Hamiltonian flows, short-time propagators and the quantum Zeno effect

摘要

In a recent paper we have examined the short-time propagator for the Schr?dinger equation of a point source. An accurate expression modulo At~2 for the propagator showed that it was independent of the quantum potential implying that the quantum motion is classical for very short times. In this paper we apply these results to the experiment of Itano, Heinzen, Bollinger and Wineland which demonstrates the quantum Zeno effect in beryllium. We show that the transition is inhibited because the applied continuous wave radiation suppresses the quantum potential necessary for the transition to occur. This shows there is no need to appeal to wave function collapse.