Particle decay in Gaussian wave-packet formalism revisited

Abstract

We derive Fermi's golden rule in the Gaussian wave-packet formalism of quantum field theory, proposed by Ishikawa, Shimomura, and Tobita, for particle decay within a finite time interval. We present a systematic procedure to separate the bulk contribution from those of time boundaries, while manifestly maintaining the unitarity of the S-matrix, unlike the proposal by Stueckelberg in 1951. We also revisit the suggested deviation from the golden rule and clarify that it indeed corresponds to the boundary contributions, though their physical significance is yet to be confirmed.