Time-of-arrival probabilities for general particle detectors

TL;DR

This paper presents a comprehensive framework for defining and calculating the probability of the time of arrival in quantum systems, applicable to various experimental setups and relativistic quantum field theories.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach linking the time of arrival to quantum transitions, enabling general probability expressions for diverse quantum systems.

Findings

Derived a universal formula for quantum transition times

Applied framework to high-energy particle experiments

Provided rigorous derivation for particle oscillation probabilities

Abstract

We develop a general framework for the construction of probabilities for the time of arrival in quantum systems. The time of arrival is identified with the time instant when a transition in the detector's degrees of freedom takes place. Thus, its definition is embedded within the larger issue of defining probabilities with respect to time for general quantum transitions. The key point in our analysis is that we manage to reduce the problem of defining a quantum time observable to a mathematical model where time is associated to a transition from a subspace of the Hilbert space of the total system to its complementary subspace. This property makes it possible to derive a general expression for the probability for the time of transition, valid for any quantum system, with the only requirement that the time of transition is correlated with a definite macroscopic record. The framework developed here allows for the consideration of any experimental configuration for the measurement of the time of arrival and it also applies to relativistic systems with interactions described by quantum field theory. We use the method in order to describe time-of-arrival measurements in high-energy particle reactions and for a rigorous derivation of the time-integrated probabilities in particle oscillations.