The Quantum Puzzle: Critique of Quantum Theory and Electrodynamics: CRITIQUE QUANTUM THEORY & ELECTRODYN - Hardcover

Barry R. Clarke

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 981469696X ISBN 13: 9789814696968

Publisher: World Scientific Publishing Company, 2017

Synopsis

In 1861, James Clerk-Maxwell published Part II of his four-part series 'On physical lines of force'. In it, he attempted to construct a vortex model of the magnetic field but after much effort neither he, nor other late nineteenth century physicists who followed him, managed to produce a workable theory. What survived from these attempts were Maxwell's four equations of electrodynamics together with the Lorentz force law, formulae that made no attempt to describe an underlying reality but stood only as a mathematical description of the observed phenomena. When the quantum of action was introduced by Planck in 1900 the difficulties that had faced Maxwell's generation were still unresolved. Since then theories of increasing mathematical complexity have been constructed to attempt to bring the totality of phenomena into order with little success. This work examines the problems that had been abandoned long before quantum mechanics was formulated in 1925 and argues that these issues need to be revisited before real progress in the quantum theory of the electromagnetic field can be made.

About this title

From the Back Cover

This book takes the reader on a historical tour through the key theories of quantum physics, highlighting the main lines of development up to 1925, and pointing out the conceptual difficulties that have arisen. Each theory is presented with clarity and completeness to allow the reader easy access to the derivations. Relevant diagrams are included to illustrate the arguments throughout. The HeisenbergBohr program, in which only a theory of observables is permitted, has obstructed researchers from searching for a workable model of the interaction of radiation and atoms. A more productive program would be to free the investigator to posit possible unobservable realities and, to this end, new lines of investigation are suggested for the reader to consider. Designed for advanced undergraduate and graduate students, this refreshing approach presents the nature of light quantum, mass, charge, electric potential, and the structure of atomic hydrogen as conceptual problems that are still essentially unsolved.

Edition details

• Publisher: World Scientific Publishing Company
• Publication date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 981469696X
• ISBN 13: 9789814696968
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 400