Dwell-time distributions in quantum mechanics

José Munoz

Inigo L. Egusquiza

Adolfo del Campo

Dirk Seidel

Gonzalo Muga

pp. 97-125

in: Gonzalo Muga, Andreas Ruschhaupt, Adolfo del Campo (eds), Time in quantum mechanics II, Berlin, Springer, 2009

Abstract

Time observables time observables in quantum mechanics have a long and debated history [35]. In spite of the fact that random time variables, measured after a system is prepared, are common in laboratories, most often it has been argued that questions about time in quantum mechanics should best be left alone, as illustrated by the frequent reference to Pauli's theorem. Alternatively, the emphasis has been laid on characteristic times, i.e., single time quantities characterizing a process such as tunneling or decay. This, in many ways, runs counter to the usual procedure in quantum mechanics, where additionally to the average value of a quantity we require prediction of higher order moments of that quantity; in other words, the probability distribution.