Early Quantum Electrodynamics

Description

"This book provides a panoramic view during 1927-1938 of the development of a physical theory that has been on the cutting edge of theoretical physics ever since P. A. M. Dirac's quantization of the electromagnetic field in 1927: quantum electrodynamics. Like the classic papers chosen for this volume, the introductory Frame-Setting Essay emphasizes conceptual transformations that carried physicists to the threshold of renormalization theory. For the most part the leaders in fundamental developments in quantum electro-dynamics were the same physicists whose focus on conceptual issues led to quantum mechanics: Niels Bohr, P. A. M. Dirac, Werner Heisenberg and Wolfgang Pauli. Once again they turned to insights and methods that had been so successful in formulating quantum mechanics, such as seeking transformations of the concept of intuition and correspondence-limit methods. Along this route they tried to formulate a version of quantum mechanics consistent with special relativity and gauge invariance that could treat with no divergences the interaction between light and electrons. It spawned theoretical nuclear physics and set the stage for the post-war formulation of a divergenceless quantum electrodynamics by Sin-Itoro Tomonaga, Richard P. Feynman and Julian Schwinger." "In 1949 Freeman J. Dyson emphasized that, in fact, 'no new ideas or techniques' were required for this breakthrough. Then why had a proper renormalized quantum electrodynamics not occurred earlier? This is one among several problems addressed here that take us into the realm of the history of scientific ideas. For example, the published papers and correspondence of Bohr, Dirac, Heisenberg and Pauli take us through a fascinating analysis into the meaning and structure of a scientific theory.". "The subject matter of this book goes beyond the historical and philosophical into current physics. The astounding theoretical and experimental successes of quantum electrodynamics have set this theory as the model for elementary particle physics research. In this way have emerged the stunning successes in quantum chromodynamics, and particularly in the unification of electromagnetic and weak interactions. It is noteworthy that the similarity between quantum electrodynamics and quantum chromodynamics has led some physicists to realize the importance of calculational techniques from the early quantum electrodynamics such as effective Lagrangians. Unavailability of English-language versions of certain key papers, some of which are included in this volume, has prevented their implications from being fully realized. Awareness of research from sixty years ago could well provide insights for future developments."--BOOK JACKET.

First Sentence

Prior to and into the first decade of Niels Bohr's 1913 atomic theory, physicists dealt with physical systems in which the usual space and time pictures of classical physics were assumed trustworthy and so could be extrapolated to any sort of matter in motion, for example, electrons move like billiard balls and light behaves analogously to water waves.

Subjects

Other Editions

• Early quantum electrodynamics: a source bookCambridge1994-01-01
• Early Quantum ElectrodynamicsPaperbackCambridge University Press1995-10-27
• Early Quantum ElectrodynamicsCambridge University Press2012-01-01