The New Quantum Mechanics

A 1928 overview of quantum mechanics, covering the theories of Heisenberg, de Broglie, Bose, Einstein, Fermi, Dirac and Schroedinger.

George Birtwistle (Author)

9781108005326, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 20 July 2009

312 pages
21.6 x 14 x 1.8 cm, 0.4 kg

George Birtwistle (1877–1929) published The New Quantum Mechanics in 1928. His stated aim was to give a detailed account of work which had brought the relatively new subject of quantum mechanics to the fore in the previous few years. The earlier chapters give a restatement of Alfred Landé's theory of multiplets which reconciles it with the new mechanics which follow. Later chapters present the matrix theory of Heisenberg, the q-number theory of Dirac and the wave mechanics of Schroedinger, and synthesise new theories, statistics and controversies in the work of de Broglie, Bose, Einstein, Fermi and Dirac. The book gives a complete overview of the state of quantum mechanics at the end of the second decade of the twentieth century, making it a valuable benchmark for historians of science and mathematicians alike.

1. The origin and development of the new quantum mechanics
2. The multiplets of series spectra and the l-s-j scheme of Landé
3. The normal and anomalous Zeeman effect
4. Atomic magnetism
5. Interpretation of the g-formula
6. X-ray spectra and their multiplet theory on the new mechanics
7. The Paschen–Back effect and the Sommerfeld formula
8. The new quantum kinematics of Heisenberg
9. The theory of Dirac
10. The harmonic oscillator
11. The canonical transformation
12. The anharmonic oscillator
13. Angular momentum relations
14. The theory of the Landé numbers
15. Intensity formulae for the Zeeman effect
16. The Dirac–Pauli calculations for hydrogen
17. Schroedinger's wave equation
18. Wave mechanics
19. Schroedinger's theory of the oscillator and rotator
20. The evaluation of the Heisenberg matrices by the use of the Schroedinger calculus
21. Perturbation theory in wave mechanics
22. Schroedinger's dispersion theory
23. Light quanta
24. The theory of the anomalous Zeeman effect on the new mechanics
25. The calculation of the Zeeman intensities for the D-doublet of the alkalis
26. Heisenberg's resonance theory of the ortho and para helium spectra
27. The effect of the spin of the electrons upon the helium spectrum
28. The new statistics of gases and radiation
29. The Fermi–Dirac theory of an ideal gas
30. Dirac's theory
31. The Dirac matrix transformation theory
32. The essential indefiniteness of quantum mechanics
Index.

Subject Areas: Probability & statistics [PBT]