Abstract
The new quantum mechanics could at first be used to answer questions concerning radiation only through analogies with the classical theory. In Heisenberg’s original matrix theory, for instance, it is assumed that the matrix elements of the polarisation of an atom determine the emission and absorption of radiation analogously to the Fourier components in the classical theory. In more recent theories* a certain expression for the electric density obtained from the quantum mechanics is used to determine the emitted radiation by the same formulae as in the classical theory. These methods give satisfactory results in many cases, but cannot even be applied to problems where the classical analogies are obscure or non-existent, such as resonance radiation and the breadths of spectral lines.
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© 1988 Kluwer Academic Publishers
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Dirac, P.A.M. (1988). The Quantum Theory of Dispersion. In: Noz, M.E., Kim, Y.S. (eds) Special Relativity and Quantum Theory. Fundamental Theories of Physics, vol 33. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-3051-3_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-3051-3_10
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-010-7872-6
Online ISBN: 978-94-009-3051-3
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