dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaAtomic Quantum Zeno Effect for Ensembles and Single Systems
| Authors | Almut Beige, Gerhard C. Hegerfeldt, Dirk G. Sondermann |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | quant-ph/9610003 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/9610003 |
| DOI | 10.1007/BF02551444 |
| Journal | Found.Phys.27:1671-1688,1997 |
Abstract
The so-called quantum Zeno effect is essentially a consequence of the projection postulate for ideal measurements. To test the effect Itano et al. have performed an experiment on an ensemble of atoms where rapidly repeated level measurements were realized by means of short laser pulses. Using dynamical considerations we give an explanation why the projection postulate can be applied in good approximation to such measurements. Corrections to ideal measurements are determined explicitly. This is used to discuss in how far the experiment of Itano et al. can be considered as a test of the quantum Zeno effect. We also analyze a new possible experiment on a single atom where stochastic light and dark periods can be interpreted as manifestation of the quantum Zeno effect. We show that the measurement point of view gives a quick and intuitive understanding of experiments of the above type, although a finer analysis has to take the corrections into account.
{
"annotation_id": "e4fa33ff-71cf-43b8-a2ee-6afa05c4df5f",
"date_created": "2026-03-02T18:02:37.190000Z",
"date_modified": "2026-03-02T18:02:37.190000Z",
"file_hash": "e548ebfb30fd36eaeeeed657e97665d8a6912e50bcae842bee90bf4b78ee48a6",
"private": false,
"record": {
"abstract": "The so-called quantum Zeno effect is essentially a consequence of the\nprojection postulate for ideal measurements. To test the effect Itano et al.\nhave performed an experiment on an ensemble of atoms where rapidly repeated\nlevel measurements were realized by means of short laser pulses. Using\ndynamical considerations we give an explanation why the projection postulate\ncan be applied in good approximation to such measurements. Corrections to ideal\nmeasurements are determined explicitly. This is used to discuss in how far the\nexperiment of Itano et al. can be considered as a test of the quantum Zeno\neffect. We also analyze a new possible experiment on a single atom where\nstochastic light and dark periods can be interpreted as manifestation of the\nquantum Zeno effect. We show that the measurement point of view gives a quick\nand intuitive understanding of experiments of the above type, although a finer\nanalysis has to take the corrections into account.",
"arxiv_id": "quant-ph/9610003",
"authors": [
"Almut Beige",
"Gerhard C. Hegerfeldt",
"Dirk G. Sondermann"
],
"categories": [
"quant-ph"
],
"doi": "10.1007/BF02551444",
"journal_ref": "Found.Phys.27:1671-1688,1997",
"title": "Atomic Quantum Zeno Effect for Ensembles and Single Systems",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/9610003"
},
"schema_id": "dorsal/arxiv",
"source": {
"execution_id": "99d49382-bdc1-41ec-9035-6cfdf4615173",
"id": "arXiv Dataset IDs",
"type": "Model",
"variant": "snapshot-2026-03-01",
"version": "0.1.0"
},
"user_id": 1000002
}