Abstract
In developing quantum mechanics of pointlike particles one is faced with a curious, almost paradoxical situation: One seeks a more general theory which takes proper account of Planck’s quantum of action h and which encompasses classical mechanics, in the limit h → 0, but for which initially one has no more than the formal framework of canonical mechanics. This is to say, slightly exaggerating, that one tries to guess a theory for the hydrogen atom and for scattering of electrons by extrapolation from the laws of celestial mechanics. That this adventure eventually is successful rests on both phenomenological and on theoretical grounds.
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References
This calculation can be found e.g. in the textbook by Landau and Lifshitz, Vol. 2, Sect. 63, [Landau, Lifschitz (1987)].
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© 2007 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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(2007). Quantum Mechanics of Point Particles. In: Quantum Physics. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-49972-5_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-49972-5_1
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-25645-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-49972-5
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