ABSTRACT

A structure of wave packets arising in the process of a bipartite system decay is investigated and its connection with entanglement of quantum states is discussed. As long as the effect of wave packet spreading can be ignored, the ratio R of the single-particle to coincidence wave packet widths is shown to coincide with the degree of entanglement determined by the Schmidt correlation number K. Mathematically single-particle and coincidence schemes correspond to absolute and conditional probability densities. Coordinate and momentum wave-packets for each particle are compared. A series of reciprocity and identity relations between the corresponding wave packet widths is found to occur. Uncertainty relations following from these relations are found. The coordinate and momentum uncertainty products for each particle are shown to be related directly to the degree of entanglement K: the single-particle and coincidence uncertainty products are shown to be, correspondingly, ∼ K ≥ 1 and ∼ 1/K ≤ 1. A series of specific examples are considered.