Associate professor Holger F. Hofmann of the Department of Quantum Matter, Graduate School of Advanced Sciences of Matter, has published the paper titled, "Quantum interference of position and momentum: a particle propagation paradox" in Physical Review A. In this paper, he presents his research on quantum evidence for the violation of Newton's first law.

"According to Newton's first law, particles in free space should always move along straight lines. But is this law still valid in quantum mechanics? Surprisingly, this question is extremely difficult to answer because the uncertainty principle prevents us from catching a particle "in the act". In the present paper, I show that unambiguous evidence for the violation of Newton's first law can be obtained from the statistics of particle positions at three different times by exploiting a quantum interference effect between states of well defined position and states of well defined momentum. The analysis of the particle distributions at three different times shows that at least eight percent of the particles are not moving along straight lines, providing the most striking evidence available to date that quantum interference effects can result in a violation of Newton's first law."

• Journal: Physical Review A
• Title: "Quantum interference of position and momentum: a particle propagation paradox"
• Author: Holger F. Hofmann

Holger F. Hofmann, Associate Professor
Graduate School of Advanced Sciences of Matter, Hiroshima University

hofmann*hiroshima-u.ac.jp (Please change * into @)