English

Quantum time of arrival distribution in a simple lattice model

Quantum Physics 2015-03-03 v4 Statistical Mechanics

Abstract

Imagine an experiment where a quantum particle inside a box is released at some time in some initial state. A detector is placed at a fixed location inside the box and its clicking signifies arrival of the particle at the detector. What is the \emph{time of arrival} (TOA) of the particle at the detector ? Within the paradigm of the measurement postulate of quantum mechanics, one can use the idea of projective measurements to define the TOA. We consider the setup where a detector keeps making instantaneous measurements at regular finite time intervals {\emph{till}} it detects the particle at some time tt, which is defined as the TOA. This is a stochastic variable and, for a simple lattice model of a free particle in a one-dimensional box, we find interesting features such as power-law tails in its distribution and in the probability of survival (non-detection). We propose a perturbative calculational approach which yields results that compare very well with exact numerics.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1312.5923,
  title  = {Quantum time of arrival distribution in a simple lattice model},
  author = {Shrabanti Dhar and Subinay Dasgupta and Abhishek Dhar},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1312.5923},
  year   = {2015}
}

Comments

5 pages, 2 figures