- #1
johne1618
- 371
- 0
Hi,
I have been looking into the phenomenon of Zitterbewegung which is a high frequency oscillatory motion of the electron that is predicted by the Dirac Equation for a free electron.
One way of looking at this motion is that it is the interference of plane waves with positive and negative energies that appear to produce a fluctuation of the electron wavefunction at the speed of light with a frequency of w radians where w:
w = 2 * m *c^2 / hbar (1)
I was wondering if one could "model" the electron at rest as a massless particle that is traveling at the speed of light around a circular path.
Let us assume that it's mass/energy is largely given by its rotational energy:
Rotational energy = Angular momentum * angular velocity
For an electron we know that the angular momentum = spin = hbar / 2
If the total energy of the electron, m c^2, is its rotational energy we have:
m * c^ 2 = hbar/2 * w
giving
w = 2 * m * c^2 / hbar, which is equation (1) above.
Now if the mass of the electron is just the rotational energy of a massless particle going round in a loop, could we increase this rotational energy artificially and thus increase the rest mass of the electron?
How about simply subjecting the electron at rest to a high electrostatic potential?
I think this will increase the Zitterbewegung frequency and thus artificially increase the mass of the electron.
If we could do this maybe we could change the mass of an electron orbiting a deuterium nucleus. If the electron was made 200 times heavier it would orbit the nucleus closer and would thus allow two deuterium atoms to get closer. Maybe we could initiate "cold fusion" this way as in the muonic fusion concept without the short-lived muons?
Or maybe not? ;)
I have been looking into the phenomenon of Zitterbewegung which is a high frequency oscillatory motion of the electron that is predicted by the Dirac Equation for a free electron.
One way of looking at this motion is that it is the interference of plane waves with positive and negative energies that appear to produce a fluctuation of the electron wavefunction at the speed of light with a frequency of w radians where w:
w = 2 * m *c^2 / hbar (1)
I was wondering if one could "model" the electron at rest as a massless particle that is traveling at the speed of light around a circular path.
Let us assume that it's mass/energy is largely given by its rotational energy:
Rotational energy = Angular momentum * angular velocity
For an electron we know that the angular momentum = spin = hbar / 2
If the total energy of the electron, m c^2, is its rotational energy we have:
m * c^ 2 = hbar/2 * w
giving
w = 2 * m * c^2 / hbar, which is equation (1) above.
Now if the mass of the electron is just the rotational energy of a massless particle going round in a loop, could we increase this rotational energy artificially and thus increase the rest mass of the electron?
How about simply subjecting the electron at rest to a high electrostatic potential?
I think this will increase the Zitterbewegung frequency and thus artificially increase the mass of the electron.
If we could do this maybe we could change the mass of an electron orbiting a deuterium nucleus. If the electron was made 200 times heavier it would orbit the nucleus closer and would thus allow two deuterium atoms to get closer. Maybe we could initiate "cold fusion" this way as in the muonic fusion concept without the short-lived muons?
Or maybe not? ;)