A Relativistic equation for a slowly varying potential

Abstract

A relativistic equation is derived for a slowly varying potential by suitably approximating the one-dimensional Dirac equation. This equation is shown to be akin to the Schrodinger equation with an effective potential and effective eigenvalues. An iterative procedure for solving this equation is indicated. As an application, the relativistic treatment of the Mathieu potential on the basis of this equation is considered and results are compared with those obtained by solving the exact one-dimensional Dirac equation. These results are likely to take adequate account of the relativistic impacts on electrons near Fermi levels in metals.