Time-of-arrival probabilities and quantum measurements. III. Decay of unstable states

DOI10.1063/1.2839920MaRDI QIDQ3544602zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Charis Anastopoulos

Publication date 8 December 2008

Published in Journal of Mathematical Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/0706.2496

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Quantum measurement theory, state operations, state preparations (81P15)

Abstract: We study the decay of unstable states by formulating quantum tunneling as a time-of-arrival problem: we determine the detection probability for particles at a detector located a distance L from the tunneling region. For this purpose, we use a Positive-Operator-Valued-Measure (POVM) for the time-of-arrival determined in quant-ph/0509020 [JMP 7, 122106 (2006)]. This only depends on the initial state, the Hamiltonian and the location of the detector. The POVM above provides a well-defined probability density and an unambiguous interpretation of all quantities involved. We demonstrate that the exponential decay only arises if three specific mathematical conditions are met. Their physical content is the following: (i) the decay time is much larger than any microscopic timescale, so that the fine details of the initial state can be ignored, (ii) there is no quantum coherence between the different `attempts' of the particle to traverse the barrier, and (iii) the transmission probability varies little within the momentum spread of the initial state. We also determine the long time limits of the decay probability and we identify regimes, in which the decays have no exponential phase.

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Cites work

• Representation of Particle States in Quantum Field Theory
• The decay law can have an irregular character
• Time-of-arrival probabilities and quantum measurements
• Time-of-arrival probabilities and quantum measurements. II. Application to tunneling times

Cited in

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• Multi-time measurements in Hawking radiation: information at higher-order correlations
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• Quantum decay law: critical times and the equivalence of approaches
• Decays of unstable quantum systems
• Exponential decay in quantum mechanics
• Real-time particle-detection probabilities in accelerated macroscopic detectors
• Quantum field theory based quantum information: measurements and correlations
• Unitarity of quantum tunneling decay for an analytical exact non-Hermitian resonant-state approach
• The various power decays of the survival probability at long times for a free quantum particle
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• Time of arrival and localization of relativistic particles
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