- #1
maverick_starstrider
- 1,119
- 6
My mathematical knowledge of QFT is nonexistant (I'm only just starting grad school) so I was wondering if anyone could clear up a questions I have:
1) Can the time it takes for an electron (which has just absorbed a photon of the correct frequency) to move to a higher orbital be said to be instantaneous?
Naively one would expect so since the wavefunction of the two orbitals are quantized and thus one would think that there is no 'intermediate' quantum state through which it can time-evolve through. However, if it is instantaneous would that not potentially lead to a relativistic violation?
1) Can the time it takes for an electron (which has just absorbed a photon of the correct frequency) to move to a higher orbital be said to be instantaneous?
Naively one would expect so since the wavefunction of the two orbitals are quantized and thus one would think that there is no 'intermediate' quantum state through which it can time-evolve through. However, if it is instantaneous would that not potentially lead to a relativistic violation?