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arXiv · 1704.07236

At what time does a quantum experiment have a result?

Thomas Pashby
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Abstract

This paper provides a general method for defining a generalized quantum observable (or POVM) that supplies properly normalized conditional probabilities for the time of occurrence (i.e., of detection). This method treats the time of occurrence as a probabilistic variable whose value is to be determined by experiment and predicted by the Born rule. This avoids the problematic assumption that a question about the time at which an event occurs must be answered through instantaneous measurements of a projector by an observer, common to both Rovelli (1998) and Oppenheim et al. (2000). I also address the interpretation of experiments purporting to demonstrate the quantum Zeno effect, used by Oppenheim et al. (2000) to justify an inherent uncertainty for measurements of times.

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Thomas Pashby. 2017-04-24. At what time does a quantum experiment have a result?. https://arxiv.org/abs/1704.07236

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