Abstract
IN a recent letter to NATURE (May 10, p. 673) Dr. Kramers advanced a quantum theory of dispersion which is a generalisation of the theory of Ladenburg. The formula proposed by Kramers for the polarisation of an atom when put in a wave is his formula (5). This formula is stated by Kramers to satisfy the condition demanded by the Correspondence Principle, namely, that the dispersion due to an atom in a state of high quantum number is the same on the classical and on the quantum theories.1 The presence of the second term has been introduced by Kramers for this purpose. From the point of view of the virtual oscillators of Bohr, Kramers, and Slater, the second negative term of Kramers is somewhat dissatisfying, because an oscillator would give rise only to a term of the first positive type.
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BREIT, G. The Quantum Theory of Dispersion. Nature 114, 310 (1924). https://doi.org/10.1038/114310a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/114310a0
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