Papers from the beginning of quantum mechanics

Note:ThesepapersareinGerman.Englishtranslationsmaybefoundinthebook'B.L.vanderWaerden,editor,SourcesofQuantumMechanics(Dover
Publications,1968)ISBN0486618811'.
Heisenberg'soriginalmatrixmechanicsThisistheworkthatcreatedthemoderntheoryofquantummechanics(Heisenberg1925).Heisenbergwantedto
tacklethequestionofhowtopredictcorrectlytheintensitiesofatomictransitionlines,asBohrhadalreadyclarifiedhowtoobtainthetransitionfrequencies.
Heisenbergbeganbynoticingthat,accordingtoBohr,thecorrectquantumtransitionfrequenciesdonotdependjustonthecurrentstateofmotion(asdothe
frequenciesofemittedradiationforaclassicalorbit),butratherontwostates(initialandfinal).Likewise,inclassicaltheory,theintensitiesofemittedradiation
wouldbegivenbythesquaresoftheFourieramplitudesoftheoscillatingdipolemomentforagivenorbit.Inaningeniousstep,Heisenbergthenpostulatedthat
insteadofasetofFourieramplitudesforagivenorbit(enumeratedbyoneindex),onewouldhavetointroduceasetofamplitudesdependingontwoindices,one
fortheinitial,theotherforthefinalstate.Heassumedthattheequationsofmotionforthoseamplitudeslookedformallythesameasinclassicaltheory
(Heisenbergequationsofmotion).Thelastcrucialingredientisthecommutationrelation.Thishederivedbylookingatthelinearresponseofanelectrontoan
externalperturbation(essentiallyderivingsomethinglikeKubo'sformula,containingthecommutator)andthendemandingthattheshorttimeresponsewouldbe
alwaysthatofafree,classicalelectron.Thisfixesthecommutatorbetweenpositionandmomentum.Thuswasbornmatrixmechanics.Heappliedthisimmediately
totheharmonicoscillatorandalsodealtwiththeanharmonicoscillatorusingperturbationtheory.
SeealsoHeisenberg'sNobelLecturefrom1933tolearnmoreabouthisviewonthesedevelopments,andtheslightlyearlieroverview(Heisenberg1928
(Naturwissenschaften))thatalsoincludesmuchofthedevelopmentsbeforematrixmechanics.
Thethreemenwork(Dreimnnerarbeit)TheformalismofmatrixmechanicswasthendevelopedfullybyBorn,JordanandHeisenberg(Born,Jordanand
Heisenberg1926).Theydiscuss:canonicaltransformations,perturbationtheory,angularmomentum,eigenvaluesandeigenvectors.Inadditiontotheformalism,
thatworkalsocontainstheearliestdiscussionofaquantumfieldtheory:Alinearchainofmassescoupledbyspringsisquantizedandsolvedbygoingoverto
normalmodes.Asaresult,theyfindthePlanckspectrumofthermalequilibrium,asadirectconsequenceofthenewlydevelopedquantummechanics!
ThehydrogenatominmatrixmechanicsWolfgangPauli(Pauli1926)managedtoapplythenewmatrixmechanicstothehydrogenatom.Hefoundthecorrect
energyspectrum,aswellasthecorrectStarkeffectcorrectionstotheenergyinanappliedelectricfield.Inthissolution,hemakesuseoftheRungeLenzvector
whichisanadditionalconservedquantityknownfromclassicalmechanicsfortheKeplerproblem,denotingtheorientationoftheellipticalorbitinspace.
TheSchroedingerequationShortlyafterHeisenberg'swork,Schroedingercameupwiththeequationthatnowcarrieshisname.Theessentialideawastostart
fromtheHamiltonJacobiequation,claimtheactionisthelogarithmofsomewavefunctionpsi(thinkWKB!),andderiveaquadraticformofpsithatistobe
extremized(Schroedingerequationfromthevariatonalprinciple).ThisleadstothestationarySchroedingerequation,whichhethensolvesforthehydrogenatom,
aswellasfortheharmonicoscillator,therotorandthenuclearmotionofthediatomicmolecule(Schroedinger1926aandSchroedinger1926b).
TheprobabilisticinterpretationWhileforasingleelectroninsideanatomitmightstillbeconceivabletoviewthewavefunctionassomesortofsmearedout
chargedensity,thisviewclearlybecomesuntenablewhenonemovestoscatteringprocesses,wherethefinalscatteredwavespreadsoutoveralargeregionof
space,whereasphysicallytheparticlewillbedetectedatapointlikelocation.Thusithappenedthatduringtheinvestigationofquantummechanicalscattering
processesMaxBorn(Born1926)wasleadtotheconclusionthatthewavefunctionhassomethingtodowiththeprobabilityofdetectingaparticleatsomelocation.
Heatfirstincorrectlyguessedthewavefunctionitselfgivestheprobability,buttheninsertedafamousfootnote(onpage3ofthiswork)thatsaysoneshouldtake
thesquare!SeealsoMaxBorn'sNobellecturefrom1954foradiscussionofthedevelopmentofquantummechanics.
TheuncertaintyrelationHeisenbergshowedthattheprecisionwithwhichpositionandmomentumcanbemeasuredcannotbearbitrarilyhighforboththese
quantitiessimultaneously(Heisenberg1927).Thisworkcontainsalsothediscussionofthefamous"Heisenbergmicroscope"gedankenexperiment,whereonetries
todeterminethepositionofanelectrononlytofindthatbydoingsoonedestroysanyinterferencepatternthatmighthaveexistedwithoutthisactofobservation.
SpinTheelectronspinwasintroducedbyWolfgangPauli(Pauli1927)asanadditionaldiscretedegreeoffreedomthatcouldtaketwovalues.(Note:ThePauli
spinmatricesmaketheirfirstappearanceonpage8ofthiswork)
Stillmissing:Fermions/bosons,beginningsofquantumfieldtheoryfoundationalaspects(likeSchroedinger'scat)shouldbecomeaseparatepage