Does electron have some intrinsic ~$10^{21}$ Hz oscillations (de Broglie's clock/Zitterbewegung)?
Answers
De Broglie has postulated in 1927 that with electron's mass there comes some inner oscillation: E=mc2=hf=ℏω. We would get such oscillation e.g. if using E=mc2 energy in stationary solution of Schrödinger's equation: ψ=ψ0eiEt/ℏ. Somehow similar (?) oscillation comes out of solution of Dirac equation - called Zitterbewegung ("trembling motion"). Regarding their experimental status, I have found 2008 Foundation of Physics paper: A Search for the de Broglie Particle Internal Clock by Means of Electron Channeling. Thanks to using ~80MeV electrons, time dilation leads to ~0.4nm distance between "ticks" of such clock, which agrees with lattice constant of silicon crystal they shoot at. While tuning the angle, they observe narrow absorption maximum when distances agree - intuitively, the electron's clock finds resonance with periodic structure of the crystal. There are a few more papers claiming experimental observation of Zitterbewegung (e.g. [1], [2], [3]), but they are for physical simulation of Dirac equation - not exactly of electron. So can we say that electron has some intrinsic ~1021Hz oscillations, or maybe there is still some problem/doubts regarding such claim