Researchers of the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information (IQOQI) in Innsbruck, Austria, used a calcium ion to simulate a relativistic quantum particle, demonstrating a phenomenon that has not been directly observable so far:
The Zitterbewegung
They have published their findings in the current issue of the journal Nature.
Thanks for pointing this out. Zitterbewegung is not so much "jitter" but instead the fact that eigenstates for the velocity operator (in relativistic quantum mechanics's Dirac equation) are states that have speeds of +c or -c. So to get a particle moving at zero speed, it has to alternate between moving at +c and -c (half the time each), if you look at the problem in the velocity domain.
ReplyDeleteIn the usual quantum mechanics, you use position and momentum eigenstates, you do not use the velocity eigenstates, so zitterbewegung is a little off the beaten tracks these days.