• 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