Time operators in stroboscopic wavepacket basis and the time scales in tunneling

TL;DR

This paper introduces a self-adjoint time operator in quantum mechanics using periodic boundary conditions, leading to quantized arrival times and a new interpretation of tunneling time scales.

Contribution

It defines a self-adjoint time operator with discrete eigenvalues and applies the formalism to tunneling, providing a novel framework for time measurement in quantum systems.

Findings

Time operator has discrete eigenvalues and orthogonal eigenstates.

Average time equals phase time, independent of zero-time choice.

Uncertainty relates to traversal time, not zero-time choice.

Abstract

We demonstrate that the time operator that measures the time of arrival of a quantum particle into chosen state can be defined as a self-adjoint quantum-mechanical operator using periodic boundary conditions on applied to wavefuncions in energy representation. The time becomes quantized into discreet eigenvalues and the eigenstates of the time operator, the stroboscopic wavepackets introduced recently [Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 046402 (2008).] form 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 choise of zero time eigenstate, whereas the uncertainity of the average is related to the traversal time and is independent of this choise. The general fromalism is applied to a particle tunneling through resonant tunneling barrier in 1D.