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PUBLICATIONS

Direct Observation of Zitterbewegung in a Bose-Einstein condensate

Published

Author(s)

Lindsay J. LeBlanc, Matthew Beeler, Karina Jimenez-Garcia, Abigail R. Perry, Seiji Sugawa, Ross Williams, Ian B. Spielman

Abstract

Zitterbewegung, a force-free trembling motion first predicted for relativistic fermions like electrons, was an unexpected consequence of the Dirac equation's unification of quantum mechanics and special relativity. Though the oscillatory motion's large frequency and small amplitude have precluded its measurement with electrons, zitterbewegung is observable via quantum simulation. We engineered an environment for 87Rb Bose-Einstein condensates where the constituent atoms behaved like relativistic particles subject to the one-dimensional Dirac equation. With direct imaging, we observed the sub-micrometer trembling motion of these clouds, demonstrating the utility of neutral ultracold quantum gases for simulating Dirac particles.
Citation
New Journal of Physics
Volume
15
Pub Type
Journals

Download Paper

DOI Link

Keywords

Bose-Einstein condensation, Dirac equation, quantum simulation, spin-orbit coupling, zitterbewegung
Quantum information science

Citation

LeBlanc, L. , Beeler, M. , Jimenez-Garcia, K. , Perry, A. , Sugawa, S. , Williams, R. and Spielman, I. (2013), Direct Observation of Zitterbewegung in a Bose-Einstein condensate, New Journal of Physics, [online], https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/15/7/073011 (Accessed October 27, 2025)

Issues

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Created July 3, 2013, Updated June 2, 2021
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