Experimental evidence for non-exponential decay in quantum tunnelling

Wilkinson, S. R.; Bharucha, C. F.; Fischer, Martin C.; Madison, Kirk W.; Morrow, P. R.; Niu, Qian; Sundaram, Bala; Raizen, Mark G.

doi:10.1038/42418

Cited by 280 publications

(310 citation statements)

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“…This deviation from the exponential law for very small t is a general feature of the quantum decay process which is related to the possibility of the quantum Zeno effect as discussed in [16]. For experimental evidence, see [21]. Let us take the model as a simulation of an α-decaying nucleus and examine how the nuclear charge Z(t) (in units of e > 0) varies as a function of t when the α particle of charge 2 is emitted.…”

Section: Bohmian Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bohmian description of a decaying quantum system

2000

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Section: Bohmian Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bohmian description of a decaying quantum system

2000

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“…The fact that the so called survival probability, i.e. the probability p(t) that an unstable state S formed at the time t = 0 did not decay at the instant t > 0, does not follow an exponential decay law for short times is now theoretically [1,2,3,4,5,6] and experimentally [7,8,9] established in the framework of quantum mechanics. Moreover, oscillations on top of the exponential function can also occur in the short time regime and could eventually last long enough to be detected [10,11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Non-exponential Decay in Quantum Field Theory and in Quantum Mechanics: The Case of Two (or More) Decay Channels

Giacosa

2012

Found Phys

104

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We study the deviations from the exponential decay law, both in quantum field theory (QFT) and quantum mechanics (QM), for an unstable particle which can decay in (at least) two decay channels. After a review of general properties of non-exponential decay in QFT and QM, we evaluate in both cases the decay probability that the unstable particle decays in a given channel in the time interval between t and t + dt. An important quantity is the ratio of the probability of decay into the first and the second channel: this ratio is constant in the Breit-Wigner limit (in which the decay law is exponential) and equals the quantity Γ1/Γ2, where Γ1 and Γ2 are the respective tree-level decay widths. However, in the full treatment (both for QFT and QM) it is an oscillating function around the mean value Γ1/Γ2 and the deviations from this mean value can be sizable. Technically, we study the decay properties in QFT in the context of a superrenormalizable Lagrangian with scalar particles and in QM in the context of Lee Hamiltonians, which deliver formally analogous expressions to the QFT case.

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“…Among these, the reach and practical importance of the experiments on the QZE [37][38][39] and the physical meaning of the mathematical expressions "N → ∞" and "K → ∞" [34,4], that may involve delicate quantum field theoretical issues [40]. We will not elaborate on this here, but warn the reader that the expression "large N " and "large K" should not be taken lightheartedly, as they are directly related to the physically relevant timescales characterizing the evolution.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%