Published February 14, 2023 | Version 1

Speculation on Quantum Spatial Distributions in exp(ipx) and Inertia

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We have argued in previous notes that the quantum free particle wavefunction exp(ipx) represents two spatial distributions in two dimensions (i.e. at different times). We have further argued that a spatial distribution is linked to p, the impulse, needed to create the momentum in the first place. Thus a free particle contains a kind of stored impulse/force manifested by the distributions cos(px) and sin(px). Two dimensions are needed to give the semblance of smooth motion i.e. x=p/m t on average. 

   In (1) we argued that the even in the case of a Newtonian impulse Integral F dt which one might assume occurs at a point x (as in two body collisions in a Maxwell-Boltzmann gas), there must be a dx range as the energy pp/2m follows from Integral Fdx which requires such a dx. In Newtonian mechanics everything is smooth, so there is constant acceleration within dx, but we argue that such a smooth picture violates the idea of action-reaction and inertia. Thus we argue that Newtonian mechanics should lead to the notion of an x-distribution within dx even if the particle is a point. This x-distribution which exists as the particle is under force does not disappear when the external force is removed because a particle with momentum p represents an impulse (which in turn includes a force). With the external force removed, one might expect there is nothing to maintain an x-distribution i.e. action/reaction has stopped. In one sense this is true as the particle moves through space as if each x point carries the same weight. On the other hand, the Newtonian idea of inertia, even with no momentum suggests one does not simply have a translating object. The idea of inertia i.e. rest mass should be linked then to the spatial distribution associated with the wavelength hbar/p which we argue happens in special relativity.

 

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