Electrons, Stern–Gerlach Magnets, and Quantum Mechanical Propagation

Quantum corrections to Newton’s equations are obtained and used to illustrate that classical dynamics is embedded explicitly in quantum dynamics. Originally, the resultant set of dynamical equations has been used to shed light on quantum chaos. We show that the method can provide insight into the dynamics of free particles and the harmonic oscillator. We then use it to determine whether Stern–Gerlach magnets can be constructed for free electrons

Quantized Excitation Spectrum of the Classical Harmonic Oscillator in Zero-Point Radiation

We report that upon excitation by a single pulse, the classical harmonic oscillator immersed in classical electromagnetic zero-point radiation, as described by random electrodynamics, exhibits a quantized excitation spectrum in agreement to that of the quantum harmonic oscillator. This numerical result is interesting in view of the generally accepted idea that classical theories do not support quantized energy spectra.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Dualism between Optical and Difference Parametric Amplification

Breaking the symmetry in a coupled wave system can result in unusual amplification behavior. In the case of difference parametric amplification the resonant pump frequency is equal to the difference, instead of the sum, frequency of the normal modes. We show that sign reversal in the symmetry relation of parametric coupling give rise to difference parametric amplification as a dual of optical parametric amplification. For optical systems, our result can potentially be used for efficient XUV amplification

Experimental Test of Decoherence Theory using Electron Matter Waves

A controlled decoherence environment is studied experimentally by free electron interaction with semiconducting and metallic plates. The results are compared with physical models based on decoherence theory to investigate the quantum-classical transition. The experiment is consistent with decoherence theory and rules out established Coulomb interaction models in favor of plasmonic excitation models. In contrast to previous decoherence experiments, the present experiment is sensitive to the onset of decoherence.Comment: Submitted to Physical Review Letters. Main Text: 6 pages, 3 figures. Supplemental Material: 3 pages, 5 figure

Simulation of Afshar's Double Slit Experiment

Shahriar S. Afshar claimed that his 2007 modified version of the double-slit experiment violates complementarity [1]. He makes two modifications to the standard double-slit experiment. First, he adds a wire grid that is placed in between the slits and the screen at locations of interference minima. The second modification is to place a converging lens just after the wire grid. The idea is that the wire grid implies the existence of interference minima(wave-like behavior), while the lens can simultaneously obtain which-way information (particle-like behavior). More recently, John G. Cramer [2] argued that the experiment bolstered the Transactional Interpretation of Quantum mechanics (TIQM). His argument scrutinizes Bohr's complementarity in favor of TIQM. We analyze this experiment by simulation using the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics [3] and find that it agrees with the wave particle duality relation given by Englert, Greenberg and Yasin (E-G-Y) [4, 5]. We conclude that the use of Afshar's experiment to provide a testbed for quantum mechanical interpretations is limited.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure

Quantum description and properties of electrons emitted from pulsed nanotip electron sources

We present a quantum calculation of the electron degeneracy for electron sources. We explore quantum interference of electrons in the temporal and spatial domain and demonstrate how it can be utilized to characterize a pulsed electron source. We estimate effects of Coulomb repulsion on two-electron interference and show that currently available nano tip pulsed electron sources operate in the regime where the quantum nature of electrons can be made dominant