Transient Quantum Beat Oscillations in Extreme-Relativistic Diffraction in Time

Abstract

In the solution of the Klein-Gordon equation for the shutter problem, we prove that, at internuclear distances, a relativistic beam of Pi-mesons has a probability density which oscillates in time in a similar way to the spatial dependence in optical Fresnel diffraction from a straight edge. However, for an extreme-relativistic beam, the Fresnel oscillations turn into quantum damped beat oscillations. We prove that quantum beat oscillations are the consequence, at extreme-relativistic velocities, of the interference between the initial incident wave function, and the Green’s function in the relativistic shutter problem. This is a pure quantum relativistic phenomenon.