Theoretical Investigation of Subluminal Particles Endowed with Imaginary Mass

Abstract

In this article, the general solution of the tachyonic Klein–Gordon equation is obtained as a Fourier integral performed on a suitable path in the complex ω-plane. In particular, it is proved that this solution does not contain any superluminal components under the given boundary conditions. On the basis of this result, we infer that all possible spacelike wave equations describe the dynamics of subluminal particles endowed with imaginary mass. This result is validated for the Chodos equation, used to describe the hypothetical superluminal behaviour of the neutrino. In this specific framework, it is proved that the wave packet propagates in spacetime with subluminal group velocities and that it behaves as a localized wave for sufficiently small energies.