Hestenes has presented an integration of Schrödinger's zitterbewegung with the spin matrices of the Dirac equation, suggesting the electron can be modeled by a rapidly rotating dipole moment and a frequency related to the de Broglie frequency. He presents an elegant spacetime algebra that provides a reformulation of the Dirac equation that incorporates these real spin characteristics. A similar heuristic model for quantum particles has been derived by this author from a different, quasi-classical premise: That the most fundamental subcomponents of quantum particles all travel at a constant speed of light. Time is equated with the spatial displacement of these subcomponents – the speed of light is the speed of time. This approach suggests a means of integrating special relativity and quantum mechanics with the same concept of time. The relativistic transformation of spinning quantum particles create the appearance of additional, compactified spatial dimensions that can be correlated with the complex phase of the spin matrices as in the Dirac formalism. This paper further examines the convergence on such new models for quantum particles built on this rapid motion of particle subcomponents. The modeling leverages a string-like heuristic for particle subcomponents and a revised description for the wave-like properties of particles. This examination provides useful insights to the real spatial geometries and interactions of electrons and photons.
Hestenes has presented an integration of Schrödinger's zitterbewegung with the spin matrices of the Dirac equation, suggesting the electron can be modeled by a rapidly rotating dipole moment and a frequency related to the de Broglie frequency. He presents an elegant spacetime algebra that provides a reformulation of the Dirac equation that incorporates these real spin characteristics. A similar heuristic model for quantum particles has been derived by this author from a different, quasi-classical premise: That the most fundamental subcomponents of quantum particles all travel at a constant speed of light. Time is equated with the spatial displacement of these subcomponents – the speed of light is the speed of time. This approach suggests a means of integrating special relativity and quantum mechanics with the same concept of time. The relativistic transformation of spinning quantum particles create the appearance of additional, compactified spatial dimensions that can be correlated with the complex phase of the spin matrices as in the Dirac formalism. This paper further examines the convergence on such new models for quantum particles built on this rapid motion of particle subcomponents. The modeling leverages a string-like heuristic for particle subcomponents and a revised description for the wave-like properties of particles. This examination provides useful insights to the real spatial geometries and interactions of electrons and photons.
Zitterbewegung and de Broglie matter waves are both phenomena associated with the quantum-mechanical properties of the electron, but they are usually discussed in different contexts. Zitterbewegung is understood as a rapid oscillatory motion appearing in the Dirac equation, whereas the de Broglie matter wave is understood as a wave corresponding to the linear momentum of a particle. Some previous studies have attempted to derive the de Broglie matter wave from an internal clock of the electron or from Zitterbewegung. In the present study, however, no causal relation in which the matter wave is generated by Zitterbewegung is assumed. Instead, the two are regarded as different geometrical representations of a common phase degree of freedom. Specifically, Zitterbewegung is interpreted as a phenomenon corresponding to an internal rotational degree of freedom, while the de Broglie matter wave is interpreted as spatial phase progression associated with linear momentum. and are interpreted, respectively, as the rates of phase progression in the temporal and spatial directions. Furthermore, using the relation introduced in previous work, and reinterpreting it as the ratio of the internal rotational velocity to the external propagation velocity, this study shows the possibility of describing internal rotation, translational motion, matter waves, and the fine-structure constant within a common phase geometry.
A neo-classical relativistic mechanics theory is presented where the spin of an electron is a natural part of its space-time path as a point particle. The fourth-order equation of motion corresponds to the same Lagrangian function in proper time as in special relativity except for an additional spin energy term. The total motion can be decomposed into a sum of a local spin motion about a point and a global motion of this point, called the spin center. The global motion is sub-luminal and obeys Newton's second law in proper time, the time for a clock fixed at the spin center, while the total motion occurs at the speed of light c, consistent with the eigenvalues of Dirac's velocity operators having magnitude c. The local spin motion corresponds to Schrödinger's zitterbewegung and is a perpetual motion, which for a free electron has a circular path in the spin-center frame. In an electro-magnetic field, this spin motion generates magnetic and electric dipole energies through the Lorentz force on the electron's point charge. The corresponding electric dipole energy is consistent with the spin-orbit coupling term in the corrected Pauli non-relativistic Hamiltonian but the magnetic dipole energy is one half of that in Dirac's theory. By defining a spin tensor as the angular momentum of the electron's total motion about its spin center, the fundamental equations of motion can be re-written in an identical form to those of the Barut-Zanghi electron theory. These equations of motion can then be expressed using operators applied to a state function of proper time satisfying a Dirac-Schrödinger spinor equation. The operators produce dynamic variables without any probability implications. For the free electron, the state function satisfies Dirac's relativistic wave equation when the Lorentz transformation is applied to express proper time in terms of an observer's space-time coordinates.
It is not possible to use the Schrödinger equation to describe the motion of a particle with relativistic effects since it is not invariant relative to the Lorentz transformation. However, the attempt to generalize quantum mechanics in the relativistic domain on the basis of the one particle theory is somehow difficult. So we find the appropriate equations on the basis of the relativistic invariance. To obtain the non-relativistic equations, we take the limit as the speed of light tends to infinity. This obviously recovers the Schrödinger equation. Under this heading, we extend the non-relativistic Schrödinger equation in the description of particles with speeds comparable with that of light. This extension should be consistent with the Lorentz transformation [ 12 ]. The characteristic feature of the relativistic wave equations is the spin which provides a useful gauge in the applicability of particular equations that describe particular kinds of particles. We have two types of relativistic equations, i.e., the equation with spin-zero due to Schrödinger and spin-half due to Dirac that describes the electron.
A semiclassical model of the electron is presented based on the Principle of Helical Motion (“A free electron always moves at the speed of light following a helical motion, with a constant radius, and with the direction of movement perpendicular to the rotation plane”). This model interprets the Zitterbewegung as a real motion that causes rotation of the electron spin and its magnetic moment. Based on this model, the quantum magnetic flux and quantum Hall resistance are obtained as parameters of the electron and special relativity theory is derived from the helical motion of the electron. Finally, a fix is proposed for the De Broglie’s wavelength that questions the very validity of the Dirac equation.
Abstract This chapter tells the magic of the most beautiful equation in physics—namely the Dirac equation that predicted spin and antiparticles and guided physicists to the ultimate theory of quantum physics—the quantum field theory, all emerging by wedding relativity and quantum mechanics. The theory predicted the electron g-factor of 2—agreeing with the experimentally known value at that time and establishing the importance of the fine-structure constant in quantum physics. Here is a discussion of spacetime algebra where Hestenes addresses the question of what exactly the quantum spin is and how it generates magnetic moment that is proportional to the spin. Answers may be lurking in de Broglie’s proposal of an electron possessing an internal clock and the concept of Zitterbewegung that provides a window to the particle’s substructure in quantum mechanics.
Around 1930, both Gregory Breit and Erwin Schroedinger showed that the eigenvalues of the velocity of a particle described by wavepacket solutions to the Dirac equation are simply ±c, the speed of light. This led Schroedinger to coin the term Zitterbewegung, which is German for "trembling motion", where all particles of matter (fermions) zig-zag back-and-forth at only the speed of light. The result is that any finite speed less than c, including the state of rest, only makes sense as a long-term average that can be thought of as a drift velocity. In this paper, we seriously consider this idea that the observed velocities of particles are time-averages of motion at the speed of light and demonstrate how the relativistic velocity addition rule in one spatial dimension is readily derived by considering the probabilities that a particle is observed to move either to the left or to the right at the speed of light.