Resonance pole ($E=E_R-i\Gamma /2,\Gamma >0$)

A pole of the continued scattering matrix associated with outgoing boundary conditions and an unstable trapped state. A pole below the real energy axis gives time dependence $e^{-i{E}_{R}t/\hslash }{e}^{-\Gamma t/(2\hslash )}$, so the probability lifetime is $\hslash /\Gamma$. Bound-state poles instead lie on the positive imaginary wavenumber axis and produce square-integrable decaying spatial waves.