Hamburg 2016 – scientific programme

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T: Fachverband Teilchenphysik

T 93: Andere Gebiete der Theorie

T 93.3: Talk

Thursday, March 3, 2016, 17:15–17:30, VMP6 HS D

De Broglie's matter-waves are based on a logical bug — •Albrecht Giese — Taxusweg 15, 22605 Hamburg

The postulation of matter waves by Louis de Broglie in 1923 was one of the basic starting points in the development of quantum mechanics. However, his deduction contains a serious logical error.

De Broglie deduced his central formula from considerations about the relativistic behaviour of a particle. He saw a conflict in the fact that a particle set into motion increases its internal frequency, f, according to E=h*f, whereas on the other hand its frequency has to decrease due to dilation. To solve this, he assigned a new "de Broglie wave" to a particle, which is related to the momentum of the particle. Scattering experiments seemed to confirm this approach.

However, if such a scattering process is observed from a moving system, it turns out that the relationship between the wavelength and the momentum yields nonsensical results. - De Broglie's deduction is based on an incorrect understanding of relativity with respect to dilation.

We will show which results are achieved if a correct understanding is applied. And we will show why, in a normal scattering experiment, de Broglie's incorrect formula nevertheless yields the expected results.

We will further explain some of the impacts of this error on the equations of Schrödinger and Dirac, who used de Broglie's formula as a starting point. Heisenberg's uncertainty principle is also affected.