2018/04/03 by Scott E. Hoffmann, Hoffmann, Scott E.
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Experimental and Theoretical Physics Studies #FOS: Physical sciences #Particle Accelerators and Free-Electron Lasers #Quantum Physics (quant-ph) #Quantum and Classical Electrodynamics
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1804.00826
openalex publication_date 2018/04/03 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We find the laws for the spreading of the spatial widths (parallel and transverse to the direction of average motion) of the relativistic position probability density for a massive, spinless particle. We find that when the momentum width of the wavepacket is small compared to the average momentum, there is a long time over which spreading is minimal. This result may be useful in particle accelerator design. We also demonstrate the Lorentz contraction of a wavepacket using relativistic probability amplitudes.