Satyendra Nath Bose, 1 January 1894 - 4 February 1974

1975 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 116-154 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Mechanics ◽  
Quantum Theory ◽  
Intellectual Development ◽  
Albert Einstein ◽  
Wave Mechanics ◽  
Ideal Gases ◽  
Old Quantum Theory ◽  
Modern Physics ◽  
Bose Einstein ◽  
Point Of Departure

S. N. Bose was one of India’s most eminent scientists. Bose’s achievements in scientific research were not as sustained or as numerous as those of his contemporaries like C. V. Raman, (1) Meghnad Saha (2) and K. S. Krishnan, (3) together with whom he became a pioneer of education and research in modern physics in India. But the circumstances of Bose’s intellectual development were unusual and he was destined to play an inspiring role in the scientific and cultural life of his country. Bose’s novel derivation of Planck’s radiation formula, the only significant contribution which he made to physics, came at a turning point between the old quantum theory of Planck, Einstein, Bohr and Sommerfeld and the new quantum mechanics of Heisenberg, Dirac and Schrodinger. Bose sent his paper early in June 1924 to Albert Einstein who recognized its merit, translated it into German, and had it published in the Zeitschrift für Physik [6]. During the summer of 1924 Einstein also received, from Paul Langevin in Paris, a copy of the doctoral thesis of Louis de Broglie (4) dealing with the wave aspects of matter. Bose’s work became the point of departure for Einstein’s investigation on the quantum theory of monatomic ideal gases and ‘gas degeneracy’, leading to his prediction of the condensation phenomenon. (5) Einstein recognized the importance of de Broglie’s ideas and also made use of them in his investigation. (5) In turn, these papers of de Broglie and Einstein stimulated Schrodinger (6) to develop his wave mechanics. The ‘Bose-Einstein statistics’ immediately fitted into the framework of quantum mechanics and enshrined Bose’s name in physics for ever. Bose lived the legend of this fateful encounter with Einstein throughout the rest of his life.

Constructing Quantum Mechanics

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony Duncan ◽  
Michel Janssen
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Mechanics ◽  
Quantum Theory ◽  
Stark Effect ◽  
Zeeman Effect ◽  
Black Body ◽  
Black Body Radiation ◽  
Wave Mechanics ◽  
Specific Heats ◽  
Old Quantum Theory ◽  
Upper Level

This is the first of two volumes on the genesis of quantum mechanics. It covers the key developments in the period 1900–1923 that provided the scaffold on which the arch of modern quantum mechanics was built in the period 1923–1927 (covered in the second volume). After tracing the early contributions by Planck, Einstein, and Bohr to the theories of black‐body radiation, specific heats, and spectroscopy, all showing the need for drastic changes to the physics of their day, the book tackles the efforts by Sommerfeld and others to provide a new theory, now known as the old quantum theory. After some striking initial successes (explaining the fine structure of hydrogen, X‐ray spectra, and the Stark effect), the old quantum theory ran into serious difficulties (failing to provide consistent models for helium and the Zeeman effect) and eventually gave way to matrix and wave mechanics. Constructing Quantum Mechanics is based on the best and latest scholarship in the field, to which the authors have made significant contributions themselves. It breaks new ground, especially in its treatment of the work of Sommerfeld and his associates, but also offers new perspectives on classic papers by Planck, Einstein, and Bohr. Throughout the book, the authors provide detailed reconstructions (at the level of an upper‐level undergraduate physics course) of the cental arguments and derivations of the physicists involved. All in all, Constructing Quantum Mechanics promises to take the place of older books as the standard source on the genesis of quantum mechanics.

Subsequent and Subsidiary? Rethinking the Role of Applications in Establishing Quantum Mechanics

2015 ◽  
Vol 45 (5) ◽  
pp. 641-702 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremiah James ◽  
Christian Joas
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Structure ◽  
Quantum Mechanics ◽  
Quantum Theory ◽  
Classical Mechanics ◽  
Theory Construction ◽  
Science Pedagogy ◽  
Old Quantum Theory ◽  
The Common ◽  
Complete Quantum

As part of an attempt to establish a new understanding of the earliest applications of quantum mechanics and their importance to the overall development of quantum theory, this paper reexamines the role of research on molecular structure in the transition from the so-called old quantum theory to quantum mechanics and in the two years immediately following this shift (1926–1928). We argue on two bases against the common tendency to marginalize the contribution of these researches. First, because these applications addressed issues of longstanding interest to physicists, which they hoped, if not expected, a complete quantum theory to address, and for which they had already developed methods under the old quantum theory that would remain valid under the new mechanics. Second, because generating these applications was one of, if not the, principal means by which physicists clarified the unity, generality, and physical meaning of quantum mechanics, thereby reworking the theory into its now commonly recognized form, as well as developing an understanding of the kinds of predictions it generated and the ways in which these differed from those of the earlier classical mechanics. More broadly, we hope with this article to provide a new viewpoint on the importance of problem solving to scientific research and theory construction, one that might complement recent work on its role in science pedagogy.

Quantum Mechanics and the Periodic Table

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Scerri
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Mechanics ◽  
Quantum Theory ◽  
Periodic Table ◽  
Chemical Properties ◽  
Pauli Exclusion Principle ◽  
Niels Bohr ◽  
Exclusion Principle ◽  
Old Quantum Theory ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Three Body

In chapter 7, the influence of the old quantum theory on the periodic system was considered. Although the development of this theory provided a way of reexpressing the periodic table in terms of the number of outer-shell electrons, it did not yield anything essentially new to the understanding of chemistry. Indeed, in several cases, chemists such as Irving Langmuir, J.D. Main Smith, and Charles Bury were able to go further than physicists in assigning electronic configurations, as described in chapter 8, because they were more familiar with the chemical properties of individual elements. Moreover, despite the rhetoric in favor of quantum mechanics that was propagated by Niels Bohr and others, the discovery that hafnium was a transition metal and not a rare earth was not made deductively from the quantum theory. It was essentially a chemical fact that was accommodated in terms of the quantum mechanical understanding of the periodic table. The old quantum theory was quantitatively impotent in the context of the periodic table since it was not possible to even set up the necessary equations to begin to obtain solutions for the atoms with more than one electron. An explanation could be given for the periodic table in terms of numbers of electrons in the outer shells of atoms, but generally only after the fact. But when it came to trying to predict quantitative aspects of atoms, such as the ground-state energy of the helium atom, the old quantum theory was quite hopeless. As one physicist stated, “We should not be surprised . . . even the astronomers have not yet satisfactorily solved the three-body problem in spite of efforts over the centuries.” A succession of the best minds in physics, including Hendrik Kramers, Werner Heisenberg, and Arnold Sommerfeld, made strenuous attempts to calculate the spectrum of helium but to no avail. It was only following the introduction of the Pauli exclusion principle and the development of the new quantum mechanics that Heisenberg succeeded where everyone else had failed.

scholarly journals Consistent description of microscopic phenomena by macroscopic observers in quantum theory

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexey Kryukov
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Mechanics ◽  
Quantum Theory ◽  
Quantum Physics ◽  
Random Noise ◽  
Thought Experiments ◽  
Newtonian Physics ◽  
Measurement Results ◽  
Modern Physics ◽  
Measured System ◽  
Physical Phenomena

Abstract Quantum mechanics is the foundation of modern physics that is thought to be applicable to all physical phenomena, at least in principle. However, when applied to macroscopic bodies, the theory seems to be inconsistent. Wigner's friend and related thought experiments demonstrate that accounts by different observers described by the rules of quantum mechanics may be contradictory. Although still highly debated, such experiments seem to demonstrate an incompatibility of quantum mechanics with the usual rules of logic. Alternatively, one of the hidden assumptions in the thought experiments must be wrong. For instance, the argument is invalidated if macroscopic observers cannot be considered as physical systems described by the rules of quantum theory. Here we prove that there is a way to apply the rules of quantum mechanics to macroscopic observers while avoiding contradictory accounts of measurement by the observers. The key to this is the random noise that is ever present in nature and that represents the uncontrollable part of interaction between measured system and the surroundings in classical and quantum physics. By exploring the effect of the noise on microscopic and macroscopic bodies, we demonstrate that accounts of Wigner, the friend and other agents all become consistent. Our result suggests that the existing attempts to modify the Schrodinger equation to account for measurement results may be misguided. More broadly, the proposed mechanism for modeling measurements underlies the phenomenon of decoherence and is shown to be sufficient to explain the transition to Newtonian physics in quantum theory.

scholarly journals General Quantum Theory: II ----Measuring & Identical Theorems, Origins & Classifications of Entanglements and Solution to Crisis of Wave Collapse

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Huang ◽  
Yong-Chang Huang ◽  
Yi-You Nie
Keyword(s):  
Wave Function ◽  
Quantum Mechanics ◽  
Quantum Theory ◽  
Statistical Mechanics ◽  
Particle System ◽  
Square Root ◽  
Classical Statistical Mechanics ◽  
Wave Particle Duality ◽  
Wave Collapse ◽  
Modern Physics

This paper derives measurement and identical principles, then makes the two principles into measurement and identical theorems of quantum mechanics, plus the three theorems derived earlier, we deduce the axiom system of current quantum mechanics, the general quantum theory no axiom presumptions not only solves the crisis to understand in current quantum mechanics, but also obtains new discoveries, e.g., discovers the velocities of quantum collapse and entanglement are instantaneously infinitely large. We deduce the general Schrȍdinger equation of any n particles from two aspects, and the wave function not only has particle properties of the complex square root state vector of the classical probability density of any n particles, but also has the plane wave properties of any n particles. Thus, the current crisis of the dispute about the origin of wave- particle duality of any n microscopic particles is solved. We display the classical locality and quantum non-locality for any n particle system, show entanglement origins, and discover not only any n-particle wave function system has the original, superposition and across entanglements, but also the entanglements are of interactions preserving conservation or correlation, three kinds of entanglements directly give lots of entanglement sources. This paper discovers, one of two pillars of modern physics, quantum mechanics of any n particle system is a generalization ( mechanics ) theory of the complex square root ( of real density function ) of classical statistical mechanics, any n particle system’s quantum mechanics of being just a generalization theory of the complex square root of classical statistical mechanics is both a revolutionary discovery and key new physics, which are influencing people’s philosophical thinking for modern physics, solve all the crisises in current quantum theories, quantum information and so on, and make quantum theory have scientific solid foundations checked, no basic axiom presumption and no all quantum strange incomprehensible properties, because classical statistical mechanics and its complex square root have scientific solid foundations checked. Thus, all current studies on various entanglements and their uses to quantum computer, quantum information and so on must be further updated and classified by the new entanglements. This and our early papers derive quantum physics, solve all crisises of basses of quantum mechanics, e.g., wave-particle duality & the first quantization origins, quantum nonlocality, entanglement origins & classifications, wave collapse and so on.Key words: quantum mechanics, operator, basic presumptions, wave-particle duality, principle of measurement, identical principle, superposition principle of states, entanglement origin, quantum communication, wave collapse, classical statistical mechanics, classical mechanics

scholarly journals Indistinguishable elements in the origins of quantum statistics. The case of Fermi–Dirac statistics

2022 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Enric Pérez ◽  
Joana Ibáñez
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Theory ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Seminal Paper ◽  
Stellar Matter ◽  
Quantum Indistinguishability ◽  
Old Quantum Theory ◽  
The Status ◽  
Bose Einstein ◽  
Historical Origins ◽  
Made In

AbstractIn this paper, we deal with the historical origins of Fermi–Dirac statistics, focusing on the contribution by Enrico Fermi of 1926. We argue that this statistics, as opposed to that of Bose–Einstein, has been somewhat overlooked in the usual accounts of the old quantum theory. Our main objective is to offer a critical analysis of Fermi’s seminal paper and its immediate impact. Secondly, we are also interested in assessing the status of the particle concept in the years 1926–1927, especially regarding the germ of quantum indistinguishability. We will see, for example, that the first applications of the Fermi–Dirac statistics to the study of metals or stellar matter had a technical nature, and that their main instigators barely touched upon interpretative matters. Finally, we will discuss the reflections and remarks made in these respects in two famous events in physics of 1927, the Como conference and the fifth Solvay congress.

Failures

2019 ◽  
pp. 300-382
Author(s):  
Anthony Duncan ◽  
Michel Janssen
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Mechanics ◽  
Quantum Theory ◽  
Ground State Energy ◽  
Ground State ◽  
Equations Of Motion ◽  
Zeeman Effect ◽  
Stationary States ◽  
Old Quantum Theory ◽  
History Of ◽  
Anomalous Zeeman Effect

We consider three topics which proved frustratingly resistant to the methods of the old quantum theory up to the point of emergence of the quantum mechanics of Heisenberg and collaborators in late 1925. First, the old theory could not account convincingly for the superfluity of stationary states implied by the existence of the complex multiplets seen in most atomic spectra. Second, the progressively more complicated theories proposed for explaining the splittings of lines in the anomalous Zeeman effect were found to lead inevitably to glaring inconsistencies with the assumed mechanical equations of motion. Finally, there was the problem of the dual spectrum of helium, and even more basically, of the ground state energy of helium, all calculations of which in terms of specified electron orbits gave incorrect results. We relate the tangled history of the efforts to provide a theoretical resolution of these problems within the old quantum theory.

scholarly journals The theoretical prediction of the physical properties of many electron atoms and ions. Mole refraction, diamagnetic susceptibility, and extension in space

1927 ◽  
Vol 114 (767) ◽  
pp. 181-211 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Mechanics ◽  
Quantum Theory ◽  
Nuclear Charge ◽  
Electron Shell ◽  
Small Error ◽  
Screening Constant ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Average Value ◽  
Old Quantum Theory ◽  
Azimuthal Quantum Number

It is customary to express the empirical data concerning term values in the X-ray region by introducing an effective nuclear charge Z eff . e in the place of the true nuclear charge Z e in an equation theoretically applicable only to a hydrogen-like atom. Often a screening constant S is used, defined by the equation Z eff . = Z — S ; and this screening constant is qualitatively explained as due to the action of electrons which are nearer the nucleus than the electron under consideration, and which in effect partially neutralise the nuclear field. Thus the relativistic or magnetic doublet separation may be represented by the equation Δ v = R α 2 / n 3 k ( k — 1) (Z — s 0 ) 4 + ... This equation, including succeeding terms, was obtained originally by Sommer­feld from relativistic considerations with the old quantum theory; the first term, except for the screening constant s0, has now been derived by Heisenberg and Jordanf with the use of the quantum mechanics and the idea of the spinning electron. The value of the screening constant is known for a number of doublets, and it is found empirically not to vary with Z. It has been found possible to evaluate s 0 theoretically by means of the follow­ing treatment: (1) Each electron shell within the atom is idealised as a uniform surface charge of electricity of amount — z i e on a sphere whose radius is equal to the average value of the electron-nucleus distance of the electrons in the shell. (2) The motion of the electron under consideration is then deter­mined by the use of the old quantum theory, the azimuthal quantum number being chosen so as to produce the closest approximation to the quantum mechanics. (3) Since s 0 does not depend on Z, it is evaluated for large values of Z, by expanding in powers of z i /Z and neglecting powers higher than the first, and then comparing the expansion with that of the expression containing Z — s 0 in powers of s 0 /Z. The values of s 0 obtained in this way* are in satis­factory agreement with the empirical ones, the agreement being excellent in the case of orbits of large excentricity, for which the idealisation of the electron shells would be expected to introduce only a small error.

scholarly journals The Arithmetic of Uncertainty unifies Quantum Formalism and Relativistic Spacetime

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Skilling ◽  
Kevin Knuth
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Mechanics ◽  
Quantum Theory ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
One Dimension ◽  
Lorentz Transformations ◽  
Mathematical Structures ◽  
Modern Physics ◽  
Relativistic Spacetime ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Dimensions Of Space

The theories of quantum mechanics and relativity dramatically altered our understanding of the universe ushering in the era of modern physics. Quantum theory deals with objects probabilistically at small scales, whereas relativity deals classically with motion in space and time. We show here that the mathematical structures of quantum theory and of relativity follow together from pure thought, defined and uniquely constrained by the same elementary ``combining and sequencing'' symmetries that underlie standard arithmetic and probability. The key is uncertainty, which inevitably accompanies observation of quantity and imposes the use of pairs of numbers. The symmetries then lead directly to the use of complex \sqrt{-1} arithmetic, the standard calculus of quantum mechanics, and the Lorentz transformations of relativistic spacetime. One dimension of time and three dimensions of space are thus derived as the profound and inevitable framework of physics.

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