Watching it boil: Continuous observation for the quantum zeno effect |
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Authors: | L S Schulman |
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Institution: | (1) Physics Department, Clarkson University, 13699-5820 Potsdam, New York |
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Abstract: | The quantum Zeno effect (QZE) is often associated with the ironic maxim, “a watched pot never boils”, although the notion
of “watching” suggests a continuous activity at odds with the usual (pulsed measurement) presentation of the QZE. We show
how continuous watching can provide the same halting of decay as the usual QZE, and, for incomplete hindrance, we provide
a precise connection between the interval between projections and the response time of the continuous observer. Thus, watching
closely, but not so closely as to halt the “boiling”, is equivalent to—gives the same degree of partial hindrance as—pulsed
measurements with a particular pulsing rate. Our demonstration is accomplished by treating the apparatus for the continuous
watching as a fully quantum object. This in turn allows us a second perspective on the QZE, in which it is the modified level
structure of the combined system/apparatus Hamiltonian that slows the decay. This and other considerations favor the characterization
“dominated time evolution” for the QZE. |
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