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arXiv:2309.16676

On a Seldom Oversight in Fermi's Calculations: Seventy Years Later

Sergeĭ K. Suslov

Published Jul 9, 2023• 0 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We discuss an unfortunate mistake, for a Dirac free particle, in the last Fermi lecture notes on quantum mechanics, in a course given at the University of Chicago in winter and spring of 1954. As is demonstrated, the correct result can be obtained by a simple matrix multiplication. An attempt to collect a relevant bibliography is made.
DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2309.16676

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The table on page 41 of the June 2002 issue of Physics Today lists the courses that Enrico Fermi taught at the University of Chicago. However, it omits his last course, Quantum Mechanics (Physics 341–342), which he taught in the winter and spring of 1954. I still have my set of Fermi’s mimeographed handwritten notes that Valentine Telegdi mentions. Those notes were later published as Notes on Quantum Mechanics by the University of Chicago Press in 1961, with a second edition in 1995.© 2002 American Institute of Physics.
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