Klein paradox
E460374
The Klein paradox is a quantum mechanical phenomenon in relativistic wave equations where particles can pass through high potential barriers with unexpectedly high transmission probabilities, challenging classical intuition about reflection and tunneling.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Klein paradox canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T4677583 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Klein paradox Context triple: [Oskar Klein, notableWork, Klein paradox]
-
A.
Kapitza–Dirac effect
The Kapitza–Dirac effect is a quantum phenomenon in which a beam of particles, such as electrons or atoms, is diffracted by a standing wave of light, demonstrating the wave-particle duality of matter.
-
B.
Aharonov–Bohm effect
The Aharonov–Bohm effect is a quantum mechanical phenomenon in which charged particles are influenced by electromagnetic potentials in regions where the classical electromagnetic fields are zero, revealing the physical significance of potentials in quantum theory.
-
C.
Schwinger effect
The Schwinger effect is a quantum field theory phenomenon in which extremely strong electric fields can spontaneously create particle–antiparticle pairs from the vacuum.
-
D.
Dirac sea
The Dirac sea is a theoretical model in quantum physics proposing an infinite "sea" of negative-energy electron states to explain the existence of antimatter and the behavior of relativistic electrons.
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E.
Aharonov–Casher effect
The Aharonov–Casher effect is a quantum mechanical phenomenon in which a neutral particle with a magnetic moment acquires a measurable phase shift when moving around a line of electric charge, illustrating the significance of electromagnetic potentials.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Klein paradox Target entity description: The Klein paradox is a quantum mechanical phenomenon in relativistic wave equations where particles can pass through high potential barriers with unexpectedly high transmission probabilities, challenging classical intuition about reflection and tunneling.
-
A.
Kapitza–Dirac effect
The Kapitza–Dirac effect is a quantum phenomenon in which a beam of particles, such as electrons or atoms, is diffracted by a standing wave of light, demonstrating the wave-particle duality of matter.
-
B.
Aharonov–Bohm effect
The Aharonov–Bohm effect is a quantum mechanical phenomenon in which charged particles are influenced by electromagnetic potentials in regions where the classical electromagnetic fields are zero, revealing the physical significance of potentials in quantum theory.
-
C.
Schwinger effect
The Schwinger effect is a quantum field theory phenomenon in which extremely strong electric fields can spontaneously create particle–antiparticle pairs from the vacuum.
-
D.
Dirac sea
The Dirac sea is a theoretical model in quantum physics proposing an infinite "sea" of negative-energy electron states to explain the existence of antimatter and the behavior of relativistic electrons.
-
E.
Aharonov–Casher effect
The Aharonov–Casher effect is a quantum mechanical phenomenon in which a neutral particle with a magnetic moment acquires a measurable phase shift when moving around a line of electric charge, illustrating the significance of electromagnetic potentials.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (47)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
quantum mechanical phenomenon
ⓘ
relativistic quantum effect ⓘ |
| appliesTo |
relativistic electrons
ⓘ
relativistic spin-1/2 particles ⓘ spin-0 relativistic particles ⓘ |
| challenges |
classical intuition about reflection
ⓘ
nonrelativistic tunneling intuition ⓘ |
| describedBy |
Dirac equation
ⓘ
Klein–Gordon equation ⓘ |
| explainedBy |
Dirac sea picture
ⓘ
linked to:
Dirac sea
quantum field theoretic pair creation ⓘ reinterpretation of negative energy states ⓘ |
| field |
quantum field theory
ⓘ
quantum mechanics ⓘ relativistic quantum mechanics ⓘ |
| firstDescribedIn | 1929 ⓘ |
| hasConsequence | apparent violation of probability current conservation in single-particle theory ⓘ |
| hasFeature |
reflection coefficient greater than one in naive single-particle treatment
ⓘ
transmission coefficient greater than one in naive single-particle treatment ⓘ |
| hasInterpretation |
antiparticle transmission into the barrier region
ⓘ
particle–antiparticle pair creation at the barrier ⓘ |
| hasMathematicalFormulation |
continuity of spinor wavefunction at potential step
ⓘ
matching of probability current across barrier ⓘ |
| hasProperty |
anomalously low reflection probability
ⓘ
high transmission probability ⓘ nonclassical behavior at potential step ⓘ |
| involves |
electron–positron pairs
ⓘ
high potential barriers ⓘ pair production ⓘ particle scattering ⓘ quantum tunneling ⓘ relativistic wave equations ⓘ |
| isDiscussedIn |
advanced quantum mechanics textbooks
ⓘ
relativistic quantum mechanics courses ⓘ |
| isExampleOf | limitations of single-particle relativistic quantum mechanics ⓘ |
| motivated | development of quantum field theoretic scattering descriptions ⓘ |
| namedAfter | Oskar Klein ⓘ |
| occursWhen |
V0 > 2mc^2
ⓘ
potential step exceeds twice the particle rest mass energy ⓘ |
| relatedTo |
Dirac equation step potential problem
ⓘ
Klein–Gordon equation scattering ⓘ
linked to:
Klein–Gordon equation
Schwinger effect ⓘ Zitterbewegung ⓘ graphene transport phenomena ⓘ supercritical potentials ⓘ |
| resolvedBy |
quantum field theory treatment
ⓘ
second quantization ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Klein paradox Description of subject: The Klein paradox is a quantum mechanical phenomenon in relativistic wave equations where particles can pass through high potential barriers with unexpectedly high transmission probabilities, challenging classical intuition about reflection and tunneling.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.