Quantum Theory of Radiation

TLDR

Before 1927, no theory could simultaneously explain interference, emission, and absorption of light. The article develops Dirac’s quantum theory of radiation and demonstrates its applications to several characteristic examples. The work discusses Dirac’s relativistic electron wave equation in the context of radiation theory and addresses general quantum electrodynamics and its challenges.

Abstract

Until a few years a go it had been impossible to construct a theory of radiation which could account satisfactorily both for interference phenomena and the phenomena of emission and absorption of light by matter. The first set of phenomena was interpreted by the wave theory, and the second set by the theory of light quanta. It was not until in 1927 that Dirac succeeded in constructing a quantum theory of radiation which could explain in an unified way both types of phenomena. In this article we shall develop the general formulas of Dirac's theory, and show its applications to several characteristic examples I', Part I). In the second part of this work Dirac's rela- tivistic wave equation of the electron mill be discussed in relation to the theory of radiation. The third part will be devoted to the problems of the general quantum electrodynamics, and to the difficulties connected with it.