RSS feeds
РусскийEnglish
Issue 4, 2024
Volume year page
Issues Authors PACS Subscription For authors

Issues

 / 

2020

 / 

July

←  →

Methodological notes


Was Sommerfeld wrong? (To the history of the appearance of spin in relativistic wave equations)


Department of Chemistry, M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Leninskie Gory, Moscow, 119992, Russian Federation

This article presents a brief history of the appearance of electron spin in relativistic wave equations. Dirac derived his wave equation in 1928 with the intention to obtain an equation for the "simplest" particle with spin zero. But, as Dirac later announced at the European Conference on Particle Physics (Budapest, 4—9 July 1977), it was a big surprise for him that the equation described the states of a particle with spin 1/2.

Fulltext pdf (422 KB)
Fulltext is also available at DOI: 10.3367/UFNe.2019.11.038695
Keywords: spin, relativistic wave equations
PACS: 01.65.+g, 03.65.−w (all)
DOI: 10.3367/UFNe.2019.11.038695
URL: https://ufn.ru/en/articles/2020/7/g/
000575189200007
2-s2.0-85092533766
2020PhyU...63..721P
Citation: Petrov S V "Was Sommerfeld wrong? (To the history of the appearance of spin in relativistic wave equations)" Phys. Usp. 63 721–724 (2020)
BibTexBibNote ® (generic)BibNote ® (RIS)MedlineRefWorks

Received: 9th, September 2019, 11th, November 2019

Оригинал: Петров С В «Ошибался ли Зоммерфельд? (К истории появления спина в релятивистских волновых уравнениях)» УФН 190 777–780 (2020); DOI: 10.3367/UFNr.2019.11.038695

References (24) ↓ Similar articles (20)

  1. Granovskii Ya I Usp. Fiz. Nauk 174 577 (2004); Granovskii Ya I Phys. Usp. 47 523 (2004)
  2. Sommerfeld A Ann. Physik 51 125 (1916), po novoi numeratsii tomov, prinyatoi Wiley Online Library - Vol. 356
  3. Wentzel G Z. Phys. 38 518 (1926)
  4. Kramers H A Z. Phys. 39 828 (1926)
  5. Brillouin L C.R. Acad. Sci. 183 24 (1926)
  6. Dirak P A M Usp. Fiz. Nauk 128 681 (1979); Dirac P A M Sov. Phys. Usp. 22 648 (1979)
  7. Compton A H J. Washington Acad. Sci. 8 1 (1918)
  8. Compton A H J. Franklin Inst. 192 145 (1921)
  9. Jammer M The Conceptual Development Of Quantum Mechanics (New York: Mc Graw-Hill Book Co., 1967); Per. na russk. yaz., Dzhemmer M Evolyutsiya Ponyatii Kvantovoi Mekhaniki (M.: Nauka, 1985)
  10. Uhlenbeck G E, Goudsmit S A Naturwissenschaften 13 953 (1925)
  11. Uhlenbeck G E, Goudsmit S Nature 117 264 (1926)
  12. Bohr N Philos. Mag. 6 26 1 (1913); Bohr N Philos. Mag. 6 26 476 (1913); Bohr N Philos. Mag. 6 26 857 (1913)
  13. Sommerfeld A Atombau Und Spektrallinien Vol. 1 (Braunschweig: F. Vieweg and Sohn, 1951); Per. na russk. yaz., Zommerfel’d A Stroenie Atoma i Spektry Vol. 1 (M.: GITTL, 1956)
  14. Michelson A A Philos. Mag. 5 31 338 (1891)
  15. Messiah A Quantum Mechanics Vol. 2 (Amsterdam: North-Holland Publ. Co., 1961); Per. na russk. yaz., Messia A Kvantovaya Mekhanika Vol. 2 (M.: Nauka, 1979)
  16. Klein O Z. Phys. 37 855 (1926)
  17. Fock V Z. Phys. 38 242 (1926)
  18. Gordon W Z. Phys. 40 117 (1926)
  19. Okun’ L B Usp. Fiz. Nauk 180 871 (2010); Okun L B Phys. Usp. 535 835 (2010)
  20. Daison F Usp. Fiz. Nauk 180 859 (2010); Dyson F Phys. Usp. 53 825 (2010)
  21. Fok V A Usp. Fiz. Nauk 180 874 (2010); Fock V A Phys. Usp. 53 839 (2010); Fock V Z. Phys. 39 226 (1926)
  22. Dirac P A M Proc. R. Soc. Lond. A 117 610 (1928)
  23. Dirac P A M The Principles Of Quantum Mechanics 4th ed. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1958); Per. na russk. yaz., Dirak P A M Printsipy Kvantovoi Mekhaniki (M.: Fizmatlit, 1960)
  24. Davydov A S Kvantovaya Mekhanika (M.: Fizmatlit, 1963); Per. na angl. yaz., Davydov A S Quantum Mechanics (Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1976)
© 1918–2024 Uspekhi Fizicheskikh Nauk
Email: ufn@ufn.ru Editorial office contacts About the journal Terms and conditions