Causality problems for Fermi’s two-atom system | Zendy

Gerhard C. Hegerfeldt | Zendy

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Causality problems for Fermi’s two-atom system

Author(s) -

Gerhard C. Hegerfeldt

Publication year - 1994

Publication title -

physical review letters

Language(s) - English

Resource type - Journals

SCImago Journal Rank - 3.688

H-Index - 673

eISSN - 1079-7114

pISSN - 0031-9007

DOI - 10.1103/physrevlett.72.596

Subject(s) - physics , excited state , causality (physics) , atomic physics , excitation , ground state , atom (system on chip) , photon , state (computer science) , detector , quantum mechanics , mathematics , optics , computer science , embedded system , algorithm

Let [ital A] and [ital B] be two atoms or, more generally, a source'' and a detector'' separated by some distance [ital R]. At [ital t]=0[ital A] is in an excited state, [ital B] in its ground state, and no photons are present. A theorem is proved that in contrast to Einstein causality and finite signal velocity the excitation probability of [ital B] is nonzero immediately after [ital t]=0. Implications are discussed.

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