Event

Feb 10, 2020
Virtual Transitions and the Narrative in Which They Were Included: Its Inception and Its Reception

In this presentation I will provide some insights I gathered during my dissertational research on the historical development of the virtual particle concept. Starting out from the hypothesis that one of the prime functions of this notion is the role it plays in a causal narrative that allows for the construction of the mathematical representation of physical effects and their higher order corrections, I try to show how a similar narrative emerged and was received roughly through the years 1927 to 1936. Starting out with a reconstruction of Dirac’s introduction of a processual description based on his time-dependent perturbation theory, I will follow its reception, taking into account its verbal, mathematical, and diagrammatical representation while also providing explanations of initial misconceptions. In principle, I will argue that the narrative based on the method of (time-dependent) perturbation theory and the conceptualization of quantum electrodynamics of the time provided a means for an intuitive handling of the corresponding mathematical structures, especially when approaching higher order effects like light-by-light scattering. Nevertheless, as the example of light quantum splitting as proposed by Otto Halpern (1933) shows, the missing of a clear and complete set of rules for its application still held the possibility of being led astray.

Address
MPIWG, Harnackstraße 5, 14195 Berlin, Germany
Room
Villa, Room V005/Seminar Room
Contact and Registration

All welcome, no registration required.

About This Series

The seminar series of the Research Group “Historical Epistemology of the Final Theory Program” runs once a month, usually on a Monday at 14:30 in the seminar room of the Villa (Harnackstraße 5). The talks deal primarily with the history, philosophy, and foundations of modern (post-WWII) physics or with wider epistemological questions related to the work of the group. There are no pre-circulated papers.

2020-02-10T14:00:00SAVE IN I-CAL 2020-02-10 14:00:00 2020-02-10 16:00:00 Virtual Transitions and the Narrative in Which They Were Included: Its Inception and Its Reception In this presentation I will provide some insights I gathered during my dissertational research on the historical development of the virtual particle concept. Starting out from the hypothesis that one of the prime functions of this notion is the role it plays in a causal narrative that allows for the construction of the mathematical representation of physical effects and their higher order corrections, I try to show how a similar narrative emerged and was received roughly through the years 1927 to 1936. Starting out with a reconstruction of Dirac’s introduction of a processual description based on his time-dependent perturbation theory, I will follow its reception, taking into account its verbal, mathematical, and diagrammatical representation while also providing explanations of initial misconceptions. In principle, I will argue that the narrative based on the method of (time-dependent) perturbation theory and the conceptualization of quantum electrodynamics of the time provided a means for an intuitive handling of the corresponding mathematical structures, especially when approaching higher order effects like light-by-light scattering. Nevertheless, as the example of light quantum splitting as proposed by Otto Halpern (1933) shows, the missing of a clear and complete set of rules for its application still held the possibility of being led astray. MPIWG, Harnackstraße 5, 14195 Berlin, Germany Villa, Room V005/Seminar Room Alexander Blum Alexander Blum Europe/Berlin public