Os Primórdios da teoria quântica e o problema da dualidade onda-partícula

• Autor(a) principal: Almeida, Lucas da Silva
• Data de Publicação: 2020
• Tipo de documento: Trabalho de conclusão de curso
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UNESP
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/11449/217850
• topic: Quantum theory; Wave-particle duality; Thermal radiation; Photoelectric effect; Radiação térmica; Corpo negro; Efeito fotoelétrico; Dualidade onda-partícula.; Teoria quântica; Radiação; Fotoeletricidade; Ondas (Física)

This work concerns the early times of quantum theory presenting the fundamental aspects of the thermal radiation that could not be satisfactorily explained using the Maxwell's classical electromagnetic theory as well as the Boltzmann statistical thermodynamics. The work presents the results obtained by Wilhelm Wien, Gustav Robert Kirchhoff, Lord Rayleigh and Sir James Jeans for the blackbody radiation. The inadequacy of the classical theory for explaining the blackbody radiation features became evident from the so called ultraviolet catastrophe, i.e., the spectral divergence for high frequencies resulting from classical electromagnetic theory and statistical thermodynamics. Such inadequacy of the classical formalism lead Max Planck to propose the radiation quanta hypothesis, considered at that time by the author as a desperate act since such proposition meant a huge breaking with the principles of the classical physics. The Planck hypothesis, retaken by Albert Einstein, explained the so called photoelectric effect, i.e., the electron emission by metal surfaces due the absorption of UV radiation. The use of the Planck constant for the adjustment of the photoelectric experimental data showed its inherent importance for the grounds of the quantum physics. The quantum of radiation hypothesis, lately named photons, made evident the particle-wave duality in the description of propagation and interaction of radiation with matter. The extension of the duality particle-wave concept to mass particles showed to be fundamental for the quantum description of matter.