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arXiv:2409.12389 · Physical Review A

Instantaneous tunneling time within the theory of time-of-arrival operators

Philip Caesar Flores, Dean Alvin L. Pablico, Eric A. Galapon

Published Dec 30, 2024• 4 citations
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Abstract

It was shown in Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 170402 (2012) that quantum tunneling is instantaneous using a time-of-arrival (TOA) operator constructed by Weyl quantization of the classical TOA. However, there are infinitely many possible quantum images of the classical TOA, leaving it unclear if one is uniquely preferred over the others. This raises the question on whether instantaneous tunneling time is simply an artifact of the chosen ordering rule. Here, we demonstrate that tunneling time vanishes for all possible quantum images of the classical arrival time, irrespective of the ordering rule between the position and momentum observables. The result still holds for TOA-operators that are constructed independent of canonical quantization, while still imposing the correct algebra defined by the time-energy canonical commutation relation.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.110.062223

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It was shown in Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 170402 (2012) that quantum tunneling is instantaneous using a time-of-arrival (TOA) operator constructed by Weyl quantization of the classical TOA. However, there are infinitely many possible quantum images of the classical TOA, leaving it unclear if one is uniquely preferred over the others. This raises the question on whether instantaneous tunneling time is simply an artifact of the chosen ordering rule. Here, we demonstrate that tunneling time vanishes for all possible quantum images of the classical arrival time, irrespective of the ordering rule between the position and momentum observables. The result still holds for TOA-operators that are constructed independent of canonical quantization, while still imposing the correct algebra defined by the time-energy canonical commutation relation.
The tunneling time problem earlier studied in Phys. Rev. Lett 108 170402 (2012) using a non-relativistic time-of-arrival (TOA) operator predicted that tunneling time is instantaneous. This raises the question on whether instantaneous tunneling time is a consequence of using a non-relativistic theory. Here, we extend the analysis by proposing a formalism on the construction of relativistic TOA-operators for spin-0 particles in the presence of an interaction potential via quantization. We then construct the corresponding barrier traversal time operator and impose the condition that the barrier height is less than the rest mass energy of the particle. We show that only the above-barrier energy components of the incident wavepacket's momentum distribution contribute to the barrier traversal time while the below-barrier components are transmitted instantaneously.
Abstract The tunneling time problem studied earlier in Phys. Rev. Lett. , 108 (2012) 170402, using a non-relativistic time-of-arrival (TOA) operator predicted that tunneling time is instantaneous. This raises the question whether instantaneous tunneling time is a consequence of using a non-relativistic theory. Here, we extend the analysis by proposing a formalism on the construction of relativistic TOA operators for spin-0 particles in the presence of an interaction potential V ( q ) via quantization. We then construct the corresponding barrier traversal time operator, and impose the condition that the barrier height V o is less than the rest mass energy of the particle. We show that only the above-barrier energy components of the incident wavepackets momentum distribution contribute to the barrier traversal time while the below-barrier components are transmitted instantaneously.
The quantum time of arrival (TOA) problem requires the statistics of measured arrival times given only the initial state of a particle. Following the standard framework of quantum theory, the problem translates into finding an appropriate quantum image of the classical arrival time TC(q,p), usually in operator form T̂. In this paper, we consider the problem anew within the phase space formulation of quantum mechanics. The resulting quantum image is a real-valued and time-reversal symmetric function TM(q,p) in formal series of ℏ2 with the classical arrival time as the leading term. It is obtained directly from the Moyal bracket relation with the system Hamiltonian and is hence interpreted as a Moyal deformation of the classical TOA. We investigate its properties and discuss how it bypasses the known obstructions to quantization by showing the isomorphism between TM(q,p) and the rigged Hilbert space TOA operator constructed in Pablico and Galapon [Eur. Phys. J. Plus 138, 153 (2023)], which always satisfy the time-energy canonical commutation relation for arbitrary analytic potentials. We then examine TOA problems for a free particle and a quartic oscillator potential as examples.
We demonstrate that the time operator that measures the time of arrival of a quantum particle into a chosen state can be defined as a self-adjoint quantum-mechanical operator using periodic boundary conditions and applied to wave functions in energy representation. The time becomes quantized into discrete eigenvalues; and the eigenstates of the time operator, i.e., the stroboscopic wave packets introduced recently [Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 046402 (2008)], form an orthogonal system of states. The formalism provides simple physical interpretation of the time-measurement process and direct construction of normalized, positive definite probability distribution for the quantized values of the arrival time. The average value of the time is equal to the phase time but in general depends on the choice of zero time eigenstate, whereas the uncertainty of the average is related to the traversal time and is independent of this choice. The general formalism is applied to a particle tunneling through a resonant tunneling barrier in one dimension.
We formulate quantum tunneling as a time-of-arrival problem: we determine the detection probability for particles passing through a barrier at a detector located a distance L from the tunneling region. For this purpose, we use a positive-operator-valued measure (POVM) for the time of arrival determined in C. Anastopoulos and N. Savvidou, J. Math. Phys. 47, 122106 (2006). This only depends on the initial state, the Hamiltonian, and the location of the detector. The POVM above provides a well-defined probability density and an unambiguous interpretation of all quantities involved. We demonstrate that for a class of localized initial states, the detection probability allows for an identification of tunneling time with the classic phase time. We also establish limits to the definability of tunneling time. We then generalize these results to a sequential measurement setup: the phase-space properties of the particles are determined by an unsharp sampling before their attempt to cross the barrier. For such measurements the tunneling time is defined as a genuine observable. This allows us to construct a probability distribution for its values that is definable for all initial states and potentials. We also identify a regime in which these probabilities correspond to a tunneling-time operator.