The problem of making unambiguous probabilistic predictions about experiments involving waiting "always on" detectors remains a challenge for quantum theory. While most research on this problem studies arrival time, i.e., predicting the distribution of when detection events occur, this paper studies the arrival position problem, which is the complementary challenge of predicting the distribution of where detection events occur. Despite the widespread recognition of the arrival time problem, the inability of standard quantum theory to address the arrival position problem remains a pervasive theoretical blind spot. In this paper, we compare quantitative arrival position predictions derived from prominent proposed solutions to the screen problem. As we show, these models yield distinguishable predictions even in relatively simple experiments achievable with current technology. Notably, many of these discrepancies persist even in the far-field limit, where standard semiclassical approximations are typically assumed to be valid.
The problem of making unambiguous probabilistic predictions about experiments involving waiting "always on" detectors remains a challenge for quantum theory. While most research on this problem studies arrival time, i.e., predicting the distribution of when detection events occur, this paper studies the arrival position problem, which is the complementary challenge of predicting the distribution of where detection events occur. Despite the widespread recognition of the arrival time problem, the inability of standard quantum theory to address the arrival position problem remains a pervasive theoretical blind spot. In this paper, we compare quantitative arrival position predictions derived from prominent proposed solutions to the screen problem. As we show, these models yield distinguishable predictions even in relatively simple experiments achievable with current technology. Notably, many of these discrepancies persist even in the far-field limit, where standard semiclassical approximations are typically assumed to be valid.
Time of arrival refers to the time a particle takes after emission to impinge upon a suitably idealised detector surface. Within quantum theory, no generally accepted solution exists so far for the corresponding probability distribution of arrival times. In this work we derive a general solution for a single body without spin impacting on a so called ideal detector in the absence of any other forces or obstacles. A solution of the so called screen problem for this case is also given. After discussing the shortcomings of the so called ‘absorbing boundary condition’, which is arguably the natural approach within quantum mechanics, we construct the ideal detector model via mathematical probability theory. This detector model assures that the probability flux through the detector surface is always positive, so that the corresponding distributions can be derived via an approach originally suggested by Daumer, Dürr, Goldstein, and Zanghì. The resulting dynamical model is based on an adaption of the Madelung equations and is, strictly speaking, not compatible with quantum mechanics. Still, it is well-described within geometric quantum theory. Geometric quantum theory is a novel adaption of quantum mechanics, which makes the latter consistent with mathematical probability theory. Implications to the general theory of measurement and avenues for future research are also provided. Future mathematical work should focus on finding an appropriate distributional formulation of the evolution equations and studying the well-posedness of the corresponding Cauchy problem.
The quantum time-of-arrival problem is discussed within the standard formulation of nonrelativistic quantum mechanics with parametric time. It is shown that a general class of arrival-time probability distributions results from the assumption that the arrival process of a quantum particle is similar in nature to other time-dependent arrival-type processes occurring, e.g., in population biology or queue theory. A simple but illustrative example related to the well-known Wigner discussion of the time-energy uncertainty relation is given and the numerical results obtained are compared with Kijowski's distribution [Rep. Math. Phys. 6, 362 (1974)] of arrival times for a free quantum particle.
It is notorious that quantum mechanics cannot predict well-defined values for all physical quantities. Less well-known, however, is the fact that quantum mechanics is unable to furnish -- without additional assumptions -- probabilistic predictions even in emblematic scenarios such as the double-slit experiment. In contrast, trajectory-equipped theories naturally have more predictive power. This work formalizes the aforementioned assertions and illustrates them through three case studies: (i) free particle, (ii) free fall under a uniform gravitational field, and (iii) the double-slit experiment. Specifically, we introduce a prescription for constructing an arrival-time probability distribution within generic trajectory-equipped theories and then derive a conditional probability distribution that is unreachable by quantum mechanics. Our results can, in principle, be tested experimentally, thereby assessing the validity of trajectory-based determinism without the need for experiments involving the direct measurement of arrival time.
This work shows how a Bose-Einstein condensate of ultracold atoms could be used to address a long-standing question in quantum theory: how much time does it take for a particle to reach a detector? To this end, we propose a realistic experimental setup, whose key idea is not to measure arrival times directly, but the arrival flux on the detector as a function of its position. This novel approach not only solves practical issues with having a detector close to the system, but also results in signals that allow to unambiguously distinguish different theoretical predictions. This proposal raises prospects for resolving the decades-old debate on this fundamental issue.
The question of how to interpret and compute arrival-time distributions in quantum mechanics remains unsettled, reflecting the longstanding tension between treating time as a quantum observable or as a classical parameter. While recent studies have primarily contrasted arrival-time predictions across different interpretations of quantum mechanics, here we investigate this ambiguity within the standard quantum-mechanical framework itself. Moreover, most previous studies have focused on the single-particle case in the far-field regime, where these distinct approaches yield very similar arrival-time distributions and a semi-classical analysis typically suffices. Recent advances in atom-optics technologies now make it possible to experimentally investigate arrival-time distributions for entangled multi-particle systems in the near-field regime, where a deeper analysis beyond semi-classical approximations is required. Even in the far-field regime, due to quantum non-locality, the semi-classical approximation cannot generally hold in multi-particle systems. Therefore, in this work, two fundamental approaches to the arrival-time problem---namely, the time-parameter and time-operator approaches---are extended to multi-particle systems. Using these extensions, we propose a feasible two-particle arrival-time experiment and numerically evaluate the corresponding joint distributions. Our results reveal regimes in which the two approaches yield inequivalent predictions, highlighting conditions under which experiments could shed new light on distinguishing between competing accounts of time in quantum mechanics. Our findings also provide important insights for the development of quantum technologies that use entanglement in the time domain, including non-local temporal interferometry, temporal ghost imaging, and temporal state tomography in multi-particle systems.
Abstract How to compute the probability distribution of a detection time, i.e., of the time which a detector registers as the arrival time of a quantum particle, is a long-debated problem. In this regard, Bohmian mechanics provides in a straightforward way the distribution of the time at which the particle actually does arrive at a given surface in 3-space in the absence of detectors. However, as we discuss here, since the presence of detectors can change the evolution of the wave function and thus the particle trajectories, it cannot be taken for granted that the arrival time of the Bohmian trajectories in the absence of detectors agrees with the one in the presence of detectors, and even less with the detection time. In particular, we explain why certain distributions that Das and Dürr (Sci. Rep. 9: 2242, 2019) presented as the distribution of the detection time in a case with spin, based on assuming that all three times mentioned coincide, are actually not what Bohmian mechanics predicts.