Barrier penetration in a discrete basis formalism

Abstract

A standard way to solve a Schr\"odinger equation is to discreteize the radial coordinates and apply a numerical method for a differential equation, such as the Runge-Kutta method or the Numerov method. Here I employ a discrete basis formalism based on a finite mesh method as a simpler alternative, with which the numerical computation can be easily implemented by ordinary linear algebra operations. I compare the numerical convergence of the Numerov integration method to the finite mesh method for calculating penetrabilities of a one-dimensional potential barrier, and show that the latter approach has better convergence properties.