Practicing the correspondence principle in the old quantum theory. A transformation through implementation
This book provides an original contribution to the study of the history of quantum mechanics. In the publication the author provides a new analysis of the role of the correspondence principle in the early developments of the quantum theory. The main thesis, supported by considering a vast and partially till now unexplored bibliography, is that the diffusion of the correspondence principle took place in the form of transformation through implementation. The basic idea of the correspondence principle was the connection between the motion of an electron and its radiation. First devised in Bohr's work on the modelling of the atom, this theoretical tool was later used to face different phenomena, and transformed in the act of being applied in different context. The book is divided in eight chapters. After introducing the main motivation and thesis in Chapter 1, in Chapter 2, the author discusses the introduction of the correspondence principle in Copenhagen and its development in the time span 1913--1923. Chapter 3 discusses reception and diffusion of the principle by other physicists working on the early developments of the quantum theory, in particular its adoption as research tool in the time span 1922 to 1926. Chapter 4 is devoted to Arnold Sommerfeld's research on the intensity problem for multiplets and his application of the principle in atomic spectroscopy, discussing in particular Sommerfeld's critical approach to the principle, which he termed ``a magic wand''. Chapter 5 explores the application of the principle in the much different setting of the research on the Ramsauer effect put forward by James Franck and Friedrich Hund. Chapter 6 further discusses the role of the correspondence principle in the work of Fritz Reiche on the quantum theory of radiation, leading to the relation among transition probabilities known as f-sum rule or Thomas-Reiche-Kuhn sum rule. Finally, Chapter 7 reports on the reaction in Copenhagen to the application of the correspondence principle in different groups during the 1920s and building on this introduces a new perspective in the interpretation of the seminal paper by Werner Heisenberg ``Über quantentheoretische Umdeutung kinematischer und mechanischer Beziehungen'', published in 1925, which is usually considered to lay the foundation for a new interpretation of the correspondence principle as a ``symbolic translation'' of classical into quantum theory. Chapter 8 provides a summary of the contents and main points advocated in the book. The monograph is carefully written and logically organised, it further provides valuable insights based on a rich historical documentation.
scientific article; zbMATH DE number 7032299