Photonic zitterbewegung and its interpretation

In terms of the volume-integrated Poynting vector, we present a quantum field-theory investigation of the zitterbewegung (ZB) of photons, and show that this ZB occurs only in the presence of virtual longitudinal and scalar photons. To present a heuristic explanation for such a ZB, by assuming that the space time is sufficiently close to the flat Minkowski space, we show that the gravitational interaction can result in the ZB of photons.     

Quantum simulation of ‘zitterbewegung' in a single trapped ion under conditions of parity-keeping and parity-breaking

The motional trembling(‘zitterbewegung’)of a relativistic electron governed by Dirac equation was originally predicted by Schr¨odinger in the early days of quantum mechanics and simulated in a recent experiment with a single trapped ultracold ion.We investigate stable and instable confinements of a single trapped ion in a Paul trap under different conditions relevant to parity.Since our treatment involves neither restriction of Lamb-Dicke limit nor rotating-wave approximation,we may demonstrate different quantum dynamics of the single trapped ion in a wide range of the trapping parameters.We discuss the origin of the zitterbewegung which is relevant to the stability of the ion trapping.