Quantum arrival time formula from decoherent histories

We use the decoherent histories approach to quantum mechanics to compute the probability for a wave packet to cross the origin during a given time interval. We define class operators (sums of strings of projectors) characterizing quantum-mechanical crossing and simplify them using a semiclassical approximation. Using these class operators we find that histories crossing the origin during different time intervals are approximately decoherent for a variety of initial states. Probabilities may therefore be assigned and coincide with the flux of the wave packet (the standard semiclassical formula), and are positive. The known initial states for which the flux is negative (backflow, states) are shown to correspond to non-decoherent sets of histories, so probabilities may not be assigned. (C) 2009 Published by Elsevier B.V.