September 28, 2016 Wednesday
Bedtime Story
Early Life of Hans Bethe and Bethe ansatz
The first thing that Hans Bethe was taught by Sommerfeld was an advanced course in differential equations applied in physics.
Most of us would have been bored to death.
Young Hans enjoyed it.
The next subject that Sommerfeld took up at his weekly evening seminars was the fresh paper on wave mechanics by Erwin Schrödinger that was published in 1926.
Hans was just 20 then.
This paper actually was a series of 4 papers all published in quick succession in 1926 in one of the oldest scientific journal:
"Annalen der Physik"
(Annals of Physics).
These papers will probably be dealt in detail in some future nights.
For now suffice to say that these 4 papers transformed the world of quantum mechanics by introducing complex numbers instead of real ones in the wave equations.
Hans Bethe eventually did his doctorate on electron diffraction in crystals.
It is very difficult for me to understand and hence explain the work (his papers) published by Hans Bethe as they involve both higher mathematics and advanced physics.
Take for instance his paper published when he was just 23 working at Stuttgart:
"The Theory of the Passage of Fast Corpuscular Rays Through Matter."
It used Max Born's interpretation of the Schrödinger equation and Fourier Transformation to arrive at what is now known as the Bethe formula.
This formula gives the mean energy loss per distance travelled by fast-travelling charged particles such as protons or alpha particles through matter.
Such knowledge is of little interest to an average ape even though it is a very accurate description of the behavior of nature at its deepest level.
Following short stints at Frankfurt and Stuttgart, Hans went for multiple postdoctoral research fellowships:
One was Cavendish Laboratory under Ralph Fowler (an astronomer) at the age of 24.
Next year he worked at Enrico Fermi's Laboratory in Rome.
Over there he developed something that is now known as Bethe ansatz, a highly technical mathematical physical concept.
An ansatz is a method of studying a physical system by asserting certain starting. equation (s), theorem(s) or value (s) that would describe a mathematical or physical problem or solution.
Bethe ansatz is a method of finding exact solutions for the eigenvalues and eigenvectors (Eigen is German for "characteristic") of certain one-dimensional quantum many-body models.
Stay tuned to the voice of an average storytelling chimpanzee or login at http://panarrans.blogspot.in/
Good night mon ami and my fellow cousin ape.
Bedtime Story
Early Life of Hans Bethe and Bethe ansatz
The first thing that Hans Bethe was taught by Sommerfeld was an advanced course in differential equations applied in physics.
Most of us would have been bored to death.
Young Hans enjoyed it.
The next subject that Sommerfeld took up at his weekly evening seminars was the fresh paper on wave mechanics by Erwin Schrödinger that was published in 1926.
Hans was just 20 then.
This paper actually was a series of 4 papers all published in quick succession in 1926 in one of the oldest scientific journal:
"Annalen der Physik"
(Annals of Physics).
These papers will probably be dealt in detail in some future nights.
For now suffice to say that these 4 papers transformed the world of quantum mechanics by introducing complex numbers instead of real ones in the wave equations.
Hans Bethe eventually did his doctorate on electron diffraction in crystals.
It is very difficult for me to understand and hence explain the work (his papers) published by Hans Bethe as they involve both higher mathematics and advanced physics.
Take for instance his paper published when he was just 23 working at Stuttgart:
"The Theory of the Passage of Fast Corpuscular Rays Through Matter."
It used Max Born's interpretation of the Schrödinger equation and Fourier Transformation to arrive at what is now known as the Bethe formula.
This formula gives the mean energy loss per distance travelled by fast-travelling charged particles such as protons or alpha particles through matter.
Such knowledge is of little interest to an average ape even though it is a very accurate description of the behavior of nature at its deepest level.
Following short stints at Frankfurt and Stuttgart, Hans went for multiple postdoctoral research fellowships:
One was Cavendish Laboratory under Ralph Fowler (an astronomer) at the age of 24.
Next year he worked at Enrico Fermi's Laboratory in Rome.
Over there he developed something that is now known as Bethe ansatz, a highly technical mathematical physical concept.
An ansatz is a method of studying a physical system by asserting certain starting. equation (s), theorem(s) or value (s) that would describe a mathematical or physical problem or solution.
Bethe ansatz is a method of finding exact solutions for the eigenvalues and eigenvectors (Eigen is German for "characteristic") of certain one-dimensional quantum many-body models.
Stay tuned to the voice of an average storytelling chimpanzee or login at http://panarrans.blogspot.in/
Good night mon ami and my fellow cousin ape.
As you can see, it is a highly technical subject even for a physicist
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