Figure 4 plots the
eigenstates for three different eigenvalues at V = 1, which are
above and below the critical energy E = 2, respectively. From Fig-
ure 4 we can clearly see that when E < 2 (Figure 4a,b), the eigen-
states are distributed throughout the physical space, hence they
are unbound; while E > 2 (Figure 4c), the eigenstates are con-
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Figure 4. Eigenstates of Equation (1) with V = 1 around the critical energy
E = 2. It clearly shows that when E < 2 (a,b), the eigenstates are unbound;
while E > 2 (c), the eigenstates are bounded. The total number of sites is
set to be L = 987.
centrated only at a certain part of the physical space, and tends
to zero at the edge of space, hence they are bounded. We have
checked other combinations of parameters and the number of
sites and get the same results, as expected. Consequently, from
these numerical results, the analytic results developed in Equa-
tion (9) is essentially exact for describing the unbound motion of
a quantum particle in an almost infinite deep well.
4. Summary
To summarize, we have investigated the eigenstate problem of
a quantum particle in an almost infinite deep well. Surprisingly,
even when the thermodynamic limit is imposed, where the depth
of the potential well tends to infinity, the eigenstates of the par-
ticle can still be unbound. This means that the particle can still
move throughout the entire physical space. This result shatters
the pre-existing understanding of the problem of the infinite deep
potential well and is another example of counter-intuitive behav-
ior in quantum mechanics. This research result is advantageous
for the advancement of quantum mechanics.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu
Province (Grant No. BK20200737), NUPTSF (Grants No. NY220090 and
No. NY220208), the National Nature Science Foundation of China (Grant
No. 12074064), and the Innovation Research Project of Jiangsu Province
(Grant No. JSSCBS20210521). X.X. is supported by Nankai Zhide Founda-
tion.
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Data Availability Statement
The data that support the findings of this study are available on request
from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to
privacy or ethical restrictions.
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