Erwin Schrödinger and the rise of wave mechanics. III. Early response and applications

This article (Part III) deals with the early applications of wave mechanics to atomic problems—including the demonstration of the formal mathematical equivalence of wave mechanics with the quantum mechanics of Born, Heisenberg, and Jordan, and that of Dirac—by Schrödinger himself and others. The new theory was immediately accepted by the scientific community.This article (in three parts) is an expanded version of the Schrödinger Centenary Lecture delivered by me at CERN (Organisation Européenne pour la Recherche Nucléaire), 1211 Geneva 23, Switzerland, on July 30, 1987.     

Erwin Schrödinger and the rise of wave mechanics. I. Schrödinger's scientific work before the creation of wave mechanics

This article is in three parts. Part I gives an account of Erwin Schrödinger's growing up and studies in Vienna, his scientific work—first in Vienna from 1911 to 1920, then in Zurich from 1920 to 1925—on the dielectric properties of matter, atmospheric electricity and radioactivity, general relativity, color theory and physiological optics, and on kinetic theory and statistical mechanics. Part II deals with the creation of the theory of wave mechanics by Schrödinger in Zurich during the early months of 1926; he laid the foundations of this theory in his first two communications toAnnalen der Physik. Part III deals with the early applications of wave mechanics to atomic problems—including the demonstration of equivalence of wave mechanics with the quantum mechanics of Born, Heisenberg, and Jordan, and that of Dirac—by Schrödinger himself and others. The new theory was immediately accepted by the scientific community.This article (in three parts) is an expanded version of the Schrödinger Centenary Lecture delivered by me at CERN (Organisation Européenne pour la Recherche Nucléaire), 1211 Geneva 23, Switzerland, on July 30, 1987.     

Interference and interaction in Schrödinger's wave mechanics

Reminiscing on the fact that E. Schrödinger was rooted in the same physical tradition as M. Planck and A. Einstein, some aspects of his attitude to quantum mechanics are discussed. In particular, it is demonstrated that the quantum-mechanical paradoxes assumed by Einstein and Schrödinger should not exist, but that otherwise the epistemological problem of physical reality raised in this context by Einstein and Schrödinger is fundamental for our understanding of quantum theory. The nonexistence of such paradoxes just shows that quantum-mechanical effects are due to interference and not to interaction. This line of argument leads consequently to quantum field theories with second quantization, and accordingly quantum theory based both on Planck's constant h and on Democritus's atomism.     

Fractional corresponding operator in quantum mechanics and applications: A uniform fractional Schrödinger equation in form and fractional quantization methods

In this paper we use Dirac function to construct a fractional operator called fractional corresponding operator, which is the general form of momentum corresponding operator. Then we give a judging theorem for this operator and with this judging theorem we prove that R–L, G–L, Caputo, Riesz fractional derivative operator and fractional derivative operator based on generalized functions, which are the most popular ones, coincide with the fractional corresponding operator. As a typical application, we use the fractional corresponding operator to construct a new fractional quantization scheme and then derive a uniform fractional Schrödinger equation in form. Additionally, we find that the five forms of fractional Schrödinger equation belong to the particular cases. As another main result of this paper, we use fractional corresponding operator to generalize fractional quantization scheme by using Lévy path integral and use it to derive the corresponding general form of fractional Schrödinger equation, which consequently proves that these two quantization schemes are equivalent. Meanwhile, relations between the theory in fractional quantum mechanics and that in classic quantum mechanics are also discussed. As a physical example, we consider a particle in an infinite potential well. We give its wave functions and energy spectrums in two ways and find that both results are the same.     

Derivation of quantum mechanics from the Boltzmann equation for the Planck aether

The Planck aether hypothesis assumes that space is densely filled with an equal number of locally interacting positive and negative Planck masses obeying an exactly nonrelativistic law of motion. The Planck masses can be described by a quantum mechanical two-component nonrelativistic operator field equation having the form of a two-component nonlinear Schrödinger equation, with a spectrum of quasiparticles obeying Lorentz invariance as a dynamic symmetry for energies small compared to the Planck energy. We show that quantum mechanics itself can be derived from the Newtonian mechanics of the Planck aether as an approximate solution of Boltzmann's equation for the locally interacting positive and negative Planck masses, and that the validity of the nonrelativistic Schrödinger equation depends on Lorentz invariance as a dynamic symmetry. We also show how the many-body Schrödinger wave function can be factorized into a product of quasiparticles of the Planck aether with separable quantum potentials. Finally, we present a possible explanation of wave function collapse as a kind of enhanced gravitational collapse in the presence of the negative Planck masses.     

Erwin Schrödinger and the rise of wave mechanics. II. The creation of wave mechanics

This article (Part II) deals with the creation of the theory of wave mechanics by Erwin Schrödinger in Zurich during the early months of 1926; he laid the foundations of this theory in his first two communications toAnnalen der Physik. The background of Schrödinger's work on, and his actual creation of, wave mechanics are analyzed.This article (in three parts) is an expanded version of the Schrödinger Centenary Lecture delivered by the author at CERN (Organisation Européenne pour la Recherche Nucléaire), 1211 Geneva 23, Switzerland, on July 30, 1987.     

Bohmian trajectories of Airy packets

The discovery of Berry and Balazs in 1979 that the free-particle Schrödinger equation allows a non-dispersive and accelerating Airy-packet solution has taken the folklore of quantum mechanics by surprise. Over the years, this intriguing class of wave packets has sparked enormous theoretical and experimental activities in related areas of optics and atom physics. Within the Bohmian mechanics framework, we present new features of Airy wave packet solutions to Schrödinger equation with time-dependent quadratic potentials. In particular, we provide some insights to the problem by calculating the corresponding Bohmian trajectories. It is shown that by using general space–time transformations, these trajectories can display a unique variety of cases depending upon the initial position of the individual particle in the Airy wave packet. Further, we report here a myriad of nontrivial Bohmian trajectories associated to the Airy wave packet. These new features are worth introducing to the subject’s theoretical folklore in light of the fact that the evolution of a quantum mechanical Airy wave packet governed by the Schrödinger equation is analogous to the propagation of a finite energy Airy beam satisfying the paraxial equation. Numerous experimental configurations of optics and atom physics have shown that the dynamics of Airy beams depends significantly on initial parameters and configurations of the experimental set-up.     

On the quantization of dissipative systems

A recent paper of Dekker on the quantization of dissipative systems is examined in some detail. It is argued that one can construct a large number of classical equivalent Hamiltonians for damped systems. These can be formally quantized according to Dirac's method, and the resulting equations are mathematically consistent, but yield different eigenfunctions for the same classical system. However, this procedure should be rejected on physical grounds. That is in quantum mechanics, unlike classical dynamics, the definition of the time derivative of a dynamical variable is unique, and is given by the commutator of the proper Hamiltonian (or the energy operator) and that variable. If the proper Hamiltonian is used for the quantization of a damped system, then the quantal equations are inconsistent for the cases where the rate of energy dissipation depends on the velocity of the particle. As an alternative approach to the quantal theory of dissipative phenomena, a generalization of the Hamilton-Jacobi formalism is considered, where the equation for the principle functionS, depends not only on the space and time derivatives ofS, but onS itself. This leads to a new class of damped systems in classical mechanics. The original Schrödinger method of quantization via the Hamilton-Jacobi equation has been applied to this class of dissipative systems, with the result that the wave equation in this case is a solution of a non-linear Schrödinger-Langevin equation. This formulation has no analogue in the Hamiltonian approach, since in the latter, the resulting wave equation is always linear.Supported in part by a grant from the National Research Council of Canada.     

Toward a Finite-Dimensional Formulation of Quantum Field Theory

Rules of quantization and equations of motion for a finite-dimensional formulation of quantum field theory are proposed which fulfill the following properties: (a) Both the rules of quantization and the equations of motion are covariant; (b) the equations of evolution are second order in derivatives and first order in derivatives of the spacetime coordinates; and (c) these rules of quantization and equations of motion lead to the usual (canonical) rules of quantization and the (Schrödinger) equation of motion of quantum mechanics in the particular case of mechanical systems. We also comment briefly on further steps to fully develop a satisfactory quantum field theory and the difficuties which may be encountered when doing so.     

Can Dirac quantization of constrained systems be fulfilled within the intrinsic geometry?

For particles constrained on a curved surface, how to perform quantization within Dirac’s canonical quantization scheme is a long-standing problem. On one hand, Dirac stressed that the Cartesian coordinate system has fundamental importance in passing from the classical Hamiltonian to its quantum mechanical form while preserving the classical algebraic structure between positions, momenta and Hamiltonian to the extent possible. On the other, on the curved surface, we have no exact Cartesian coordinate system within intrinsic geometry. These two facts imply that the three-dimensional Euclidean space in which the curved surface is embedded must be invoked otherwise no proper canonical quantization is attainable. In this paper, we take a minimum surface, helicoid, on which the motion is constrained, to explore whether the intrinsic geometry offers a proper framework in which the quantum theory can be established in a self-consistent way. Results show that not only an inconsistency within Dirac theory occurs, but also an incompatibility with Schrödinger theory happens. In contrast, in three-dimensional Euclidean space, the Dirac quantization turns out to be satisfactory all around, and the resultant geometric momentum and potential are then in agreement with those given by the Schrödinger theory.     

On probability theory and probabilistic physics—Axiomatics and methodology

A new formulation involving fulfillment of all the Kolmogorov axioms is suggested for acomplete probability theory. This proves to be not a purely mathematical discipline. Probability theory deals with abstract objects—images of various classes of concrete objects—whereas experimental statistics deals with concrete objects alone. Both have to be taken into account. Quantum physics and classical statistical physics prove to be different aspects ofone probabilistic physics. The connection of quantum mechanics with classical statistical mechanics is examined and the origin of the Schrödinger equation is elucidated. Attention is given to the true meaning of the wave-corpuscle duality, and the incompleteness of nonrelativistic quantum mechanics is explained.     

Nonspreading wave packets in quantum mechanics

In this paper a nonspreading, unnormalizable wave packet satisfying the Schrödinger equation is constructed. A modification of the Schrödinger equation is considered which allows the normalization of the wave packet. The case is generalized for relativistic mechanics.     

Precanonical quantization of Yang-Mills fields and the functional Schrödinger representation

Precanonical quantization of pure Yang-Mills fields, which is based on the covariant De Donder-Weyl (DW) Hamiltonian formulation, and its connection with the functional Schrödinger representation in the temporal gauge are discussed. The mass gap problem is related to the finite-dimensional spectral problem for a generalized Clifford-valued magnetic Schrödinger operator which represents the DW Hamiltonian operator.     

Shape invariance and the exactness of the quantum Hamilton-Jacobi formalism

Quantum Hamilton-Jacobi theory and supersymmetric quantum mechanics (SUSYQM) are two parallel methods to determine the spectra of a quantum mechanical systems without solving the Schrödinger equation. It was recently shown that the shape invariance, which is an integrability condition in SUSYQM formalism, can be utilized to develop an iterative algorithm to determine the quantum momentum functions. In this Letter, we show that shape invariance also suffices to determine the eigenvalues in quantum Hamilton-Jacobi theory.     

Entwined pairs and Schrödinger’s equation

We show that a point particle moving in space-time on entwined-pair paths generates Schrödinger’s equation in a static potential in the appropriate continuum limit. This provides a new realist context for the Schrödinger equation within the domain of classical stochastic processes. It also suggests that ‘self-quantizing’ systems may provide considerable insight into conventional quantum mechanics.     

Classical approach to quantum theory

A formulation of nonrelativistic, spinless, quantum mechanics is presented which is based on four postulates. Three of the postulates are very analogous to relations that hold in an operator formulation of classical mechanics, and the fourth is that the wave function evolves linearly in time. The conventional statistical assertions of quantum theory as well as the Schrödinger equation are recovered.     

A quantum mechanical twin paradox

When a quantummechanical wavepacket undergoes a series of Galilean boosts, the Schrödinger theory predicts the occurrence of a geometrical phase effect that is an example of Berry's phase (Sagnac's phase). In the present paper the conceptual consequences of this phenomenon are considered, in particular for the status of Galilean invariance in nonrelativistic quantum mechanics, and for the relation between that theory and classical physics.     

Where and why the generalized Hamilton-Jacobi representation describes microstates of the Schrödinger wave function

A generalized Hamilton-Jacobi representation describes microstates of the Schrödinger wave function for bound states. At the very points that boundary values are applied to the bound state Schrödinger wave function, the generalized Hamilton-Jacobi equation for quantum mechanics exhibits a nodal singularity. For initial value problems, the two representations are equivalent.     

Probability Current and Trajectory Representation

A unified form for real and complex wave functions is proposed for the stationary case, and the quantum Hamilton-Jacobi equation is derived in the three-dimensional space. The difficulties which appear in Bohm's theory like the vanishing value of the conjugate momentum in the real wave function case are surmounted. In one dimension, a new form of the general solution of the quantum Hamilton-Jacobi equation leading straightforwardly to the general form of the Schrödinger wave function is proposed. For unbound states, it is shown that the invariance of the reduced action under a dilatation plus a rotation of the wave function in the complex space implies that microstates do not appear. For bound states, it is shown that some freedom subsists and gives rise to the manifestation of microstates not detected by the Schrödinger wave function.