Setting out from accepted physical principles along a purely mathematical line of thought, new ideas about energy are introduced having profound theoretical and practical consequences. Einstein's 1905 mass energy equivalence equation is shown to have an expanded phasor form that reveals additional subtle aspects of the relationships between energy, mass and momentum. These insights lead to compelling new ideas concerning the nature of quantum mechanical phenomena.
Setting out from accepted physical principles along a purely mathematical line of thought, new ideas about energy are introduced having profound theoretical and practical consequences. Einstein's 1905 mass energy equivalence equation is shown to have an expanded phasor form that reveals additional subtle aspects of the relationships between energy, mass and momentum. These insights lead to compelling new ideas concerning the nature of quantum mechanical phenomena.
In this paper, we discuss in brief the most common wave equations in quantum mechanics and some recent development in wave mechanics. We also present two new quantum wave mechanics equations based on the Compton momentum. We also question the idea that energy and mass are scalars, and we claim they are vectors instead. We have good reasons to think that the standard momentum is a mathematical derivative of the more fundamental Compton momentum. This will hopefully simplify interpretations of quantum mechanics significantly; our new relativistic wave equations look promising, but need further investigation into what they predict. This way of looking at quantum mechanics in new light is not in conflict with existing equations, but they are supplemental to the collection of existing wave equations. We prove mathematically that if one satisfies our new relativistic energy Compton momentum relation, one also satisfies the standard relativistic energy momentum relation automatically. They are two sides of the same coin, where the relations to the Compton wavelength likely represent the deeper reality, so we have reasons to think our new wave mechanics addresses a deeper level of understanding than the existing conception. We also look at our new wave equation in relation to hydrogen-like atoms; we follow the “standard approach” used for the Schro dinger equation of putting it in polar coordinate form and, by change of variables, finding three ODEs and their solutions. We give a table summary of our new ODEs and their solutions compared to the well-known solutions of the Schro dinger equation.
The relativistic energy-momentum relationship is far more subtle than it seems to be at a first sight. As concerns the relativistic quantum mechanics, its underlying equations were deduced from, or in relation with the relativistic energy-momentum relationship by means of the principle of correspondence. Without a clear physical role and meaning associated, the matrices of the Dirac equation seemed to confirm that the principle of the physical determination of equations would not be proper to the new quantum mechanics. Therefore, we have to search for genuine physical information in the terms of the underlying equations of the relativistic quantum mechanics. This information concerns a level of structure of matter “even below that on which nuclear transformations take place.”
Despite its successes, quantum mechanics (QM) has remained mysterious to all who have encountered it. Starting with Bohr and progressing into the present, the departure from intuitive, physical reality has widened. The connection between QM and reality is more than just a “philosophical” issue. It reveals that QM is not a correct or complete theory of the physical world and that inescapable internal inconsistencies and incongruities arise when attempts are made to treat it as physical as opposed to a purely mathematical “tool.” Some of these issues are discussed in a review by F. Laloe [Am. J. Phys. 69, 655 (2001)]. In an attempt to provide some physical insight into atomic problems and starting with the same essential physics as Bohr of e moving in the Coulombic field of the proton and the wave equation as modified by Schrodinger, a classical approach is explored that yields a remarkably accurate model and provides insight into physics on the atomic level. The proverbial view, deeply seated in the wave-particle duality notion, that there is no large-scale physical counterpart to the nature of the electron may not be correct. Physical laws and intuition may be restored when dealing with the wave equation and quantummechanical problems. Specifically, a theory of classical quantum mechanics (CQM) is derived from first principles that successfully applies physical laws on all scales. Rather than using the postulated Schrodinger boundary condition “Ψ → 0 as r → ∞,” which leads to a purely mathematical model of the electron, the constraint is based on experimental observation. Using Maxwell’s equations, the classical wave equation is solved with the constraint that the bound (n = 1)state electron cannot radiate energy. By further application of Maxwell’s equations to electromagnetic and gravitational fields at particle production, the Schwarzschild metric is derived from the classical wave equation, which modifies general relativity to include conservation of spacetime in addition to momentum and matter/energy. The result gives a natural relationship among Maxwell’s equations, special relativity, and general relativity. CQM holds over a scale of spacetime of 85 orders of magnitude — it correctly predicts the nature of the universe from the scale of the quarks to that of the cosmos. A review is given by G. Landvogt [Internat. J. Hydrogen Energy 28, 1155 (2003)].
Chapter 4 deals with Quantum Mechanical (QM) phenomena. The first section describes the first attempts at quantization of energy, momentum, angular momentum, etc. We start with Plank's solution to the black-body problem, introducing the concept of photons: discrete packets of electromagnetic energy. We show how Plank's description of black-body radiation is perfectly fit by the cosmic microwave radiation, providing the strongest evidence for the Big-Bang at the origin of the Universe. We then describe Bohr's solution to the paradoxical stability of atoms, introducing quantization of angular momentum (or action) and correctly predicting the energy levels of the hydrogen atom. We show how Einstein used Plank's idea to explain the photo-electric effect (an effect exploited in CCD cameras and solar cells) and how he used Bohr's understanding of energy levels in atoms to provide an intuitive explanation of Plank's law. Einstein insight opened the way to the field of spectroscopy and the development of the laser. In the second section, following the lead of Dirac, we show that QM is equivalent to Linear Algebra in the space of complex functions (which describe the state of the system). We show that Schrödinger's equation is a natural consequence of that description, once the relation between energy and frequency established by Plank (for photons) and de Broglie (for particles) is taken into account. In the context of the chiral ammonia molecule we discuss the queerness of QM which describes physical systems as superposition of states (such as left and right chirality state of a molecule, dead and alive cat). We show that this queerness is nonetheless supported by experiments and is behind much of our technology: masers and lasers, atomic clocks, semiconductors (diodes, transistors, etc.). In the following section we introduce the representation of operators in QM (the equivalent of matrices in linear algebra): momentum, position, energy, etc. which correspond to measurements on the system. We show that the non-commutability of some operators (common with matrix operations) leads to Heisenberg uncertainty principle: the position and momentum of a particle cannot be determined with absolute precision. We discuss the solution of Schrödinger's equation for free particles demonstrating their equivalence with EM phenomena: particles undergo refraction and diffraction, exemplifying the particle/wave duality inherent to QM systems. We discuss QM tunneling and its use in the Scanning Tunneling Microscope. In the following section we study Dirac's equation: the successful attempt by Dirac to unify QM with Einstein's relativity, with the resulting prediction of anti-particles and spin. We then solve for the energy levels of electrons in the hydrogen atom (from Schrödinger's equation) and show that the existence of spin profoundly affects the behavior of electrons in an atom: they cannot share the same energy level, a rule known as Pauli's exclusion principle. Pauli's principle is central to the understanding of the chemical properties of atoms and fully explains Mendeleev's periodic table of the elements. In the next section we discuss along with two exactly soluble systems (diatomic rotational and vibrational levels), various approximations used to study systems (e.g. molecules) for which there are no analytical solutions. In particular, we introduce Pauling's variational approach, Hückel molecular orbital theory and time independent perturbation theory. We apply those approaches to determine the energy levels in alkenes, in multi-electron atoms and in systems under constant electric or magnetic field (such as in Magnetic Resonance Imaging). In the last section we discuss time dependent perturbation theory. We use it to establish the rules allowing for transitions between energy levels and revisit Einstein description of absorption/emission phenomena.
Einstein’s 1905 paper on the photoelectric effect, in which he considered Planck’s idea of quanta of energy to be a universal characteristic of light, marks the beginning of quantum theory. For over ten years Einstein stood alone on the issue of energy quantization of light; and although in 1915 experimental conrmation of his photoelectric effect came from painstaking experiments performed by Millikan, acceptance of the idea that light was composed of particles was far from universal. Millikan himself wrote in 1915: “Despite … the apparent complete success of the Einstein equation, the physical theory of which it was designed to be the symbolic expression is found so untenable that Einstein himself, I believe, no longer holds to it.” Einstein did hold to it. It was only in the mid 1920s, when Heisenberg, Schrödinger, Dirac, and others developed the rst forms of quantum theory, that serious discussions concerning the particle nature of light and the meaning of the new theory began. Discussions about the meaning of quantum theory continue today.
It is well known that the mass of a particle has properties different from Newtonian mechanics. First, it is speed-dependent. Second, it is convertible to energy. These properties were generally thought to be derived from the principle of relativity (PR). We have conducted a careful examination of the historical records and found that the non-Newtonian properties of mass were derived not so much based on PR, but more based on Einstein’s intuitive thinking that radiation and matters behave similarly. This gives us a hint: Since both photon and electron can behave as a particle as well as a wave, can such a wave nature account for the deviations from Newtonian mechanics? Thus, we have developed a wave model to describe the motion of a free particle with or without rest mass. We found that both the speed-dependence of mass and the mass-energy equivalence can indeed be derived based on the wave properties of a particle. This wave hypothesis has several advantages; it can naturally explain why particles can be created in the vacuum and why a particle cannot travel faster than the speed of light.