ZM even simpler, let's assume an empty universe with a single particle (e.g. an electron). Then the hamiltonian of the free particle has infinite solutions of exp(i p x)... those are all free states... are they?
According to my understanding Q Mechanics can describes well the position of particles like electron in pre-defined boundaries, so my question is why it could not exist outside boundary, i mean as an isolated particle?
so we can say when electrons are knocked out from a metal and targeted on a material to visualize it (Scanning Electron Microscope), do electron exist in free state there?
Free electron states are used all the time, in QM and the solid state. There are degrees of approximation in using this notion.
No need to invoque any deep theory to confirm that electrons can exist in free state. Ever since cathode ray tubes have been used, streams of free moving electrons have been used to draw images on CRT screens,
All CRT television sets from the 1940's onward that were just replaced by LED and OLED flat screens worked only because electrons can move freely.
Hi Andre Michaud, You are right there are lot of appliances and instruments based on interaction of moving electrons with matter, Are these isolated free electron or other negatively charged species. If these are really electron then the next question rises is how electron and likewise other material particles are maintained in free and isolated states?
Dear Muhammad,
Electrons can exist in only two states of motion.
They can be either stabilized in least action resonance states in the various electronic orbitals in atoms, or else they are freely moving while accelerating towards one of these least action resonance states.
The least action resonance states are described by the wave function of QM.
When an electron is ejected from such resonance states by being provided with sufficient energy from the environment, it then starts accelerating because it is subject to the local intensity of the Coulomb force which is in permanent action between it and all other charged particles.
It will then accelerate along the least action possible trajectory made available to it by the local electromagnetic equilibrium environment until captured again in an available resonance state on some atom, at which point, an electromagnetic photon will be released, evacuating the energy accumulated during its acceleration.
Engineers have long ago established how to calculate such trajectories with the highest precision in CRT tubes, such as not so old style TV sets, by controlling ambient electric and magnetic fields, for example.
Zbigniew,
scattering of photons one on the other is the non-linear phenomenon, which contradicts to the linear nature of electrodynamics.
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