^{By Dr. Inés Urdaneta, Physicist at Resonance Science Foundation}

The German word zitterbewegung -zitter- means “trembling along the way” and it was coined for the first time by Erwin Schrödinger in 1930 when studying the solutions of Dirac equations for free relativistic electrons. When analyzing the behavior of the wave packets, Schrödinger found an oscillatory term with an amplitude of the magnitude of the Compton wavelength and frequency of 2m_ec²/ħ., where m_e is the mass of the electron, c is the speed of light and ħ is the reduced Planck constant. This zitter character of the electron found by Schrodinger suggested that the electron performed an extremely-high-frequency circular motion.

As it stands, Dirac’s fully relativistic equation in the form originally proposed by Dirac [1] for a free electron, describes all spin-1/2 massive particles, and it is consistent with the principles of quantum mechanics and the theory of special relativity. The...

^{Credit: IOP Publishing}  

^{By Amal Pushp, Affiliate Physicist at the Resonance Science Foundation} 

The magnetic moment of an electron is essentially an inherent property that emerges from the particle’s charge and spin. Physicists know that elementary particles like electrons display two kinds of angular momentum: orbital and spin which collectively is known as the spin-orbit coupling. This collective dynamical behavior further gives rise to the magnetic dipole moment or simply the magnetic moment. In fact, the magnetic dipole moment can also appear separately as spin and orbital magnetic dipole moment.  

In general, the magnetic moment can be described as a representation of the strength of any magnetic source. Consider a classical representation of an electron. Due to the charge distribution of the electron, which is essentially rotating, there is a creation of a magnetic dipole or in other words, the electron behaves as a microscopic bar magnet which...

^{(Left) the trapped quantum fluid as seen under a microscope and (right) the shapes of the individual harmonic oscillation states of the quantum fluid when the fluid is trapped in a dip in the intensity of the laser beams (dashed line). Credit: Nature Communications (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-34440-0}

^{By Dr. Inés Urdaneta, Physicist at Resonance Science Foundation}

We are used to the notion of classical harmonic oscillators; these are oscillators fluctuating coherently -this is, symmetrically- around their equilibrium position, experiencing a restoring force F proportional to the displacement x (as F = -kx, being k a positive constant commonly known in the mechanics of ideal springs).  

If F is the only force acting on the system (which means there is no friction with the environment) the system is called a simple harmonic oscillator, and it undergoes a sinusoidal oscillations about the equilibrium point, with a constant amplitude and a constant frequency that does...

^{Credit: Ella Maru Studio} 

^{By Amal Pushp, Affiliate Physicist at the Resonance Science Foundation} 

A vortex is a physical phenomenon in fluid dynamics wherein flows in a region of a fluid revolve around a fixed axis. On the macroscopic level, vortices are easily observed as whirlpools, tornadoes, and smoke rings however, they also form on microscopic regimes as quantized objects. In the former case, classical laws completely govern the dynamics of vortices but in the latter, there is a deviation from classical to quantum behaviour since the temperature at which quantum fluids exist is low enough that the laws of quantum mechanics predominate. 

Vortices display dynamical motion and such vortices are also characterized by certain physical properties like mass, energy as well linear and angular momentum. Previous work has revealed multiple facets of vortices and their interactions in different physical conditions. Citing a few instances – physicists have...

^{Credit: NIST}  

^{By Amal Pushp, Affiliate Physicist at the Resonance Science Foundation}  

One of the aspects of nature that has fascinated thinkers for centuries is time. Luminary physicist Isaac Newton considered time to be an absolute entity i.e., the same for all places in the universe and independent of observers. This notion was very crucial for the advent of Newtonian mechanics. The concept of absolute time paves the way for another term called absolute space, which according to Newtonian conviction are two separate facets of objective reality not dependent on each other. However, this idea about time and space underwent a major alteration after Einstein came up with his influential theory of relativity, which changed the very foundations of how we thought of time, space and their interactions with physical events.  

Time, which is regarded as a fourth dimension after the introduction of Einstein’s relativity theory, generally...

^{Credit: CERN}

_{By Amal Pushp, Affiliate Physicist at the Resonance Science Foundation}

Protons are amongst the most puzzling and intriguing particles in the universe. It has been an established scientific fact that protons are made up of a further combination of two up and one down quarks. These quarks are also held together through a binding particle called a gluon, which mediates the strong nuclear force. Collectively quarks and gluons are called partons. Although protons have an inner substructure there’s still a lack of knowledge about what exactly is the overall nature of its inner foundation. A reason for this might be that new experimental probes keep indicating new data.

Currently, in the mainstream, physicists have been surprised by a lot of problems associated with the properties of protons, one of which is called the proton radius puzzle. This paradox deals with the size of the proton. Several probes have come up with a different value for the radius of the proton and...

^{By Amal Pushp, Affiliate Physicist at the Resonance Science Foundation}  

The atomic nucleus of an atom consists of protons and neutrons bound together via strong nuclear interaction. Due to this, protons and neutrons are also called nucleons. Furthermore, protons and neutrons have inner substructure and consist of a combination of up and down quarks as well as gluons, which are particles mediating the strong force. Physicists usually probe the structure of nucleons with particle collisions in accelerators. Specifically, the development of the quark model in particle physics emerged by investigating the deep inelastic scattering of electrons on protons and bound neutrons for which the investigators were also awarded a Nobel prize back in 1990.  

What happens when we heat atomic nuclei at high temperatures? We eventually achieve a new state of matter called quark-gluon plasma. Quark-gluon plasma may be defined as a state of matter in which the elementary...

^{By Amal Pushp, Affiliate Physicist at the Resonance Science Foundation}

The quantum world essentially contains a myriad of intriguing phenomena and continues to add up to the imagination of science explorers. One such phenomenon concerns the oscillations at the level of atoms which forms the basis for the creation of quantum devices like atomic clocks and sensors. The elements that are used in modern day atomic clocks involve ytterbium, caesium among others. A significant part of the advances in contemporary atomic clocks research is mainly because of its usability in certain scenarios like dark matter and gravitational wave detections. 

Due to the subtle nature of these physical events, sometimes unwanted noise from the surrounding environment can cause distortions in the signal and negatively impact the results. In order to overcome this major challenge, physicists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have come up with a viable proposition and that is to use a...

^{Credit: Andrey Shirokov, Moscow State University}

^{By Amal Pushp, Affiliate Physicist at the Resonance Science Foundation}

Tetraneutron, as the name suggests, is a hypothesized cluster of four neutrons bounded together as a single and compact stable system. It is generally believed that the tetraneutron state is not a long-lived phenomenon and would be observed for a temporary period which is less than a billionth of a trillionth of a second and ultimately gets decayed. Scientists call this state a resonance, as viewed from the window of particle physics. Also, from the theoretical standpoint, the existence of this 4-neutron state is not much supported by the standard mainstream models of nuclear forces and its physical existence would also mean that the foundations of our understandings regarding nuclear forces and their interactions would have to be significantly revised.

Now, a team of researchers from the Technical University of Darmstadt in Germany has published a paper in Nature...

^{Image source: exciton’s probability cloud showing where the electron is most likely to be found around the hole.}  

^{By Inés Urdaneta, Physicist at Resonance Science Foundation}

Whereas our direct experience with protons in everyday life is not evident at all, our experience with electrons is quite different. Many of us are probably familiar with the phenomenon of static electricity that bristles our skin when we rub certain materials. We are also probably used to the notion of electricity as a current or flow of electrons that can light a bulb, turn on an electrical device, or even electrocute someone if not handled properly. We are probably also aware that matter is composed of atoms, and that atoms are composed mainly of protons and electrons. Most of our daily experience is governed by electrons and their interactions with light. Electrons also govern the physico-chemical properties of atoms. Interestingly, the inference and discovery of the electron predates the...