Reaction coordinate method for quantum tunneling

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Abstract
A method based on the concept of reaction coordinates is presented for calculating the difference between the first two energy eigenvalues of the Schrödinger equation for a symmetric double-well potential. The method consists of using reaction coordinates to reduce the multidimensional Schrödinger equation to a simpler set of equations, which can then be solved numerically. The method is applied to a two-dimensional problem and the results are compared with those obtained for a special case where an exact solution is available. The agreement is very good.