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arXiv:quant-ph/9903077 · Physics Essays

Motion of a Relativistic Particle and the Vacuum

Volodymyr Krasnoholovets

Published Sep 1, 1997• 69 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

A vacuum medium model is advanced. The motion of a relativistic particle in relation to its interaction with the medium is discussed. It is predicted that elementary excitations of the vacuum, called "inertons," should exist. The equations of the particle path in Euclidean space are derived. The motion is marked by the relations basic for quantum mechanics: $E=hν$ and $Mv = h/ λ$ (here, $λ$ is the amplitude of spatial oscillations of the particle along the trajectory, i.e., the interval at which the velocity of the particle is periodically altered from $v$ to 0 and then from 0 to $v$; $ν$ is the frequency of these oscillations). Analysis is performed on the transition to wave mechanics where $λ$ manifests itself as the de Broglie wavelength and $ν$ is the distinctive frequency of the "particle-wave". A prerequisite for the wave solution to be Lorentz-invariant is treated. A hypothesis for a plausible hydrodynamic description of the relativistic particle motion is covered.

DOI
10.4006/1.3036427

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•Jul 31, 2026•0 citations
A vacuum medium model is advanced. The motion of a relativistic particle in relation to its interaction with the medium is discussed. It is predicted that elementary excitations of the vacuum, called "inertons," should exist. The equations of the particle path in Euclidean space are derived. The motion is marked by the relations basic for quantum mechanics: E=hνE=hνE=hν and Mv=h/λMv = h/ λMv=h/λ (here, λλλ is the amplitude of spatial oscillations of the particle along the trajectory, i.e., the interval at which the velocity of the particle is periodically altered from vvv to 0 and then from 0 to vvv; ννν is the frequency of these oscillations). Analysis is performed on the transition to wave mechanics where λλλ manifests itself as the de Broglie wavelength and ννν is the distinctive frequency of the "particle-wave". A prerequisite for the wave solution to be Lorentz-invariant is treated. A hypothesis for a plausible hydrodynamic description of the relativistic particle motion is covered.
From a Newtonian-Maxwellian solution for a perturbed vacuum with a physical structure constructed based on pivotal experimental observations, we have achieved a general scheme for the formation of basic material particles. A basic particle, which may be e.g. an electron, is composed of a tiny free aether-pole (a bare charge) and the mechanical wave disturbances -- identifying with electromagnetic waves -- generated by it in the medium. When in motion, as a result of a first kind source effect, this particle wave exhibits all of wave and dynamic properties known for a de Broglie wave, and is here called a Newton- de Broglie (NdB) particle wave. In a confined space, the Newtonian solution for the NdB particle wave is equivalent to that given by Schrodinger's quantum mechanics. Through this general scheme we have accomplished a basic task of the unification of the classical- and the quantum- mechanics, both in terms of the deduction of the latter from the former, and the convergence of the latter into the former at high velocities. Through completing the task, we unfold the origins of a series of phenomena including the electromagnetic waves, the electromagnetic radiation and absorption, atomic and thermal excitations, the inertial mass, the Schrodinger's wavefunction and de Broglie wave, the Heisenberg's uncertainty relation, the de Broglie relations, the simultaneous existence of electron and positron or generally of particles and their anti-particles, the (rest) mass-energy equivalence relation, etc. The general scheme facilitates also a Theory of Relative Motion which we present in a separate paper, II; a series of followed studies are planned. (An original report of the scheme with a Preface remarking on the changes in later publications.)
In this article, it is shown that if a particle is at rest and has some harmonic oscillation, then a traveling particle with a constant speed corresponds to a De Broglie Wave.In 1924, De Broglie proposed that particles of matter exhibit wave like behavior, the expression for which became fundamental in the creation of wave mechanics (quantum mechanics).The main equation for this is the Schrödinger equation, which in the case of free motion of a particle becomes the expression for the De Broglie wave.This hypothesis is supported by many early experiments on the diffraction of electrons, and later the development of modern physics.However until now, the origin of this hypothesis remains unclear.We show that the expression for the De Broglie wavelength can be obtained from a more general well-known concept, that any particle at rest has a corresponding harmonic oscillation that transforms into a wave of a moving particle with the help of relativistic change of coordinates (the Lorentz transformations).In this way, a De Broglie wave can be explained as a spacetime wave.
Abstract We present a classical hydrodynamic analog of free relativistic quantum particles inspired by de Broglie's pilot wave theory and recent developments in hydrodynamic quantum analogs. The proposed model couples a periodically forced Klein-Gordon equation with a nonrelativistic particle dynamic equation. The coupled equations may represent both quantum particles and classical particles driven by the gradients of locally excited Faraday waves. Exact stationary solutions of the coupled system reveal a highly nonlinear mechanism responsible for the self-propulsion of free particles, leading to the onset of unsteady motion. Although the model is essentially nonrelativistic, a stabilizing mechanism for any particle traveling close to the wave signaling speed emerges through the coupling with the wavefield. Consequently, inline particle oscillations comparable to de Broglie's wavelength formula are realized through this fully-classical model, suggesting a new classical interpretation for the motion of relativistic quantum particles.
It is argued that the de Broglie wave is not the wave usually supposed, but the relativistically induced modulation of an underlying carrier wave that moves with the velocity of the particle. In the rest frame of the particle this underlying structure has the form of a standing wave. De Broglie also assumed the existence of this antecedent standing wave, but it would appear that he failed to notice its survival as a carrier wave in the Lorentz transformed wave structure. Identified as a modulation, the de Broglie wave acquires a physically reasonable ontology, evidencing a more natural unity between matter and radiation than might otherwise be contemplated, and avoiding the necessity of recovering the particle velocity from a superposition of such waves. Because the Schrödinger and other wave equations for massive particles were conceived as equations for the de Broglie wave, this interpretation of the wave is also relevant to such issues in quantum mechanics as the meaning of the wave function, the nature of wave-particle duality, and the possibility of well-defined particle trajectories.
The Compton wavelength is conventionally introduced as the rest-mass scale $\lc=h/(mc)$, whereas moving particles are normally assigned the de Broglie wavelength $\ldb=h/p$. Haug recently introduced and subsequently refined a frame-dependent relativistic Compton wavelength, $\lcr=h/(\gamma mc)$, with reduced form $\lbarcr=\hbar/(\gamma mc)$. For a massive free particle with p=γmvp=\gamma mvp=γmv, the exact identity $\ldb=(c/v)\lcr=\lcr/\beta$ follows immediately. This article examines the consequences of taking $\lcr$, rather than $\ldb$, as the primary wavelength parameter for single-particle relativistic wave mechanics. The distinction is conceptually sharp at rest: $\lcr$ is finite and equals $\lc$ at v=0v=0v=0, while h/ph/ph/p is not defined by ordinary division at p=0p=0p=0, although its limiting spatial wavelength is infinite and its wave number k=p/ℏk=p/\hbark=p/ℏ is well defined and vanishes. We show that free-particle phase relations, Schr\"odinger eigenstates, box quantisation, diffraction conditions, uncertainty relations, and the plane-wave sectors of the Klein--Gordon and Dirac equations can all be written using $\lbarcr$ and β\betaβ. In this parameterisation, $E=\hbar c/\lbarcr$ and $p=\hbar\beta/\lbarcr$, so the de Broglie wavelength is a derived spatial period generated by the velocity-dependent spatial gradient of a Compton-scale spacetime phase. The reformulation is algebraically equivalent to standard momentum-space quantum mechanics, but it exposes an unequal domain and an overlooked organisation of four-momentum. The quantity E/c=γmcE/c=\gamma mcE/c=γmc, already present as the temporal component of four-momentum, is precisely Haug's Compton momentum pC=h/λC,rp_{\mathrm C}=h/\lambda_{\mathrm C,r}pC​=h/λC,r​. Every finite de Broglie wavelength of a massive on-shell particle can be represented by the relativistic Compton wavelength and velocity through $\ldb=\lcr/\beta$.