Black body radiation from a self-consistent field theory of quantum electrodynamics

Abstract

An earlier derivation of a property of the nonlinear field equations of a new theory of electrodynamics, which indicates all the physical consequences of the Pauli exclusion principle for a many-particle system (2), is extended to a consideration of predictions that compare with the observed spectral distribution of black-body radiation. It is shown that when a cavity is assumed to contain an arbitrary number of positronium atoms, in their ground states of null energy-momentum (1), the exact solutions for this state imply a dynamical uncoupling of the positronium gas from the interacting charges in the cavity walls in agreement with the experimental observations. It is further shown that when such a system of positronium atoms, treated as in ideal gas, establishes thermodynamic equilibrium, it can be described by an arbitrary number of randomly orienteddistinguishable oscillators at a temperatureT. The application of Maxwell-Boltzmann statistics thereby yields the Planck spectral distribution law for a system in which “ photons ” and source-free radiation play no role.