In 1923 Louis de Broglie arrived at a shocking notion of matter waves through reasoning so forceful that Albert Einstein and a few quantum experts took it seriously. The purpose of this paper is to analyze de Broglie's discovery and to show how some of his heuristics prevented him to introduce the equation that now bears Schrödinger’s name.
In 1923 Louis de Broglie arrived at a shocking notion of matter waves through reasoning so forceful that Albert Einstein and a few quantum experts took it seriously. The purpose of this paper is to analyze de Broglie's discovery and to show how some of his heuristics prevented him to introduce the equation that now bears Schrödinger’s name.
Abstract We now leave the period of the old quantum theory and turn to the time of transition, during which matter waves were being discussed by a tiny group of physicists at a time when matter wave mechanics had not yet been discovered. This period begins in September 1923 with two brief communications by Louis de Broglie to the French Academy of Sciences [Bl, B2]. It ends in January 1926 with Schroedinger’s first paper on wave mechanics [S1). The main purpose of this chapter is to stress Einstein’s key role in these developments, his influence on de Broglie, de Broglie’s subsequent influence on him, and, finally, the influence of both on Schroedinger. Neither directly nor indirectly did Einstein contribute to an equally fundamental development that preceded Schroedinger’s discovery of wave mechanics: the discovery of matrix mechanics by Heisenberg [H1]. Therefore, I shall have no occasion in this book to comment in any detail on Heisenberg’s major achievements.
The fundamental question in this manuscript is: “Is it possible to build matter out of Light (confined electromagnetic waves)?” To answer this question we first have to answer the question how we have come to this world of Probability Waves and Elementary Particles and Quantum Physics. Louis de Broglie described in 1924 in his PhD thesis the wave properties of matter. Erwin Schrödinger published in 1926 the well-known Schrödinger wave equation with the characteristic spherical and elliptical wave solutions. To describe these material waves, the immediately and first explanation was: “There is only one possibility. These are “electromagnetic waves”. De Broglie waves are ” Light Waves”. Because these were the only waves, known in the world of Physics. But there was a fundamental problem. These material waves, discovered by Louis de Broglie and mathematically described by Erwin Schrödinger could never be solutions of the well-known 4 equations of James Clerk Maxwell. The material waves were spherical and elliptical solutions and that was impossible for the solutions of the Maxwell Equations. According to the Maxwell Equations, light always travels along a straight path. A second problem was that the model of the atom of Bohr could not hold. How could an electron be everywhere at the same time in a kind of a spherical shell surrounding the nucleus. And be a particle at the same time. And Bohr found a compromise to declare the “De Broglie” waves to be the probability waves. Two problems were solved. Bohr’s planetary model could hold. And there was a name for the unknown material waves, discovered by Louis de Broglie and mathematically described by Erwin Schrödinger. The theory of “Probability Waves, Elementary Particles and Quantum Physics” had been created. To find a possibility, to create matter out of light we have to go back to the Equations of James Clerk Maxwell. The only possibility to declare the probability waves, discovered by Louis de Broglie, to be electromagnetic waves, to be light, and to be the building element of our universe, is to find evidence that he Maxwell Equations are not complete and that it is possible to confine light (electromagnetic waves) in spherical and elliptical shapes. A new equation has to be found. In this article it has been claimed that this missing equation is equation (5). Because the Theory of General Relativity has been built on the Einstein-Maxwell Equation, a new equation has to be found that describes in a generalized way the interaction between light and matter. This missing equation is equation (5-a).
The fundamental question in this manuscript is: “Is it possible to build matter out of Light (confined electromagnetic waves)?” To answer this question we first have to answer the question how we have come to this world of Probability Waves and Elementary Particles and Quantum Physics. Louis de Broglie described in 1924 in his PhD thesis the wave properties of matter. Erwin Schrödinger published in 1926 the well-known Schrödinger wave equation with the characteristic spherical and elliptical wave solutions. To describe these material waves, the immediately and first explanation was: “There is only one possibility. These are “electromagnetic waves”. De Broglie waves are ” Light Waves”. Because these were the only waves, known in the world of Physics. But there was a fundamental problem. These material waves, discovered by Louis de Broglie and mathematically described by Erwin Schrödinger could never be solutions of the well-known 4 equations of James Clerk Maxwell. The material waves were spherical and elliptical solutions and that was impossible for the solutions of the Maxwell Equations. According to the Maxwell Equations, light always travels along a straight path. A second problem was that the model of the atom of Bohr could not hold. How could an electron be everywhere at the same time in a kind of a spherical shell surrounding the nucleus. And be a particle at the same time. And Bohr found a compromise to declare the “De Broglie” waves to be the probability waves. Two problems were solved. Bohr’s planetary model could hold. And there was a name for the unknown material waves, discovered by Louis de Broglie and mathematically described by Erwin Schrödinger. The theory of “Probability Waves, Elementary Particles and Quantum Physics” had been created. To find a possibility, to create matter out of light we have to go back to the Equations of James Clerk Maxwell. The only possibility to declare the probability waves, discovered by Louis de Broglie, to be electromagnetic waves, to be light, and to be the building element of our universe, is to find evidence that he Maxwell Equations are not complete and that it is possible to confine light (electromagnetic waves) in spherical and elliptical shapes. A new equation has to be found. In this article it has been claimed that this missing equation is equation (5). Because the Theory of General Relativity has been built on the Einstein-Maxwell Equation, a new equation has to be found that describes in a generalized way the interaction between light and matter. This missing equation is equation (5-a).
The famous 1927 Solvay Conference was considered a turning point in the world of Physics. The scientific realists like Albert Einstein had lost and the instrumentalists like Niels Bohr had won the fundamental conflict. Since then Physics has followed the path of the instrumentalists in which Quantum Physics has been determined by the concept of Elementary Particles and Probability Waves. Until May 2013, when for the first time a photo had been made of the Probability Waves Inside the Hydrogen Atom . It should be impossible to make a photo of a non-existing complex probability wave with mass zero But the fact could not be denied anymore that scientists had succeeded to make the complex and non-existing visible. This will be the fundamental question in this article. Does an alternative theory exist in which the existence of this particular photo could be explained. And that the famous photo of the Hydrogen Atom can be explained in a logical and a simple way. To find the answer, we have to go back in time. Back 300 years in time to the moment when Isaac Newton discovered the beauty and one of the many secrets of the light. The moment when science walked away from light. And we return to the fundamental question: “Is it possible to build matter out of Light (confined electromagnetic waves)?” To answer this question we first have to answer the question how we have come to this world of Probability Waves and Elementary Particles and Quantum Physics.Louis de Broglie described in 1924 in his PhD thesis the wave properties of matter. Erwin Schrödinger published in 1926 the well-known Schrödinger wave equation with the characteristic spherical and elliptical wave solutions. To describe these material waves, the immediately and first explanation was: “There is only one possibility. These are “electromagnetic waves”. De Broglie waves are ” Light Waves”. Because these were the only waves, known in the world of Physics. But there was a fundamental problem. These material waves, discovered by Louis de Broglie and mathematically described by Erwin Schrödinger could never be solutions of the well-known 4 equations of James Clerk Maxwell. The material waves were spherical and elliptical solutions and that was impossible for the solutions of the Maxwell Equations. According to the Maxwell Equations, light always travels along a straight path. A second problem was that the model of the atom of Bohr could not hold. How could an electron be everywhere at the same time in a kind of a spherical shell surrounding the nucleus. And be a particle at the same time. And Bohr found a compromise to declare the “De Broglie” waves to be the probability waves. Two problems were solved. Bohr’s planetary model could hold. And there was a name for the unknown material waves, discovered by Louis de Broglie and mathematically described by Erwin Schrödinger. The theory of “Probability Waves, Elementary Particles and Quantum Physics” had been created. To find a possibility, to create matter out of light we have to go back to the Equations of James Clerk Maxwell. The only possibility to declare the probability waves, discovered by Louis de Broglie, to be electromagnetic waves, to be light, and to be the building element of our universe, is to find evidence that he Maxwell Equations are not complete and that it is possible to confine light (electromagnetic waves) in spherical and elliptical shapes. A new equation has to be found. In this article it has been claimed that this missing equation is equation (5). Because the Theory of General Relativity has been built on the Einstein-Maxwell Equation, a new equation has to be found that describes in a generalized way the interaction between light and matter. This missing equation is equation (5-a).
In 1923 Louis de Broglie (1892-1987) discovered the material waves and six years later received the Nobel price for this discovery. Apart these well known facts this French physicist nevertheless seems to be forgotten. Details of his life are as unknown as his efforts to describe quantum mechanics in a deterministic and objective way. Especially the actual discussion concerning the interpretation of quantum mechanics seems to justify a deeper occupation with the scientific work of Louis de Broglie. In this context the important influence of Albert Einstein is of special interest; for his photons announce the existence of material waves and it may surprise that Einstein himself did not postulate them. The basis of this short scientific biography are the publications of de Broglie (a complete bibliography is given at the end), some more or less short memories of his students and some unpublished documents found in the "Archives de l'Academie des Sciences" at Paris. The original text of the correspondence between de Broglie and Einstein is enclosed in German translation in the appendix.