zitterbewegung
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In physics, the Zitterbewegung (, ) is the theoretical prediction of a rapid oscillatory motion of elementary particles that obey relativistic wave equations. This prediction was first discussed by Gregory Breit in 1928. The word was first applied to the relativistic motion of free electrons by Erwin Schrödinger in 1930 in his analysis of wave packet solutions of the Dirac equation for relativistic electrons in free space. These exhibit interference between positive and negative energy states, which produces an apparent fluctuation (up to the speed of light) of the position of an electron aro
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Within Vinony's link graph, zitterbewegung is referenced by 23 other articles, and connects out to fermion, German and physics.
It is catalogued under the topic Quantum field theory.
Its subject is documented across 14 Wikipedia language editions.
~8 min read
Encyclopedic overview
10 sectionsContents
- Theory
- Free spin-1/2 fermion
- Gaussian wavepacket
- Interpretation
- Zigzag picture of fermions
- Experimental simulation
- See also
- References
- Further reading
- External links
In physics, the Zitterbewegung (, ) is the theoretical prediction of a rapid oscillatory motion of elementary particles that obey relativistic wave equations.
This prediction was first discussed by Gregory Breit in 1928. The word was first applied to the relativistic motion of free electrons by Erwin Schrödinger in 1930 in his analysis of wave packet solutions of the Dirac equation for relativistic electrons in free space. These exhibit interference between positive and negative energy states, which produces an apparent fluctuation (up to the speed of light) of the position of an electron around the median, with an angular frequency of , which is twice the Compton angular frequency.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “zitterbewegung” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.