Abstract
THIS book is concerned more with the ideas upon which quantum mechanics is based than with the applications of the theory to physical problems. The book opens with a general discussion of the principle of duality between waves and particles, followed by a chapter on the theory of photons, in which the idea of a wave function for a single light quantum is introduced. A wave theory of matter is then developed along unusual lines. Electric charge is treated as a fluid which obeys hydro-dynamical laws, and by means of certain special assumptions its behaviour is shown to be governed by a wave equation equivalent to that of Schrödinger. Thus, without interpreting any of the symbols in terms of probability, a considerable number of the results of wave mechanics can be deduced, including the energy levels of a hydrogen atom and the splitting in a magnetic field. The treatment is complicated and involves a considerable amount of mathematics, and therefore can scarcely be recommended to abeginner.
An Introduction to Quantum Theory.
By Dr. G. Temple. Pp. 196. (London: Williams and Norgate, Ltd., 1931.) 12s. 6d. net
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Physics. Nature 128, 960 (1931). https://doi.org/10.1038/128960c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/128960c0