Article ID: CBB377293533

Tales from the prehistory of Quantum Gravity (2018)

unapi

The main purpose of this paper is to analyse the earliest work of Léon Rosenfeld, one of the pioneers in the search of Quantum Gravity, the supposed theory unifying quantum theory and general relativity. We describe how and why Rosenfeld tried to face this problem in 1927, analysing the role of his mentors: Oskar Klein, Louis de Broglie and Théophile De Donder. Rosenfeld asked himself how quantum mechanics should concretely modify general relativity. In the context of a five-dimensional theory, Rosenfeld tried to construct a unifying framework for the gravitational and electromagnetic interaction and wave mechanics. Using a sort of “general relativistic quantum mechanics” Rosenfeld introduced a wave equation on a curved background. He investigated the metric created by what he called ‘quantum phenomena’, represented by wave functions. Rosenfeld integrated Einstein equations in the weak field limit, with wave functions as source of the gravitational field. The author performed a sort of semi-classical approximation obtaining at the first order the Reissner-Nordström metric. We analyse how Rosenfeld’s work is part of the history of Quantum Mechanics, because in his investigation Rosenfeld was guided by Bohr’s correspondence principle. Finally we briefly discuss how his contribution is connected with the task of finding out which metric can be generated by a quantum field, a problem that quantum field theory on curved backgrounds will start to address 35 years later.

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Authors & Contributors
Freire, Olival, Jr.
Kojima, Chieko
Lehner, Christoph
Rocci, Alessio
Camilleri, Kristian
Darrigol, Olivier
Journals
Foundations of Physics
科学史研究 Kagakusi Kenkyu (History of Science)
Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics
Berichte zur Wissenschaftsgeschichte
European Physical Journal H
Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences
Publishers
Reidel
Technique & Documentation--Lavoisier
Concepts
Quantum mechanics
Physics
Relativity, general
Gravitation
Science and politics
Marxism
People
Broglie, Louis Victor Pierre Raymond de
Rosenfeld, Léon
Bohr, Niels Henrik David
Einstein, Albert
Schrödinger, Erwin
De Donder, Théophile
Time Periods
20th century
20th century, early
20th century, late
Places
Belgium
France
Copenhagen (Denmark)
Institutions
Syracuse University
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