Representing the Unobservable

The Formation of the Virtual Particle Concept in the Practice of Theory (1923-1949)
Erscheinungsjahr 2026
ISBN: 978-3-032-09187-1
Verlag: Birkhäuser

Buch, Englisch, Band 68, 581 Seiten, Format (B × H): 160 mm x 241 mm, Gewicht: 1066 g

Reihe: Science Networks. Historical Studies

This open access book examines the historical development of the concept of the virtual particle, from the first prominent appearance of virtual entities in quantum physics in the Bohr-Kramers-Slater (BKS) theory (1924) to the most common representation of virtual particles in Feynman diagrams (1949).

Through a pragmatically informed approach to concept formation, focusing on the different representations of virtual entities and their role in theoretical practice, this work unravels the (dis)connections between the concepts of “virtual oscillators” (early 1920s), “virtual transitions” (the late 1920s to mid-1940s), and, finally, “virtual particles” (mid-1930s to late 1940s). The shifts and continuities in the conceptual development must be understood within the broader transformation of the theoretical framework, from the so-called Old Quantum Theory to the emergence of quantum electrodynamics (QED) and quantum field theory of the 1930s, culminating in the reconfiguration of the practice of QED in the hands of Richard Feynman in the late 1940s. A key pragmatically informed feature uniting these concepts is their shared function: they extended the set of possible processes and rendered these possibilities effective.

This book will be of interest to historians and philosophers of physics and mathematics.

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

Ehberger, Markus

Fachgebiete

• Mathematik | Informatik Mathematik Mathematik Allgemein Geschichte der Mathematik
• Naturwissenschaften Physik Physik Allgemein
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften: Allgemeines Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften, Formalen Wissenschaften & Technik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Chapter 1. Introduction.- Chapter 2. How to conceive of the concept of virtual particles in a historical study of its development.- Chapter 3. The community of practitioners.- Part I. From virtual oscillators to virtual transitions (1923–1929).- Chapter 4. The BKS theory and the Light Quantum Hypothesis: virtual entities and transitions to intermediate states, but in different conceptual frameworks (1923–1925).- Chapter 5. Dirac’s verbal model: Making transitions a quantum concept (1927).- Chapter 6. The Raman effect: How virtual transitions became “virtual” (for the first time) and real transitions were excluded from the conception of scattering (1928–1929).- Part II. Theoretical practice with virtual transitions (1928–1942).- Chapter 7. Scattering and the sea: Antiparticles and intermediate states (1928–1931).- Chapter 8. The practice of time-dependent perturbation theory (Part I): Formal and conceptual extensions (1929–1936).- Chapter 9 The practice of time-dependent perturbation theory (Part II): Virtual possibilities, modes of representation, and the reprise of the “Schüttelwirkung” (1934–1942).- Part III. From virtual transitions to virtual particles (1930–1949).- Chapter 10. In between: Traces of the virtual particle during the 1930s.- Chapter 11. Outlook: Feynman, diagrams, and virtual particles (1948–1949).- Part IV. Analysis, Summary, and Conclusion.- Chapter 12. Representations and Practices in the Formation of the Virtual Particle Concept.

Über Autor(innen)

Markus Ehberger studied physics (B.Sc.) and history of science (M.Sc.) in Regensburg and Jena. He was a member of the DFG-funded research group in the project . Within this project, he was a research associate at the TU Berlin and the RWTH Aachen and wrote his dissertation (TU Berlin) about the conceptual development of the virtual particle. As a research associate at FSU Jena and together with Christian Forstner, he developed and wrote a physics history city guide for the city of Jena. Since 2022, Markus Ehberger has worked at the Deutsches Museum (Munich), at first as the Managing Editor of the Open Access book series  , now as part of the internet editorial office and as a member of the team for the new physics exhibition.