Open AccessQuantum particle, light clock or heavy beat box?
Author(s) -
Martin B. van der Mark
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of physics. conference series
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.21
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1742-6596
pISSN - 1742-6588
DOI - 10.1088/1742-6596/1251/1/012049
Subject(s) - radiation pressure , physics , beat (acoustics) , matter wave , quantum , radiation , particle (ecology) , wave–particle duality , particle in a box , classical mechanics , quantum mechanics , optics , oceanography , geology
A standing wave of light inside a cavity, while observed from a moving frame, is seen to have a spatial beat of precisely the same nature as that of the de Broglie wave of a quantum particle. The structural forces that hold together the cavity against the internal radiation pressure are compared to the so-called Poincaré stresses inside an elementary particle, as are required for the particle’s stability. This seems to work best if the cavity is non-rigid and hence is itself oscillating, coupled to the radiation inside.