Collected Papers on Wave Mechanics

Erwin Schrödinger

American Mathematical Soc., 2003 - Mathematics - 208 pages

The famous equation that bears Erwin Schrödinger's name encapsulates his profound contributions to quantum mechanics using wave mechanics. This third, augmented edition of his papers on the topic contains the six original, famous papers in which Schrödinger created and developed the subject of wave mechanics as published in the original edition. As the author points out, at the time each paper was written the results of the later papers were largely unknown to him. This edition also contains three papers that were written shortly after the original edition was published and four lectures delivered by Schrödinger at the Royal Institution in London in 1928. The papers and lectures in this volume were revised by the author and translated into English, and afford the reader a striking and valuable insight into how wave mechanics developed.

Contents

• QUANTISATION As A PROBLEM OF PROPER VALUES PART I: 1
• THE CONTINUOUS TRANSITION FROM MICRO To MACROMECHANICS: 41
• QUANTISATION As A PROBLEM OF PROPER VALUES_ PART III: 62
• QUANTISATION As A PROBLEM OF PROPER VALUES PART IV: 102
• THE COMPTON EFFECT: 124
• THE ENERGYMOMENTUM THEOREM FOR MATERIAL WAvEs: 130
• THE EXCHANGE OF ENERGY ACCORDING To WAVE MECHANICS: 137
• DERIVATION OF THE FUNDAMENTAL IDEA 0P WAVE MECHANICS: 155
• BOHRS STATIONARY ENERGYLEVELS DERIVED As THE FREQUENCIES: 163
• ROUCH DESCRIPTION OF THE WAVESYSTEMS IN THE HYDROGEN: 168
• The physical meaning of the wave function Explana: 170
• Derivation of the wave equation properly speaking: 176
• THEORY OE SECONDARY RADIATION AND DISPERSION: 181
• Theory of resonance radiation and of changes of: 185
• Extension of wave mechanics to systems other than: 189
• CORRECTION ROR MOTION OR THE NUCLEUS IN THE HYDROGEN: 197
• 4 Interaction between two arbitrary systems: 203

About the author

Born and educated in Vienna, Erwin Schrodinger received his Ph.D. in 1910 from the University of Vienna. He developed the theory of wave mechanics (1925--26). For this theory, which furnished a solid mathematical explanation of quantum theory, Schrodinger shared the Nobel Prize in 1933 with Paul Dirac. Schrodinger was dissatisfied with Niels Bohr's early quantum theory of the atom, objecting to the many arbitrary quantum rules imposed. Building on Louis-Victor De Broglie's idea that a moving atomic particle has a wave character, Schrodinger developed a famous wave equation that describes the behavior of an electron orbiting the nucleus of an atom. When applied to the hydrogen atom, the equation yielded all the results of Bohr and De Broglie, and was also used as a tool to solve a wide range of new problems in which quantization occurs. In 1927 Schrodinger succeeded Max Planck at the University of Berlin but resigned in 1933 when the Nazis came to power. He left then for England, becoming a guest professor at Oxford University. In 1936 he returned to Austria, but then fled in 1938 under the threat of Nazi arrest and was invited to Dublin's newly established Institute for Advanced Studies. He remained there from 1940 until his retirement in 1956, when he returned to his native Austria and to the University of Vienna, where he held his last chair in theoretical physics. In 1944 Schrodinger published What Is Life? The Physical Aspects of a Living Cell, a book that had a tremendous impact on a new generation of scientists. The book directed young physicists who were disillusioned by the Hiroshima bombing to an unexplored discipline free of military applications---molecular biology. Schrodinger proposed the existence of a molecular code as the genetic basis of life, inspiring an entire generation to explore this idea.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Collected Papers on Wave Mechanics; Volume 302 of AMS Chelsea Publishing Series
• Author: Erwin Schrödinger
• Edition: illustrated, reprint
• Publisher: American Mathematical Soc., 2003
• ISBN: 0821835246, 9780821835241
• Length: 208 pages
• Subjects: Mathematics / Applied; Mathematics / General; Science / Physics / Mathematical & Computational; Science / Waves & Wave Mechanics