Decay theory of unstable quantum systems
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The present review article is aimed at a clear formulation of the basic problematics of the decay and at a description of the various recent attempts to solve this delicate problem, illustrating both their successes and limitations. The organisation of the article is as follows. After a short summary of the classical description of the decay, a detailed study of the quantum non-decay probability is given. Then the peculiar dynamical situation leading to the formation of an unstable system is identified and the formal and physical aspects of the process are discussed. A detailed analysis is then made of the preparation procedure of an unstable system which is shown to amount to a localisation of the decay fragments within a distance of the order of the range of the forces acting between them. After this the discussion of the general properties of the non-decay probability at all times is completed.
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Most previous results in the field trace back to the time-energy uncertainty relation of Mandelstam and Tamm, so that various lifetimes are bounded by the energy spread ΔE of the system.
“Most of the previous results in this field [1, 2, 3] trace back to the time-energy uncertainty relation in the form derived by Mandelstam and Tamm [4]: in this way, the various lifetimes are bounded by the energy spread ∆ E of the system.”
From Quantum limits to dynamical evolution (2003) · cites this paper as [4]
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- Authors
- Fonda, L., Ghirardi, G. C., & Rimini, A.
- Affiliations
- University of Trieste (IT)
- Venue
- Reports on Progress in Physics
- Publisher
- IOP Publishing
- Published
- 1978-04-01
- Volume
- 41
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 587-631
- ISSN
- 0034-4885 (ISSN-L)
- 1361-6633
- OpenAlex
- W1973778620
- Cited by
- 627
- References
- 53
- Citations by year
- 2026: 13 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 54 · 2019: 19 · 2018: 24 · 2017: 18 · 2016: 19 · 2015: 19 · 2014: 19 · 2013: 19 · 2012: 16
- FWCI
- 6.61
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Reports on Progress in Physics (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Nuclear and High Energy Physics › Nuclear physics research studies
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics › Quantum Mechanics and Applications
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Statistical and Nonlinear Physics › Quantum chaos and dynamical systems
- Keywords
- quantum decay, unstable quantum systems
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