6 - Continuous Measurement: Quantum Jump Case

Summary

In Chapter 6, we discuss quantum jumps, or leaps, beginning with a historical discussion of quantum jumps, or leaps, and giving the motivating example of blinking atoms in trapped ions and quantum jumps in superconducting circuits. Despite the disruptive name, we discuss how jumps fit into the category of continuous measurement. In some cases, quantum jumps can be predicted, and even reversed. We build up the mathematical formalism by discussing the quantum Zeno effect, Lindblad-type master equations, leading to jump and no-jump dynamics - an inseparable combination of discrete and continuous dynamics. In fact, the discrete nature of the jump is illusory. We discuss the dynamics of a quantum jump and the transition from jumps to diffusion.