Miller A.I. Early Quantum Electrodynamics: A Sourcebook

Cambridge University Press, 1994. — 265 p.This book provides a panoramic view from 1927–1938 of the development of a physical theory that has been on the cutting-edge of theoretical physics ever since P. A. M. Dirac's quantization of the electromagnetic field in 1927: quantum electrodynamics. Like the classic papers chosen for this volume, the introductory Frame-Setting Essay emphasizes conceptual transformations which carried physicists to the threshold of renormalization theory. The published papers and correspondence of Bohr, Heisenberg, Dirac and Pauli provide a fascinating analysis of the meaning and structure of a scientific theory. This book goes beyond the historical and philosophical into current physics. Unavailability of English-language versions of certain key papers, some of which are provided in this book, has prevented their implications from being fully realized. Awareness of research from sixty years ago could well provide insights for future developments.Frame-setting essay
From quantum mechanics toward quantum electrodynamics.
Second quantization.
Photons and relativistic electrons.
Quantum electrodynamics.
Theories of the nuclear force in the 1930s.
Epilogue.
Selected papers
The self-energy of the electron (by W. Heisenberg).
Remarks on radiation theory (by W. Heisenberg).
Theory of the positron (by P. A. M. Dirac).
Discussion of the infinite distribution of electrons in the theory of the positron (by P. A. M. Dirac).
The self-energy of the electron (by V. Weisskopf).
Remarks on the Dirac theory of the positron (by W. Heisenberg).
The quantization of the scalar relativistic wave equation (by W. Pauli, V. Weisskopf).
The electrodynamics of the vacuum based on the quantum theory of the electron (by V. Weisskopf).
Theory of the emission of long-wave light quanta (by W. Pauli, M. Fierz).
The universal length appearing in the theory of elementary particles (by W. Heisenberg).
The interaction between charged particles and the radiation field (by H. A. Kramers).