Practicing the correspondence principle in the old quantum theory. A transformation through implementation
type: Item
instance of: scholarly article
title: Practicing the correspondence principle in the old quantum theory. A transformation through implementation
zbMATH Open document ID: 1428.81004
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-13300-9
author: Martin Jähnert
published in: Archimedes
publication date: 2019-03-05T00:00:00Z
review text: 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 pr…
reviewed by: Bassano Vacchini
Mathematics Subject Classification ID: 81-03
Mathematics Subject Classification ID: 81P05
Mathematics Subject Classification ID: 01A60
Mathematics Subject Classification ID: 01-02
Mathematics Subject Classification ID: 00A79
zbMATH DE Number: 7032299
zbMATH Keywords: quantum theory
zbMATH Keywords: correspondence principle
zbMATH Keywords: atomic spectra
zbMATH Keywords: history of quantum mechanics
zbMATH Keywords: multiplet spectra
zbMATH Keywords: Ramsauer effect
MaRDI profile type: Publication
full work available at URL: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-13300-9
OpenAlex ID: W4251337050
description: scientific article; zbMATH DE number 7032299