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Extended Abstract Free electrons are trapped in superfluid helium as autonomous electron bubbles interloped between helium atoms that have been excluded from the space occupied by the bubble. The surrounding helium atoms maintain the spherical bubble through van der Waals forces. The
bubble-like "wavefunction" called an orbitsphere can act as a resonator cavity. The excitation of the Maxwellian resonator cavity modes by resonant photons form bubbles with radii of reciprocal integer multiples of that of the unexcited
n=1 state. The central force which results in a fractional electron radius compared to the unexcited electron is provided by the absorbed photon. Each stable excited state electron bubble which has a radius of
1/integer times the initial radius may migrate in an applied electric field, and the time of flight to a detector decreases with
decreasing size of the bubble. Superfluid helium is an ideal medium to study individual trapped electrons in much the same way that individual ions may be studied in Penning traps. An equation for the electron bubble mobility is based on a well known roton-bubble momentum transfer cross section using the geometrical cross section and the multipolarity if the different electron states. Experiments to study the effect of light on electron mobility have been conducted. The absorption spectrum of free electrons in superfluid helium and their mobilities predicted from the corresponding size and multipolarity of these bubble-like states with quantum numbers
n, l, and ml matched the experimental results of the 15 identified ions
[see link below]. Electrons bubbles in superfluid helium reveal that the electron is real before it reaches the detector and that a physical interpretation of the wavefunction is necessary. The concept of probability waves of quantum mechanics must be abandoned and atomic theory must be based in physical reality. Related
Papers: The
Nature of Free Electrons in Superfluid Helium - a test of
quantum mechanics and a basis to review its foundations and
make a comparison to classical theory - R. Mills, Int.
J. Hydrogen Energy, Vol. 26, Issue 10, October 2001, pp.
1059-1096
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