Frankfurt 2006 – scientific programme

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SYHB: Hans-Bethe Symposium

SYHB 1: Hans-Bethe Symposium I

SYHB 1.2: Invited Talk

Monday, March 13, 2006, 14:15–14:45, HV

Quantum Electrodynamics and Nuclear Astrophysics — •E.E. Salpeter — J.G. White Professor Emeritus, Cornell University, Ithaca

Up to 1947 quantum electrodynamics was cumbersome beset by singularities and by the Lamb shift crisis. Hans Bethe’s simple formulation of renormalization theory gave a good solution to the Lamb shift problem.I will give personal reminiscences on the importance of his 1947 paper. After Feynman’s version of relativistic QED Hans and I formulated a fully relativistic equation for bound state problems. The application to states with a very large binding energy proved to be difficult,but we managed to use the Bethe-Salpeter equation for relativistic corrections to atomic energy levels.

Hans’s two papers in 1938/39 on thermonuclear hydrogen burning reactions showed how the sun and other main sequence stars obtain energy for their luminosity.I will give some history leading up to these papers and of the follow up in the 1950s and 60s on energy production in more evolved stars, involving nuclear reactions of heavier elements .