Collected Papers on Wave Mechanics

Erwin Schrödinger

• Publisher: American Mathematical Society
• Year: 2023
• Topic: Mathematics
• eBook ISBN:
  9781470475178
• Subtopic: Mathematics General
• Index: Mathematics

The famous equation that bears Erwin Schrödinger's name encapsulates his profound contributions to quantum mechanics using wave mechanics. This third, augmented edition of his papers on the topic contains the six original, famous papers in which Schrödinger created and developed the subject of wave mechanics as published in the original edition. As the author points out, at the time each paper was written the results of the later papers were largely unknown to him. This edition also contains three papers that were written shortly after the original edition was published and four lectures delivered by Schrödinger at the Royal Institution in London in 1928. The papers and lectures in this volume were revised by the author and translated into English, and afford the reader a striking and valuable insight into how wave mechanics developed.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Preface to the First (German) Edition
• Publishers' Note
• Abstract
• Quantisation as a Problem of Proper Values (Part I)
• Quantisation as a Problem of Proper Values (Part II)
• The Continuous Transition from Micro- to Macro-Mechanics
• On the Relation between the Quantum Mechanics of Heisenberg, Born, Jordan, and that of Schrodinger
• Quantisation as a Problem of Proper Values (Part III)
• Quantisation as a Problem of Proper Values (Part IV)
• The Compton Effect
• The Energy-Momentum Theorem for Material Waves
• The Exchange of Energy according to Wave Mechanics
• 1. Derivation of the fundamental idea of wave mechanics from Hamilton's analogy between ordinary mechanics and geometrical optics.
• 2. Ordinary mechanics only an approximation, which no longer holds for very small systems.
• 3. Bohr's stationary energy-levels derived as the frequencies of proper vibrations of the waves.
• 4. Rough description of the wave-systems in the hydrogen atom. Degeneracy. Perturbation.
• 5. The physical meaning of the wave function. Explanation of the selection rules and of the rules for the polarization of spectral lines.
• 6. Derivation of the wave equation (properly speaking) which contains the time.
• 7. An atom as perturbed by an alternating electric field.
• 8. Theory of secondary radiation and dispersion.
• 9. Theory of resonance radiation, and of changes of the state of the atom produced by incident radiation whose frequency coincides, or nearly coincides, with a natural emission frequency.
• 10. Extension of wave mechanics to systems other than a single mass-point.
• 11. Examples: the oscillator, the rotator.
• 12. Correction for motion of the nucleus in the hydrogen atom.
• 13. Perturbation of an arbitrary system.
• 14. Interaction between two arbitrary systems.
• 15. The physical meaning of the generalized ψ-function.