Monday 1 August 2016

quantum mechanics - Does electron have some intrinsic ~$10^{21}$ Hz oscillations (de Broglie's clock/Zitterbewegung)?


Louis De Broglie has postulated in 1924 that with electron's mass there comes some $\approx 10^{21}$Hz inner oscillation: $E=mc^2=h f=\hbar \omega$.



We would get such oscillation e.g. if using $E=mc^2$ energy in stationary solution of Schrödinger's equation: $\psi=\psi_0 e^{iEt/\hbar}$.


Somehow similar (?) oscillations come out of solution of Dirac equation - called Zitterbewegung ("trembling motion").


Regarding their experimental status, I have found 2008 Foundation of Physics paper: A Search for the de Broglie Particle Internal Clock by Means of Electron Channeling. Thanks to using ~80MeV electrons, time dilation leads to ~0.4nm distance between "ticks" of such clock, which agrees with lattice constant of silicon crystal they shoot at. While tuning the angle, they observe narrow absorption maximum when distances agree - intuitively, the electron's clock finds resonance with periodic structure of the crystal. Here is Hestenes paper about this experiment.


There are a few more papers claiming experimental observation of Zitterbewegung (e.g. [1], [2], [3]), but they are for physical simulation of Dirac equation - not exactly of electron.


Can we say that electron has some intrinsic ~$10^{21}$Hz oscillations, or maybe there is still some problem/doubts regarding such claim? Does it also concern other particles? Molecules? Larger objects? It seems problematic as its frequency is proportional to mass.


How such oscillation is realized? Do e.g. breathers (oscillating solitons) bring a proper intuition? Can such oscillations be imagined as the source of coupled "pilot" waves in dBB interpretation?




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