Localization in the ground state of a triple quantum well

Abstract

A model is presented, consisting of a single structureless particle on the line subject to a potential with three minima, with an exactly soluble ground level. In this model the ground level probability density becomes more sensitive to the global shape of the potential as the distance between the minima increases, so that for big enough distances small variations in the potential bring a qualitative change in the probability density, taking it from a unimodal, localized, distribution, to a bimodal one. We conjecture that this effect, of which we have not found any precedent in the literature, may be relevant in the design and characterization of mesoscopic devices such as triple quantum well systems.