CH110 Study Guide - Final Guide: Stationary Process, Fine-Structure Constant, Quantum Electrodynamics
3. Electromagnetic radiation
The preceding section shows that, according to
quantum mechanics taken alone, the stationary states
do in no way stand out as compared to the
nonstationary ones, and moreover the stationary
states are difficult if not impossible to realize. At the
same time, a wealth of experiments accumulated in
physics through the 20th century point to a peculiar
role of the stationary states and to the fact that the
stationary states alone manifest themselves in actual
practice almost always.
To resolve this paradox, account must be taken of
the fact that all usual particles create electric and
magnetic fields. For example, a neutron that has no
charge possesses a magnetic moment and thus
produces a magnetic field; neutral atoms are made
up of charged particles.
After this remark we revert to the nonstationary
states reasoning first in classical terms and
considering systems of charges particles for brevity
sake. Any nonstationary process implies that the
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Document Summary
The preceding section shows that, according to quantum mechanics taken alone, the stationary states do in no way stand out as compared to the nonstationary ones, and moreover the stationary states are difficult if not impossible to realize. To resolve this paradox, account must be taken of the fact that all usual particles create electric and magnetic fields. For example, a neutron that has no charge possesses a magnetic moment and thus produces a magnetic field; neutral atoms are made up of charged particles. After this remark we revert to the nonstationary states reasoning first in classical terms and considering systems of charges particles for brevity sake. Any nonstationary process implies that the particles of a system have some accelerations or other because movement of all the particles with a constant common velocity means a stationary process (interacting particles cannot move with different and constant velocities). Every accelerated charge always emits electromagnetic waves, however.
