B. Tsirelson

How often is the coordinate of a harmonic oscillator positive?

Recent works

Boris Tsirelson,
How often is the coordinate of a harmonic oscillator positive?"
arXiv:quant-ph/0611147.
Available online (free of charge) from e-print archive (USA):
arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0611147/
or its Israeli mirror:
il.arXiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0611147/


A research eprint, 15 pages, bibl. 5 refs.

The coordinate of a harmonic oscillator is measured at a time chosen at random among three equiprobable instants: now, after one third of the period, or after two thirds. The (total) probability that the outcome is positive depends on the state of the oscillator. In the classical case the probability varies between 1/3 and 2/3, but in the quantum case --- between 0.29 and 0.71.

  1. Introduction.
  2. Using the Wigner quasi-distribution.
  3. Using the Weyl transform.
  4. Some generalizations.
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