De Broglie waves as a manifestation of clock desynchronization

ORAL

Abstract

De Broglie matter waves, such as used in atom optics or for interference in a BE condensate, can be viewed as the relativistic effect that spatially separated clocks that are synchronized in the rest frame become desynchronized when set in motion. The ``clocks'' here are the quantum oscillation of a stationary state. The usual de Broglie wavelength and superluminal wave velocity are easily derived. As simple and obvious as this picture is, I have not seen it described before. It is not only a nice example of clock desynchronization, it also has an interesting consequence: the oscillation of the stationary state must be at the Zitterbewegung frequency, that is, the corresponding energy must include the rest-mass energy. Of course most experiments are only sensitive to frequency differences.

Authors

  • William Baylis

    Physics Dept., Univ. of Windsor