Fluctuations of Beams of Quantum Particles
Christine Bénard · Physical Review A · 1970
A beam of noninteracting particles, bosons or fermions, is described by the superposition of stochastic wave packets. This description allows in each case (bosons or fermions) the determination of the detection process of the particles. This process is defined by the set of the $p$-order coincidence probability densities, a general formulation of which is given. In the case of a stationary and weak incoherent beam, these coincidence probability densities are studied thoroughly and several results are obtained. The well-known bunching effect for bosons and the "antibunching effect" for fermions are shown to come from the detection of indistinguishable particles. In the boson case, all the well-known results for thermal light are found. In the fermion case, the detection process is, under certain conditions, identical to a renewal process.