Mechanical analog of quantum bradyons and tachyons.

Abstract

We present a mechanical analog of a quantum wave-particle duality: a vibrating string threaded through a freely moving bead or "masslet." For small string amplitudes, the particle movement is governed by a set of nonlinear dynamical equations that couple the wave field to the masslet dynamics. Under specific conditions, the particle achieves a regime of transparency in which the field and the particle's dynamics appear decoupled. In that special case, the particle conserves its momentum and a guiding wave obeying a Klein-Gordon equation, with real or imaginary mass, emerges. Similar to the double-solution theory of de Broglie, this guiding wave is locked in phase with a modulating group wave comoving with the particle. Interestingly, both subsonic and supersonic particles can fall into a quantum regime as is the case with the slower-than-light bradyons and hypothetical, faster-than-light tachyons of particle physics.