Schrödinger’s Struggles with a Complex Wave Function
Publikation: Konferencebidrag › Konferenceabstrakt til konference › Forskning › fagfællebedømt
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Schrödinger’s Struggles with a Complex Wave Function. / Avelar Sotomaior Karam, Ricardo.
2019. Abstract fra History for Physics, Vienna, Østrig.Publikation: Konferencebidrag › Konferenceabstrakt til konference › Forskning › fagfællebedømt
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TY - ABST
T1 - Schrödinger’s Struggles with a Complex Wave Function
AU - Avelar Sotomaior Karam, Ricardo
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - In this contribution I outline some of Schrödinger’s initial resistance to the complex nature of his wave function. It is shown how he first attached physical meaning only to its real component and even tried to avoid the explicit appearance of the imaginary unit in his fundamental (timedependent) equation. This attitude is quite understandable, since he was committed to the classical framework of wave theory, not only ontologically, but also formally. Around two years after the publication of his famous papers on wave mechanics, Schrödinger seems to have accepted that the wave function must be complex and that the physical interpretation is to be related to its absolute square. This is justified by him both due to equivalence considerations with matrix mechanics and in analogy with Maxwell’s equations. This episode can be of special pedagogical relevance as students often struggle with the complex nature of the wave function on their first encounter with it.
AB - In this contribution I outline some of Schrödinger’s initial resistance to the complex nature of his wave function. It is shown how he first attached physical meaning only to its real component and even tried to avoid the explicit appearance of the imaginary unit in his fundamental (timedependent) equation. This attitude is quite understandable, since he was committed to the classical framework of wave theory, not only ontologically, but also formally. Around two years after the publication of his famous papers on wave mechanics, Schrödinger seems to have accepted that the wave function must be complex and that the physical interpretation is to be related to its absolute square. This is justified by him both due to equivalence considerations with matrix mechanics and in analogy with Maxwell’s equations. This episode can be of special pedagogical relevance as students often struggle with the complex nature of the wave function on their first encounter with it.
M3 - Conference abstract for conference
T2 - History for Physics
Y2 - 23 September 2019 through 24 September 2019
ER -
ID: 227987816