Abstract
In 1928 Paul Dirac published his relativistic quantum theory of the electron and George Gamow applied quantum mechanics to the emission of alpha particles from atomic nuclei. Together with attempts to formulate a quantum theory of the electromagnetic field, these two theories marked a new phase of quantum physics in which high-energy phenomena and atomic nuclei moved to the forefront of physicists' interests. The theory of collision between particles and the corresponding theory of stopping of charged particles in matter were revitalized by the impact of these developments in quantum mechanics. By 1930 collision and stopping theory attracted increasing interest among theoretical physicists, who realized that it was of vital importance in understanding the elementary processes taking place in the cosmic radiation. The problem was particularly important in connection with high-energy, relativistic collisions where the new quantum electrodynamics seemed to face grave difficulties.1 One way of circumventing these difficulties was to make use of a connection between electromagnetic fields and quantum mechanics first proposed by Oskar Klein in 1927. The resulting theory, worked out by the Danish physicist Christian Moller in 1931-32, was relativistic, but made no use of quantized fields. Mdller's theory of electronelectron scattering received unexpected experimental support in 1932, and became an important tool in the early phase of high-energy physics, where it was frequently used as a substitute for a proper electrodynamical treatment. This paper analyses the background and development of Moller's theory. That theory grew out of a research tradition cultivated at Niels Bohr's institute in Copenhagen and was in important respects influenced by what was called the
Published Version
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