On Fermi’s Resolution of the “4/3 Problem” in the Classical Theory of the Electron

IF 1.2 3区物理与天体物理 Q3 PHYSICS, MULTIDISCIPLINARY

Foundations of Physics Pub Date : 2024-05-28 DOI:10.1007/s10701-024-00770-w

Donato Bini, Andrea Geralico, Robert T. Jantzen, Remo Ruffini

引用次数: 0

Abstract

We discuss the solution proposed by Fermi to the so called “4/3 problem” in the classical theory of the electron, a problem which puzzled the physics community for many decades before and after his contribution. Unfortunately his early resolution of the problem in 1922–1923 published in three versions in Italian and German journals (after three preliminary articles on the topic) went largely unnoticed. Even more recent texts devoted to classical electron theory still do not present his argument or acknowledge the actual content of those articles. The calculations initiated by Fermi at the time are completed here by formulating and discussing the conservation of the total 4-momentum of the accelerated electron as seen from the instantaneous rest frame in which it is momentarily at rest.

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论费米解决电子经典理论中的 "4/3 问题

我们讨论了费米对电子经典理论中所谓的 "4/3 问题 "提出的解决方案，这个问题在他做出贡献之前和之后的几十年里一直困扰着物理学界。遗憾的是，他于 1922-1923 年在意大利和德国期刊上发表的三个版本的早期解决该问题的文章（在此之前发表了三篇关于该主题的初步文章）基本上没有引起人们的注意。即使是最近专门讨论经典电子理论的文章，也没有介绍他的论点或承认这些文章的实际内容。费米当时开始的计算在这里得以完成，他提出并讨论了从瞬时静止的瞬时静止帧看加速电子的总4动量守恒。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Foundations of Physics 物理-物理：综合

CiteScore

2.70

自引率

6.70%

发文量

104

审稿时长

6-12 weeks

期刊介绍： The conceptual foundations of physics have been under constant revision from the outset, and remain so today. Discussion of foundational issues has always been a major source of progress in science, on a par with empirical knowledge and mathematics. Examples include the debates on the nature of space and time involving Newton and later Einstein; on the nature of heat and of energy; on irreversibility and probability due to Boltzmann; on the nature of matter and observation measurement during the early days of quantum theory; on the meaning of renormalisation, and many others. Today, insightful reflection on the conceptual structure utilised in our efforts to understand the physical world is of particular value, given the serious unsolved problems that are likely to demand, once again, modifications of the grammar of our scientific description of the physical world. The quantum properties of gravity, the nature of measurement in quantum mechanics, the primary source of irreversibility, the role of information in physics – all these are examples of questions about which science is still confused and whose solution may well demand more than skilled mathematics and new experiments. Foundations of Physics is a privileged forum for discussing such foundational issues, open to physicists, cosmologists, philosophers and mathematicians. It is devoted to the conceptual bases of the fundamental theories of physics and cosmology, to their logical, methodological, and philosophical premises. The journal welcomes papers on issues such as the foundations of special and general relativity, quantum theory, classical and quantum field theory, quantum gravity, unified theories, thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, cosmology, and similar.