Comment on "Theory of detection in the micromaser" - art. no. 047801

In a recent paper [R. R. McGowan and W. C. Schieve, Phys. Rev. A 59, 778 (1 999)], the authors claim that the detection of the outcoming atoms has a ba ck-action effect on the spectrum of the micromaser field. We point out that this assertion is wrong. In particular, we discuss the connection between atom statistics and field statistics, which has been stated to be the ultim ate goal of the cited paper.