DocumentCode
3038156
Title
Einstein´s hydrogen atom
Author
Kim, Y.S.
Author_Institution
Maryland Center for Fundamental Phys., Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
fYear
2011
fDate
26-28 July 2011
Firstpage
6324
Lastpage
6329
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;
fLanguage
English
Publisher
ieee
Conference_Titel
Multimedia Technology (ICMT), 2011 International Conference on
Conference_Location
Hangzhou
Print_ISBN
978-1-61284-771-9
Type
conf
DOI
10.1109/ICMT.2011.6002475
Filename
6002475
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