Successes

Abstract

The set of principles formulated in 1915-1918, and now collectively called the old quantum theory, were successfully applied to a number of problems in atomic and X-ray spectroscopy. The three most notable successes are all associated with the Munich school headed by Arnold Sommerfeld. First, there was the derivation of a relativistic fine-structure formula which predicted splittings of stationary state energies for orbits of varying eccentricity at a given principal quantum number. These splittings were empirically verified by Paschen for ionized helium, and constituted the first quantitative confirmation of the special relativistic mechanics introduced by Einstein a decade earlier. The relativistic fine-structure formula was also applied successfully to the splitting of lines in the X-ray spectra of atoms of widely varying atomic number. Finally, the principles of the old quantum theory (in particular, the use of Schwarzschild quantization in combination with Hamilton-Jacobi methods of classical mechanics) were successfully applied to explain the first order splitting spectral lines in the presence of an external electric field (Stark effect).