Uncertainty-induced instantaneous speed and acceleration of a levitated particle

Abstract

Abstract Levitating nanoparticles trapped in optical potentials at low pressure open the experimental investigation of nonlinear ballistic phenomena. With engineered non-linear potentials and fast optical detection, the observation of autonomous transient mechanical effects, such as instantaneous speed and acceleration stimulated purely by initial position uncertainty, are now achievable. By using parameters of current low pressure experiments, we simulate and analyse such uncertainty-induced particle ballistics in a cubic optical potential demonstrating their evolution, faster than their standard deviations, justifying the feasibility of the experimental verification. We predict, the maxima of instantaneous speed and acceleration distributions shift alongside the potential force, while the maximum of position distribution moves opposite to it. We report that cryogenic cooling is not necessary in order to observe the transient effects, while a low uncertainty in initial particle speed is required, via cooling or post-selection, to not mask the effects. These results stimulate the discussion for both attractive stochastic thermodynamics, and extension of recently explored quantum regime.