Honors Program
Date of this Version
Spring 3-18-2020
Document Type
Thesis
Citation
Clough, A. 2020. Investigation of a Conjectured ZPF Mechanism for Matter Diffraction. Undergraduate Honors Thesis. University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Abstract
We investigate a conjecture that matter diffraction is facilitated by select components of the zero-point field (ZPF). We address some of the known theoretical issues with the ZPF diffraction mechanism using both numeric and experimental approaches. The results demonstrate that some assumptions on ZPF-associated Lorentz forces may be reasonable. However, we also conclude that our own simulation results do not provide any basis for earlier assumptions on certain frequency parameters; namely, some results suggest that the de Broglie frequency is related to the ZPF mechanism, but our results do not indicate any such relation. Finally, the theoretical framework of the ZPF mechanism assumes perfectly reflective diffraction grating boundaries, and we study the soundness of this assumption by performing an x-ray diffraction experiment.
Comments
Copyright Alex Clough 2020.