Title :
Einstein´s hydrogen atom
Author_Institution :
Maryland Center for Fundamental Phys., Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
Abstract :
In 1905, Einstein formulated his special relativity for point particles. For those particles, his Lorentz covariance and energy-momentum relation are by now firmly established. How about the hydrogen atom? It is possible to perform Lorentz boosts on the proton assuming that it is a point particle. Then what happens to the electron orbit? The orbit could go through an elliptic deformation, but it is not possible to understand this problem without quantum mechanics, where the orbit is a standing wave leading to a localized probability distribution. Is this concept consistent with Einstein´s Lorentz covariance? Dirac, Wigner, and Feynman contributed important building blocks for understanding this problem. The remaining problem is to assemble those blocks to construct a Lorentz-covariant picture of quantum bound states based on standing waves. It is shown possible to assemble those building blocks using harmonic oscillators.
Keywords :
Lorentz invariance; harmonic oscillators; hydrogen; special relativity; AD 1905; Lorentz covariance; electron orbit; elliptic deformation; energy-momentum relation; harmonic oscillators; hydrogen atom; localized probability distribution; point particles; quantum mechanics; special relativity; Harmonic analysis; Oscillators; Protons; Quantum mechanics; Uncertainty; Wave functions; Lorentz covariance; Quantum bound states;
Conference_Titel :
Multimedia Technology (ICMT), 2011 International Conference on
Conference_Location :
Hangzhou
Print_ISBN :
978-1-61284-771-9
DOI :
10.1109/ICMT.2011.6002475