Nature of quantum jumps

Recent experiments have found abrupt changes in the intensity of laser light scattered off single ions and atoms. These abrupt changes have been interpreted as resulting from Bohr’s ‘‘quantum jumps’’ of the ion or atom from one state to another. In Bohr’s description, such quantum jumps are not predicted by the Schrödinger equation and are introduced by additional postulates into quantum theory. We consider here an alternative explanation of these experiments using only properties of solutions of the Schrödinger equation and avoiding Bohr’s added postulate.