English

Detection Time Distribution for Several Quantum Particles

Quantum Physics 2024-11-13 v3

Abstract

We address the question of how to compute the probability distribution of the time at which a detector clicks, in the situation of nn non-relativistic quantum particles in a volume ΩR3\Omega\subset \mathbb{R}^3 in physical space and detectors placed along the boundary Ω\partial \Omega of Ω\Omega. We have previously [arXiv:1601.03715] argued in favor of a rule for the 1-particle case that involves a Schr\"odinger equation with an absorbing boundary condition on Ω\partial \Omega introduced by Werner; we call this rule the "absorbing boundary rule." Here, we describe the natural extension of the absorbing boundary rule to the nn-particle case. A key element of this extension is that, upon a detection event, the wave function gets collapsed by inserting the detected position, at the time of detection, into the wave function, thus yielding a wave function of n1n-1 particles. We also describe an extension of the absorbing boundary rule to the case of moving detectors.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1601.03871,
  title  = {Detection Time Distribution for Several Quantum Particles},
  author = {Roderich Tumulka},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1601.03871},
  year   = {2024}
}

Comments

17 pages LaTeX, no figures

R2 v1 2026-06-22T12:29:59.851Z