München 2004 – scientific programme

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Q: Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 25: Quanteneffekte II

Q 25.7: Talk

Tuesday, March 23, 2004, 18:15–18:30, HS 218

Measurement-based approach to quantum arrival times — •Dirk Seidel and Gerhard C. Hegerfeldt — Tammannstrasse 1, 37077 Göttingen, Germany

For a quantum-mechanically spread-out particle we investigate a method for determining its arrival time at a specific location. The procedure is based on the emission of the first photon from a two-level system moving into a laser-illuminated region. The resulting temporal distribution is explicitly calculated for the one-dimensional case and compared with axiomatically proposed expressions. As main results we show that (a) by means of a deconvolution one obtains the well known quantum mechanical probability flux of the particle [1] (b) by normalizing the corresponding temporal operator function the axiomatic arrival-time distribution of Kijowski is recovered [2] (c) a limiting case yields Allcock’s complex potential model.

[1] J.A. Damborenea, I.L. Egusquiza, G.C. Hegerfeldt, J.G. Muga, Phys. Rev. A 66, 052104 (2002)
[2] G.C. Hegerfeldt, D. Seidel, J.G. Muga, Phys. Rev. A 68, 022111 (2003)