In order to describe the time evolution of energy states we choose to abandon the Hamiltonian method of quantum mechanics, which has been the standard for over a century, in favor of the more fundamental Lagrangian method. Integral equations of motion for the absorption and emission of radiation are derived to replace the differentially motivated Schrödinger equation. This new interpretation for the time evolution of energy states is used to interpret several well-known experiments, among them Planck’s law, the electron cyclotron, and chaos theory; thereby demonstrating an improved physical model of both microscopic and macroscopic phenomena.
In order to describe the time evolution of energy states we choose to abandon the Hamiltonian method of quantum mechanics, which has been the standard for over a century, in favor of the more fundamental Lagrangian method. Integral equations of motion for the absorption and emission of radiation are derived to replace the differentially motivated Schrödinger equation. This new interpretation for the time evolution of energy states is used to interpret several well-known experiments, among them Planck’s law, the electron cyclotron, and chaos theory; thereby demonstrating an improved physical model of both microscopic and macroscopic phenomena.
In order to describe the time evolution of energy states we choose to abandon the non-relativistic Hamiltonian method, which has been the standard for nearly a century, in favor of a more fundamental, relativistically correct Lagrangian method based on theories originally proposed by Dirac and Einstein. Integral equations of motion for the absorption and emission of radiation are derived that underlie and anticipate the differentially motivated Schrödinger equation. This new interpretation applies to a large volume of experimental evidence of both classical and quantum mechanical origin. Among the examples discussed in support are Planck’s law describing black body radiation, the function of the simplest quantum mechanical system an electron cyclotron, atomic clocks, matrix mechanics, chaos theory, and evolutionary biology.
In order to describe the time evolution of energy states we choose to abandon the non-relativistic Hamiltonian method, which has been the standard for nearly a century, in favor of a more fundamental, relativistically correct Lagrangian method based on theories originally proposed by Dirac and Einstein. Integral equations of motion for the absorption and emission of radiation are derived that underlie and anticipate the differentially motivated Schrödinger equation. This new interpretation applies to a large volume of experimental evidence of both classical and quantum mechanical origin. Among the examples discussed in support are Planck’s law describing black body radiation, the function of the simplest quantum mechanical system an electron cyclotron, atomic clocks, matrix mechanics, chaos theory, and evolutionary biology.
In order to describe the time evolution of energy states we choose to abandon the non-relativistic Hamiltonian method, which has been the standard for nearly a century, in favor of a more fundamental, relativistically correct Lagrangian method based on theories originally proposed by Dirac and Einstein. Integral equations of motion for the absorption and emission of radiation are derived that underlie and anticipate the differentially motivated Schrödinger equation. This new interpretation applies to a large volume of experimental evidence of both classical and quantum mechanical origin. Among the examples discussed in support are Planck’s law describing black body radiation, the function of the simplest quantum mechanical system an electron cyclotron, atomic clocks, matrix mechanics, chaos theory, and evolutionary biology.
In our investigation of the time evolution of energy states Einstein’s interpretation from more than a century ago is found to have greater internal consistency than that of non-relativistic quantum mechanics. We choose to align more closely with his methods by abandoning the non-relativistic Hamiltonian method, which has been the standard for nearly a century, in favor of a relativistically correct Lagrangian method. Integral equations of motion for the absorption and emission of radiation are derived that underlie and anticipate the differentially motivated Schrödinger equation. This new interpretation applies to a large volume of experimental evidence of both classical and quantum mechanical origin. Among the examples discussed in support are Planck’s law describing black body radiation, matrix mechanics, the function of the simplest quantum mechanical system an electron cyclotron, chaos theory, and evolutionary biology.
Toward the end of the nineteenth century, it became clear that some experiments cannot be explained on the basis of known physics, now referred to as classical physics. In 1900, Max Planck was able to correctly describe the distribution of blackbody radiation energy as a function of wavelength λ or frequency ν = c/λ. He had to accept the existence of energy packets (quanta) with energy E = hν. A few years later, Albert Einstein found that this unexpected relation between energy and frequency is also necessary in order to understand photoemission from metallic surfaces. A decade later, Niels Bohr arrived at the correct equation for the electronic spectrum of the hydrogen atom by applying “quantum conditions” on the motion of the electron around the nucleus and the Planck’s relation E = hν on the energy difference between the energy levels (1916). A decade later, Heisenberg, Born, and Jordan introduced “quantum mechanics” and de Broglie and Schrödinger (1925-1926) introduced “wave mechanics.”
In this chapter, we finally introduce time evolution. The development is carried out for finite, enumerable systems (i.e., systems whose states live in a finite dimensional, inner product space) which, of course, allows a straight forward extension to the continuum and infinite dimensional state spaces. The necessary mathematical background of unitary operators, and their properties relevant to quantum mechanics are first introduced. In particular, the fact that preservation of norm under the action of an operator implies unitarity, and that every unitary operator can be expressed as the exponential of i timesa Hermitian operator are introduced. Time evolution is then introduced in its integral form through the time evolution operator, and the Hamiltonian operator is introduced in this context. This approach, however, necessitates the restriction to conservative systems. Next, the differential form of the law of time evolution, i.e., Schrodinger equation, is derived from the time evolution operator, and this is postulated to be the general law of time evolution. We then demonstrate how, for conservative systems, the solution of the Schrodinger equation essentially reduces to solving the eigenvalue problem of the Hamiltonian. Constants of motion and Heisenberg picture have been relegated to the problem section.