Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

Bell System Technical Journal

Contemporary Advances in Physics, XIX

Karl K. Darrow

Published Jan 1, 1930• 2 citations
Publisher

Abstract

In this article certain of the simple and familiar phenomena of optics and of electronics — for instance, refraction at a boundary between two media, and diffraction by a grating — are interpreted by both of the theories, undulatory and corpuscular, which have so often been condemned as incompatible with one another; the attitude being, that the theories may be brought into concordance by modifying one at least in ways which, extraordinary as they seem, do not quite destroy its character.

DOI
10.1002/j.1538-7305.1930.tb01254.x

Related papers

Contemporary Advances in Physics-XV

Karl K. Darrow

FOR twenty years and more we have been hearing continually about the conflict between the corpuscular and the undulatory theories of light, and it is possible that for years to come we may be hearing about a similar contest between the wave-theory and the particle-theory of matter. Furthermore, there are intimations that if an adequate theory either of light or of matter ever is attained, it will involve conceptions of waves which in certain limiting cases approach to conceptions of particles. Already it is established that the appropriate way to attack the typical problems of the atom consists in setting up a wave-equation, and dealing with it in the same manner as one adopts to solve the typical problem of acoustics: how to determine the resonance-frequencies of a piece of elastic matter, such as a taut wire or a drumhead or a column of air in a tube. Therefore it seems opportune to restudy, with care and in detail, the great classical example of a wave-theory highly developed and widely successfulthe great theory of light dimly foreshadowed by Huygens, endowed with its essen tial attributes by Young and Fresnel and Kirchhoff and a host of their coevals, utilized in the design of a multitude of ingenious instruments, perfected by Maxwell and connected with the theory of electricity and magnetism, and serving to this day as the basis for the theory of quanta. So doing, we shall be reminded of many triumphs of the past century of physical research, discoveries which in their time were as exciting as new quantum phenomena in ours; we shall notice certain achievements themselves as recent as those of quanta, and perhaps not less impressive; we shall retrace the reasonings which led to certain conclusions which the quantum-theories, unable to do without them and yet incompetent to derive them, have taken bodily over from their forerunner; we shall reconsider the evidence which in the litigation of a century ago caused the verdict to be rendered in favour of the wave-theory over the particle-theory; and perhaps incidentally we shall be drilling ourselves to test the evidence lately submitted and still to be submitted in the appeal of that case, and in the hearing of that other which impends.

Bell System Technical Journal•Apr 1, 1928•0 citations

Contemporary Advances in Physics, XVII The Scattering of Light with Change of Frequency

Karl K. Darrow

Scattering of light is one of the commonest of all phenomena, which does not in the least imply that it is one of the most commonplace. Even its practical importance entitles it to high respect. We are often told that were it not for scattering, the sky would not be blue; the sun and the stars would stand out amazingly brilliant against a background black as coal. It is probable, however, that if scattering were suddenly to be suspended, the disappearance of the sky would be one of the least of our worries. Everything else would disappear, except what was self-luminous. The visible world would consist of the sun, the other stars, and flames, some electrical discharges, the filaments of incandescent lamps, and some substances glowing feebly with fluorescence or phosphorescence. Nothing else could be seen except as a silhouette, apart from objects so translucent that they could be viewed as a stereopticon slide against a flame. Happily no such calamity impends; and we may unconcernedly consider the theoretical importance of the process, which is great. As some might say, the scattering of light is one of the battlegrounds between the undulatory and the corpuscular theories. Metaphors of combat are however not appropriate; it is necessary to reconcile the theories, not to smash one or the other. Now it happens that some of the phenomena of scattering may be interpreted by the one theory, and some by the other; and some can be explained by either, which is most auspicious; for if this can some day be said of all the phenomena of light, the goal of our desires will have been attained.

Bell System Technical Journal•Jan 1, 1929•2 citations

A discussion of the undulatory and the corpuscular theories of light and their partial reconciliation by Lindemann

William Henry Robinson

•Jan 1, 1933•0 citations

Quantum Theory as emergent from an undulatory translocal Sub-Quantum Level

Manfred Requardt

We argue that quantum theory is a low-energy effective theory which emerges from some sub-quantum level theory which is of an undulatory and translocal character. We show the close connection of quantum theory with both gravity and the holographic principle which are different phenomena of one and the same theory on this primordial level. An important role in our analysis is played by the concept of a generalized renormalization group connecting this primordial level and e.g. quantum theory plus a continuous space-time. We show that characteristic phenomena like the seemingly instantaneous state reduction, the EPR-paradox or the problem of polydimensions can be understood in our undulatory translocal theory in a realistic way. Most importantly, we give a realistic interpretation of the phasefunction as a collective action variable in the spirit of Bohm and explain the emergence of a macroscopic notion of time.

arXiv:1205.1619•May 8, 2012•2 citations

Contemporary Advances in Physics. XIV. Introduction to Wave-Mechanics

Karl K. Darrow

In a period when a limited domain of physical phenomena is exciting wide fervent interest and commanding intensive study, and continues for years to monopolize the attention of many brilliant theorists, sometimes it is the fortune of an ingenious mind to express or interpret or picture the already-discovered laws in a new way which makes so greatly favourable an impression, that in a moment it sweeps its rivals from the field. The new theory may not lead to more or better agreements with experience than did its predecessors; it need not make predictions which they were incapable of making; its mathematical processes may be identical with theirs, the old symbols reappearing with new names in the old equations. Contrariwise it may be born well endowed with these advantages which normally decide the contest between old theories and new, yet owe its victory not to them at all. It triumphs because it seems natural or sensible or reasonable or elegant or beautiful-words said of a theory which fulfils some deep-seated demand or evades some deep-rooted prejudice in the minds of its judges. Later its vogue may pass, not through the disclosure of any intrinsic defect, but because the physicists of the rising generation do not share the prejudices and the predilections of those who first applauded it. The kinetic theory of gases was welcomed by a generation which wished to believe in atoms; the electromagnetic theory by people prejudiced against the notion of action at a distance; the quantum-theory has always had to do battle against those who yearn for continuity in their images of Nature, and the theory to which these pages are devoted has captivated the world of physics in a few brief months because it seems to promise a fulfilment of that long-baffled and insuppressible desire.

Bell System Technical Journal•Oct 1, 1927•17 citations

WITHDRAWN: Non-Uniform Diffraction Pattern of Grating Experiments---Rotating Grating Around Three Axes (3)

hui peng

Abstract The orientation-dependence of the interference/diffraction patterns of the 1D-double slit, 2Dcross-double slit, 1D-grating and 2D-cross-grating experiments have been studied experimentally andtheoretically. The universal phenomena of the curved, expanded, inclined and mirror-symmetricpattens were reported. However, the above experiments were limited to certain orientations, namelyrotating the diaphragm/grating around either one axis or two axes. Here we show that, for certainorientations by rotating the grating around 3 axes, the spacings between adjacent diffraction orders arenon-uniform. Namely, from “one end” of the pattern to “other end”, the spacings between adjacentdiffraction orders gradually increase. This extraordinary phenomenon challenges the existing theories.The above observed phenomena provide the comprehensive phenomena to theoretical study of thegrating experiments. We suggest that the complete mathematical model should contain three rotationangles as parameters and should be able to describe the phenomena of the non-uniform-spacing,curved, expanded, inclined and mirror-symmetric diffraction patterns consistently.

•Jan 26, 2022•0 citations
In this article certain of the simple and familiar phenomena of optics and of electronics — for instance, refraction at a boundary between two media, and diffraction by a grating — are interpreted by both of the theories, undulatory and corpuscular, which have so often been condemned as incompatible with one another; the attitude being, that the theories may be brought into concordance by modifying one at least in ways which, extraordinary as they seem, do not quite destroy its character.
FOR twenty years and more we have been hearing continually about the conflict between the corpuscular and the undulatory theories of light, and it is possible that for years to come we may be hearing about a similar contest between the wave-theory and the particle-theory of matter. Furthermore, there are intimations that if an adequate theory either of light or of matter ever is attained, it will involve conceptions of waves which in certain limiting cases approach to conceptions of particles. Already it is established that the appropriate way to attack the typical problems of the atom consists in setting up a wave-equation, and dealing with it in the same manner as one adopts to solve the typical problem of acoustics: how to determine the resonance-frequencies of a piece of elastic matter, such as a taut wire or a drumhead or a column of air in a tube. Therefore it seems opportune to restudy, with care and in detail, the great classical example of a wave-theory highly developed and widely successfulthe great theory of light dimly foreshadowed by Huygens, endowed with its essen tial attributes by Young and Fresnel and Kirchhoff and a host of their coevals, utilized in the design of a multitude of ingenious instruments, perfected by Maxwell and connected with the theory of electricity and magnetism, and serving to this day as the basis for the theory of quanta. So doing, we shall be reminded of many triumphs of the past century of physical research, discoveries which in their time were as exciting as new quantum phenomena in ours; we shall notice certain achievements themselves as recent as those of quanta, and perhaps not less impressive; we shall retrace the reasonings which led to certain conclusions which the quantum-theories, unable to do without them and yet incompetent to derive them, have taken bodily over from their forerunner; we shall reconsider the evidence which in the litigation of a century ago caused the verdict to be rendered in favour of the wave-theory over the particle-theory; and perhaps incidentally we shall be drilling ourselves to test the evidence lately submitted and still to be submitted in the appeal of that case, and in the hearing of that other which impends.
Scattering of light is one of the commonest of all phenomena, which does not in the least imply that it is one of the most commonplace. Even its practical importance entitles it to high respect. We are often told that were it not for scattering, the sky would not be blue; the sun and the stars would stand out amazingly brilliant against a background black as coal. It is probable, however, that if scattering were suddenly to be suspended, the disappearance of the sky would be one of the least of our worries. Everything else would disappear, except what was self-luminous. The visible world would consist of the sun, the other stars, and flames, some electrical discharges, the filaments of incandescent lamps, and some substances glowing feebly with fluorescence or phosphorescence. Nothing else could be seen except as a silhouette, apart from objects so translucent that they could be viewed as a stereopticon slide against a flame. Happily no such calamity impends; and we may unconcernedly consider the theoretical importance of the process, which is great. As some might say, the scattering of light is one of the battlegrounds between the undulatory and the corpuscular theories. Metaphors of combat are however not appropriate; it is necessary to reconcile the theories, not to smash one or the other. Now it happens that some of the phenomena of scattering may be interpreted by the one theory, and some by the other; and some can be explained by either, which is most auspicious; for if this can some day be said of all the phenomena of light, the goal of our desires will have been attained.
We argue that quantum theory is a low-energy effective theory which emerges from some sub-quantum level theory which is of an undulatory and translocal character. We show the close connection of quantum theory with both gravity and the holographic principle which are different phenomena of one and the same theory on this primordial level. An important role in our analysis is played by the concept of a generalized renormalization group connecting this primordial level and e.g. quantum theory plus a continuous space-time. We show that characteristic phenomena like the seemingly instantaneous state reduction, the EPR-paradox or the problem of polydimensions can be understood in our undulatory translocal theory in a realistic way. Most importantly, we give a realistic interpretation of the phasefunction as a collective action variable in the spirit of Bohm and explain the emergence of a macroscopic notion of time.
In a period when a limited domain of physical phenomena is exciting wide fervent interest and commanding intensive study, and continues for years to monopolize the attention of many brilliant theorists, sometimes it is the fortune of an ingenious mind to express or interpret or picture the already-discovered laws in a new way which makes so greatly favourable an impression, that in a moment it sweeps its rivals from the field. The new theory may not lead to more or better agreements with experience than did its predecessors; it need not make predictions which they were incapable of making; its mathematical processes may be identical with theirs, the old symbols reappearing with new names in the old equations. Contrariwise it may be born well endowed with these advantages which normally decide the contest between old theories and new, yet owe its victory not to them at all. It triumphs because it seems natural or sensible or reasonable or elegant or beautiful-words said of a theory which fulfils some deep-seated demand or evades some deep-rooted prejudice in the minds of its judges. Later its vogue may pass, not through the disclosure of any intrinsic defect, but because the physicists of the rising generation do not share the prejudices and the predilections of those who first applauded it. The kinetic theory of gases was welcomed by a generation which wished to believe in atoms; the electromagnetic theory by people prejudiced against the notion of action at a distance; the quantum-theory has always had to do battle against those who yearn for continuity in their images of Nature, and the theory to which these pages are devoted has captivated the world of physics in a few brief months because it seems to promise a fulfilment of that long-baffled and insuppressible desire.
Abstract The orientation-dependence of the interference/diffraction patterns of the 1D-double slit, 2Dcross-double slit, 1D-grating and 2D-cross-grating experiments have been studied experimentally andtheoretically. The universal phenomena of the curved, expanded, inclined and mirror-symmetricpattens were reported. However, the above experiments were limited to certain orientations, namelyrotating the diaphragm/grating around either one axis or two axes. Here we show that, for certainorientations by rotating the grating around 3 axes, the spacings between adjacent diffraction orders arenon-uniform. Namely, from “one end” of the pattern to “other end”, the spacings between adjacentdiffraction orders gradually increase. This extraordinary phenomenon challenges the existing theories.The above observed phenomena provide the comprehensive phenomena to theoretical study of thegrating experiments. We suggest that the complete mathematical model should contain three rotationangles as parameters and should be able to describe the phenomena of the non-uniform-spacing,curved, expanded, inclined and mirror-symmetric diffraction patterns consistently.