Visualizing the kinematics of relativistic wave packets
Quantum Physics
2007-05-23 v1
Abstract
This article investigates some solutions of the time-dependent free Dirac equation. Visualizations of these solutions immediately reveal strange phenomena that are caused by the interference of positive- and negative-energy waves. The effects discussed here include the Zitterbewegung, the opposite direction of momentum and velocity in negative-energy wave packets, and the superluminal propagation of the wave packet's local maxima.
Cite
@article{arxiv.quant-ph/0409079,
title = {Visualizing the kinematics of relativistic wave packets},
author = {Bernd Thaller},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:quant-ph/0409079},
year = {2007}
}
Comments
7 pages, 11 figures, movies at http://vqm.uni-graz.at/articles/dirac1/movies.html