Problems about Causality in Fermi's Two-Atom Model and Possible Resolutions
classification
🪐 quant-ph
keywords
fermiatomscausalityexcitationfinitepossibleprobabilitypropagation
read the original abstract
In order to check finite propagation speed Fermi, in 1932, had considered two atoms A and B separated by some distance R. At time t=0, A is in an excited state, B in its ground state, and no photons are present. Fermi's idea was to calculate the excitation probability of B. In a model-independent way and with minimal assumptions - Hilbert space and positive energy only - it is proved, not just for atoms but for any systems A and B, that the excitation probability of B is nonzero immediately after t=0. Possible ways out to avoid a contradiction to finite propagation speed are discussed. The notions of strong and weak Einstein causality are introduced.
This paper has not been read by Pith yet.
discussion (0)
Sign in with ORCID, Apple, or X to comment. Anyone can read and Pith papers without signing in.