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On Langmuir’s periodic orbit

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Abstract

Niels Bohr successfully predicted in 1913 the energy levels for the hydrogen atom by applying certain quantization rules to classically obtained periodic orbits. Many physicists tried to apply similar methods to other atoms. In his well-known 1921 paper, I. Langmuir established numerically the existence of a periodic orbit in the helium atom considered as a classical three body problem. In this paper, we give an analytic proof of the existence of Langmuir’s periodic orbit.

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Notes

  1. We thank C. Viterbo for setting the history straight.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Universität Augsburg, 86159, Augsburg, Germany

    K. Cieliebak & U. Frauenfelder

  2. BOS Rosenheim, 83024, Rosenheim, Germany

    M. Schwingenheuer

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  1. K. Cieliebak
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  2. U. Frauenfelder
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  3. M. Schwingenheuer
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Cieliebak, K., Frauenfelder, U. & Schwingenheuer, M. On Langmuir’s periodic orbit. Arch. Math. 118, 413–425 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00013-022-01709-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00013-022-01709-1

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