Relationship between Classical and Quantum Mechanics in Micellar Aqueous Solutions of Surfactants

Micellar aqueous solutions of ionic surfactants have been observed to exhibit proton delocalization (the nuclear quantum effect) and to oscillate between a low density (LDL) and a high-density liquid (HDL) state of water at a fixed temperature. It is shown in this paper that such phenomena can be explained with the help of the interpolating Schrӧdinger equation proposed by Ghose. The nuclear quantum effect can be described by the tunneling of a harmonic oscillator in a symmetric double-well potential, and an ensemble of harmonic oscillators can model the LDL-HDL oscillations. The thermodynamics of such harmonic oscillators has been worked out showing continuous transitions between the quantum and classical limits.