From aether impulse to QED: Sommerfeld and the Bremsstrahlen theory. (English) Zbl 1320.81014
Summary: The radiation that is due to the braking of charged particles has been in the focus of theoretical physics since the discovery of X-rays by the end of the 19th century. The impact of cathode rays in the anti-cathode of an X-ray tube that resulted in the production of X-rays led to the view that X-rays are aether impulses spreading from the site of the impact. In 1909, Arnold Sommerfeld calculated from Maxwell’s equations the angular distribution of electromagnetic radiation due to the braking of electrons. He thereby coined the notion of “Bremsstrahlen.” In 1923, Hendrik A. Kramers provided a quantum theoretical explanation of this process by means of Bohr’s correspondence principle. With the advent of quantum mechanics the theory of bremsstrahlung became a target of opportunity for theorists like Yoshikatsu Sugiura, Robert Oppenheimer, and-again-Sommerfeld, who presented in 1931 a comprehensive treatise on this subject. Throughout the 1930s, Sommerfeld’s disciples in Munich and elsewhere extended and improved the bremsstrahlen theory. Hans Bethe and Walter Heitler, in particular, in 1934 presented a theory that was later regarded as “the most important achievement of QED in the 1930s” (Freeman Dyson). From a historical perspective the bremsstrahlen problem may be regarded as a probe for the evolution of theories in response to revolutionary changes in the underlying principles.
MSC:
| 81-03 | History of quantum theory |
| 78-03 | History of optics and electromagnetic theory |
| 01A50 | History of mathematics in the 18th century |
| 01A60 | History of mathematics in the 20th century |
| 78A40 | Waves and radiation in optics and electromagnetic theory |
| 78A55 | Technical applications of optics and electromagnetic theory |
| 81V10 | Electromagnetic interaction; quantum electrodynamics |
| 81V80 | Quantum optics |
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