1,353 research outputs found
Tunneling in Polymer Quantization and the Quantum Zeno Effect
As an application of the polymer quantization scheme, in this work we
investigate the one dimensional quantum mechanical tunneling phenomenon from
the perspective of polymer representation of a non-relativistic point particle
and derive the transmission and reflection coefficients. Since any tunneling
phenomenon inevitably evokes a tunneling time we attempt an analytical
calculation of tunneling times by defining an operator well suited in discrete
spatial geometry. The results that we come up with hint at appearance of the
Quantum Zeno Effect in polymer framework.Comment: 21pp,3 figures, to be published in Phys. Lett.
Zeno meets modern science
``No one has ever touched Zeno without refuting him''. We will not refute
Zeno in this paper. Instead we review some unexpected encounters of Zeno with
modern science. The paper begins with a brief biography of Zeno of Elea
followed by his famous paradoxes of motion. Reflections on continuity of space
and time lead us to Banach and Tarski and to their celebrated paradox, which is
in fact not a paradox at all but a strict mathematical theorem, although very
counterintuitive. Quantum mechanics brings another flavour in Zeno paradoxes.
Quantum Zeno and anti-Zeno effects are really paradoxical but now experimental
facts. Then we discuss supertasks and bifurcated supertasks. The concept of
localization leads us to Newton and Wigner and to interesting phenomenon of
quantum revivals. At last we note that the paradoxical idea of timeless
universe, defended by Zeno and Parmenides at ancient times, is still alive in
quantum gravity. The list of references that follows is necessarily incomplete
but we hope it will assist interested reader to fill in details.Comment: 40 pages, LaTeX, 10 figure
Deviation from the exponential decay law in relativistic quantum field theory: the example of strongly decaying particles
We show that a short-time regime, in which a deviation from the exponential
decay law occurs, exists also in the framework of a superrenormalizable
relativistic quantum field theory. This, in turn, implies the possibility of a
quantum Zeno effect also for elementary decays. The attention is then focused
on the typical order of magnitude of strong decay rates of mesons: for these
particles, strong deviations from the exponential decay law are present during
a period of time comparable with their mean life time. As a concrete example,
the case of the meson is studied.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure
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