Trojan wave packet

Trojan wavepacket evolution animation
Classical simulation of the Trojan wavepacket on 1982 home ZX Spectrum microcomputer. The packet is approximated by the ensemble of points initially randomly localized within the peak of a Gaussian and moving according to the Newton equations. The ensemble stays localized. For the comparison the second simulation follows when the strength of the circularly polarized electric (rotating) field is equal to zero and the packet (points) fully spreads around the circle.

A trojan wave packet is a wave packet that is nonstationary and nonspreading. It is part of an artificially created system that consists of a nucleus and one or more electron wave packets, and that is highly excited under a continuous electromagnetic field. Its discovery as one of significant contributions to the Quantum Theory was awarded the 2022 Wigner Medal for Iwo Bialynicki-Birula[1]

The strong, polarized electromagnetic field, holds or "traps" each electron wave packet in an intentionally selected orbit (energy shell).[2][3] They derive their names from the trojan asteroids in the Sun–Jupiter system.[4] Trojan asteroids orbit around the Sun in Jupiter's orbit at its Lagrangian equilibrium points L4 and L5, where they are phase-locked and protected from collision with each other, and this phenomenon is analogous to the way the wave packet is held together.

  1. ^ Bialynicki-Birula, Iwo; Kalinski, Matt; Eberly, J. H. (1994). "Lagrange Equilibrium Points in Celestial Mechanics and Nonspreading Wave Packets for Strongly Driven Rydberg Electrons" (PDF). Physical Review Letters. 73 (13): 1777–1780. Bibcode:1994PhRvL..73.1777B. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.73.1777. PMID 10056884.
  2. ^ Bialynicka-Birula, Zofia; Bialynicki-Birula, Iwo (1997). "Radiative decay of Trojan wave packets" (PDF). Physical Review A. 56 (5): 3623. Bibcode:1997PhRvA..56.3623B. doi:10.1103/PhysRevA.56.3623.
  3. ^ Kalinski, Maciej; Eberly, JH (1996). "Trojan wave packets: Mathieu theory and generation from circular states". Physical Review A. 53 (3): 1715–1724. Bibcode:1996PhRvA..53.1715K. doi:10.1103/PhysRevA.53.1715. PMID 9913064.
  4. ^ Kochański, Piotr; Bialynicka-Birula, Zofia; Bialynicki-Birula, Iwo (2000). "Squeezing of electromagnetic field in a cavity by electrons in Trojan states". Physical Review A. 63 (1): 013811. arXiv:quant-ph/0007033v1. Bibcode:2000PhRvA..63a3811K. doi:10.1103/PhysRevA.63.013811. S2CID 36895794.