The Time-Evolution of States in Quantum Mechanics

Abstract

It is argued that the Schr\"odinger equation does not yield a correct description of the quantum-mechanical time evolution of states of isolated (open) systems featuring events. A precise general law for the time evolution of states replacing the Schr\"odinger equation is formulated within the so-called ETH-Approach to Quantum Mechanics. This law eliminates the infamous "measurement problem." Our general results are illustrated by an analysis of simple models describing a very heavy atom coupled to the quantized radiation field in a limit where the speed of light tends to infinity. The discussion of these models is the main subject of our paper.