The birth of quantum mechanics from the spirit of radiation theory

Blum, Alexander S.; Jähnert, Martin

doi:10.1016/j.shpsa.2021.11.004

Cited by 9 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 86 publications

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“…The Bohr model is an excellent test case for realism. First, the model is both a part of a trajectory of research in early quantum theory and a model used to this day (Blum andJähnert 2022, Gao 2021). Second, it has clear empirical support and clear exploratory and explanatory use, suggesting it as a candidate for realist interpretation.…”

Section: [41]: the Bohr Model Of The Atommentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, to treat the model as unreal would be to admit that a model that is successful in its explanations of a particular phenomenon (the Balmer series atomic line spectra) is unreal. Moreover, the model was used as an exploratory tool as well, to develop later models that eliminated and/or ameliorated the troubling aspects of the original (see Blum andJähnert 2022, Pais 1986). Given that most arguments for realism find at least some warrant or motivation in the explanatory power of models, the Bohr model is a troubling case for the realist: it is precisely the sort of model that seemingly supports the PMI.…”

Section: ]: the Process Interpretationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, in the developing quantum paradigm, this is not the case. Electromagnetic energy is understood instead as the result of transitions without underliers (Blum and Jähnert 2022).…”

Section: ]: the Process Interpretationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These contexts give us license to search for more precise characterizations by the addition or precisification of relations between these measurables. Moreover, we notice two points: (a) we explore more precise characterizations without fear that we will contravene the original identified processes, since these identifications are related to experimental dynamics, not to literal referents, and (b) this exploration and precisification through addition of measurables and more nuanced experiments is exactly the trajectory by which the Bohr model developed in history (Blum and Jähnert 2022).…”

Section: ]: the Process Interpretationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Pure Process Realism: The Unification of Realism and Empiricism

PENN

2024

Manuscrito

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I describe the key features of pure process realismrealism about the processes that are identified by experimental dynamics structured by scientific models-showing that the view meets criteria for scientific realism. I argue that process realism resolves many of the worries of the antirealist, including the problems of idealization, underdetermination, contextuality, multiplicity, and the pessimistic meta-induction. I show this resolution in the context of a contentious model from physics: the Bohr model of the atom. I then generalize from this discussion to a collection of upshots and constraints on process realism as a view, in order to further distinguish it from orthodox, substanceparadigmatic-or thing-realism. Therefore, pure process realism is shown to be a form of realism compatible with empiricism.

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Section: [41]: the Bohr Model Of The Atommentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: ]: the Process Interpretationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, in the developing quantum paradigm, this is not the case. Electromagnetic energy is understood instead as the result of transitions without underliers (Blum and Jähnert 2022).…”

Section: ]: the Process Interpretationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: ]: the Process Interpretationmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Pure Process Realism: The Unification of Realism and Empiricism

PENN

2024

Manuscrito

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“…As Blum and Martin Jähnert argued, the BKS theory was at the end of a chain of developments, one of the last links of which was the ersatzoszillatoren (substitute oscillators) (Blum and Jähnert 2022). This concept, named as such in 1923 by Rudolf Ladenburg and Fritz Reiche in their theory of quantum dispersion, was identical in many respects to virtual oscillators (Ladenburg and Reiche 1923).…”

Section: The Meaning(s) Of the Virtualmentioning

confidence: 99%

Virtuality in Modern Physics in the 1920s and 1930s: Meaning(s) of an Emerging Notion

Martinez

2024

Perspectives on Science

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This article discusses the meaning of the notion of virtuality in modern physics. To this end, it develops considerations on the introduction and establishment in nuclear physics of two independent concepts at the turn of the 1920s and 1930s: that of the virtual state, used in the context of neutron scattering studies, and that of the virtual transition, useful for the theoretical understanding of strong nuclear forces, which forms the basis of what are now called virtual particles. Their comparative analysis highlights the theoretical nature of virtual entities and processes in modern physics. It also shows how the virtual has been associated with various purely physical attributes, leading to a form of polysemy of the term, from the beginning of the application of these concepts.

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Quantum mechanics, radiation, and the equivalence proof

Blum,

Jähnert

2024

Arch. Hist. Exact Sci.

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This paper re-evaluates the formative year of quantum mechanics—from Heisenberg’s first paper on matrix mechanics to Schrödinger’s equivalence proof—by focusing on the role of radiation in the emerging theory. We argue that the radiation problem played a key role in early quantum mechanics, a role that has not been taken into account in the standard histories. Radiation was perceived by the main protagonists of matrix and wave mechanics as a central lacuna in these emerging theories and continued to contribute to the theoretical development and conceptual clarification of quantum mechanics. Studying the interplay between quantum mechanics and radiation, the paper provides an account of (a) how quantum mechanics was able to connect to its empirical basis in spectroscopy and (b) how Schrödinger’s equivalence proof emerged from his explorative calculations on the emission of radiation.

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The birth of quantum mechanics from the spirit of radiation theory

Cited by 9 publications

References 86 publications

Pure Process Realism: The Unification of Realism and Empiricism

Pure Process Realism: The Unification of Realism and Empiricism

Virtuality in Modern Physics in the 1920s and 1930s: Meaning(s) of an Emerging Notion

Quantum mechanics, radiation, and the equivalence proof

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