When does a particle arrive?

TL;DR

This paper compares various theoretical proposals for measuring the arrival time of a quantum particle, identifying regimes where they make distinct, experimentally testable predictions, thus guiding future experimental efforts.

Contribution

It systematically analyzes and contrasts different quantum arrival time measurement proposals, highlighting regimes with distinguishable predictions for the first time.

Findings

Multiple regimes with inequivalent predictions identified

Different proposals are experimentally discriminable in certain regimes

Analysis facilitates future experimental testing of quantum arrival time theories

Abstract

We compare the proposals that have appeared in the literature to describe a measurement of the time of arrival of a quantum particle at a detector. We show that there are multiple regimes where different proposals give inequivalent, experimentally discriminable, predictions. This analysis paves the way for future experimental tests.