Observable Zitterbewegung in Curved Spacetimes

TL;DR

This paper investigates the observability of Zitterbewegung in curved spacetimes and non-inertial frames, demonstrating its manifestation in cosmological spacetimes and clarifying its classical velocity implications.

Contribution

It provides the first explicit demonstration that Zitterbewegung can be observed in certain curved spacetimes, linking particle mode mixing to observable effects.

Findings

Zitterbewegung is necessary for correct velocity in accelerated frames

Zitterbewegung manifests in cosmological spacetimes

Mode mixing is essential for observable effects

Abstract

Zitterbewegung, as it was originally described by Schr\"odinger, is an unphysical, non-observable effect. We verify whether the effect can be observed in non-inertial reference frames/curved spacetimes, where the ambiguity in defining particle states results in a mixing of positive and negative frequency modes. We explicitly demonstrate that such a mixing is in fact necessary to obtain the correct classical value for a particle's velocity in a uniformly accelerated reference frame, whereas in cosmological spacetime a particle does indeed exhibit Zitterbewegung.