Skip to main content
Log in

Hole Theory and Quantum Electrodynamics in an Unknown Manuscript in French by Ettore Majorana

  • Published:
Foundations of Physics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

We give an accurate historical and scientific account of a practically unknown manuscript written by Ettore Majorana in French. The retrieved text deals with Quantum Electrodynamics by using the formalism of field quantization, and it is here reported, for the first time, in English translation. It is likely related to an invited talk for a conference at Leningrad (or Kharkov) in 1933 (or 1934) which, however, Majorana never attended. Probably this manuscript is one of the last missing papers of the “Senatore folder,” given by Majorana to one student of his at the University of Naples in 1938, just before his disappearance.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. E. Recami, Il caso Majorana. Epistolario, documenti, testimonianze (Oscar Mondadori, Milan, 1991) (2nd edn.); idem (Di Renzo, Rome, 2002, fourth revised and enlarged edition).

  2. Esposito S. (2006). Phys. World 19: 34

    Google Scholar 

  3. A. De Gregorio and S. Esposito, Sapere, Giugno 2006, p. 56 [arXiv:physics/0602008]; A. De Gregorio and S. Esposito, [arXiv:physics/0602146].

  4. S. Esposito, Nuovo Saggiatore 21, 21 (2005); A. Drago and S. Esposito, Phys. Persp., in press [arXiv:physics/0503084].

  5. Drago A. and Esposito S. (2004). Found. Phys. 34: 871

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. G. Senatore, Lecture, Department of Physical Sciences, University of Naples “Federico II,” March 30, 1998.

  7. E. Majorana, Lezioni all’Università di Napoli (Bibliopolis, Naples, 1987).

  8. E. Majorana, Lezioni di Fisica Teorica, S. Esposito, ed. (Bibliopolis, Naples, 2006).

  9. S. Esposito, Eur. J. Phys. 27, 1147 (2006). [arXiv:physics/0603140]; S. Esposito, [arXiv:physics/0512174].

  10. Heisenberg W. (1929). Naturwissenschaften 26: 490

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  11. P. Jordan (1926). Anscauliche Quantentheorie eine Einführung in die Moderne Auffassung der Quantenenerscheinurgen. Springer, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  12. P. A. M. Dirac, Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. 114, 243, 710 (1927).

    Google Scholar 

  13. Jordan P. and Klein O. (1927). Z. Phys. 45: 755

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  14. Jordan P. and Wigner E. (1928). Z. Phys. 47: 631

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  15. W. Heisenberg and W. Pauli, Z. Phys. 56,1 (1929); ibidem, 59, 168 (1930).

  16. Waller I. (1930). Z. Phys. 61: 837

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  17. P. A. M. Dirac, Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. 126, 360 (1930); Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc. 26, 361 (1930).

  18. Weyl H.(1929). Z. Phys. 56: 330

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  19. W. Pauli, Handbuch der Phys, 24, 83 (1933); See also the letters by W. Pauli to P. M. Blackett (19 April 1933) and to P. A. M. Dirac (1 May 1933) reported in Wissenschaften Briefwechsel mit Bohr, Einstein, Heisenberg, U.A. II: 1930–1939, W. Pauli, ed. (Springer, Berlin, 1985).

  20. See the preface in Ettore Majorana: Notes on Theoretical Physics, S. Esposito, E. Majorana jr, A. van der Merwe, and E. Recami, eds. (Kluwer/Springer, New York, 2003).

  21. See the letter by W. Heisenberg to A. Sommerfeld (17 June 1933) reported in W. Pauli, Wissenschaften . . . , loc. cit.

  22. Majorana E. (1937). Nuovo Cim. 14: 171

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  23. Heisenberg W. (1931). Ann. der Phys. 10: 888

    Article  MATH  ADS  Google Scholar 

  24. See the list of the scientific unpublished manuscript reported in E. Recami, Quaderni di Storia della Fisica, 5, 19 (1999).

  25. Oppenheimer J.R. (1931). Phys. Rev. 38: 725

    Article  MATH  ADS  Google Scholar 

  26. R. Mignani, E. Recami, and M. Baldo, Lett. Nuovo Cim. 11, 568 (1974); E. Giannetto, Lett. Nuovo Cim. 44, 140 and 145 (1985); E. Giannetto, in Atti IX Congresso Naz.le di Storia della Fisica, F. Bevilacqua, ed. (Milan, 1988) p.173. S. Esposito, Found. Phys. 28, 231 (1998).

  27. Majorana E. (1932). Nuovo Cim. 9: 43

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  28. Gentile G. and Majorana E. (1928). Rend. Acc. Lincei 8: 229

    Google Scholar 

  29. Fermi E. and Rossi B. (1933). Rend. Acc. Lincei 17: 346

    Google Scholar 

  30. E. Fermi, Collected Papers, Vol. E. Amaldi et al., (eds.) University of Chicago Press - Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Chicago - Rome, 1962–1965, 2 volumes (1962).

  31. M. P. Bronshtein, V. M. Dukel’skii, D. D. Ivanenko, and Yu. B. Khariton (eds.), Problems of Modern Physics Vol. 24: The Atomic Nucleus: Collected Papers of the First All Union Nuclear Conference, held 24–30 September 1933 at Leningrad, Leningrad and Moscow State Technical-Theoretical Publishing House, 1934.

  32. Vizgin V.P. Phys. (1999). Usp. 42: 1259

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  33. P. A. M. Dirac, M. P. Bronshtein, V. M. Dukel’skii, D. D. Ivanenko, and Yu. B. Khariton (eds.), loc. cit., p. 129.

  34. Segré E. (1970). Enrico Fermi Physicist. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  35. See the date reported in E. Fermi and G. E. Uhlenbeck Phys. Rev. 44, 510 (1933).

    Google Scholar 

  36. E. Majorana, Z. Phys. 82, 137 (1933); Ric. Sci 4, 559 (1933).

  37. A. De Gregorio, Stud. Hist. Philos. Mod. Phys. 37, 330 (2006). A. De Gregorio, [arXiv:physics/0603261].

  38. Feinberg E.L. (1995). Phys. Usp. 38: 773

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  39. Waysand G. (2005). Phys. Stat. Sol. C2:1566

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. V. F. Weisskopf, talk given at the Erice Summer School in High-Energy Physics, Erice (Italy), 1971.

  41. See the Chronology of the Life of Sir Rudolph Ernst Peierls in R. H. Dalitz and R. Peierls, Selected Scientific Papers of Sir Rudolf Peierls with commentary (World Scientific - Imperial College Press, Singapore - London, 1997).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to S. Esposito.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Esposito, S. Hole Theory and Quantum Electrodynamics in an Unknown Manuscript in French by Ettore Majorana. Found Phys 37, 1049–1068 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10701-007-9141-9

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10701-007-9141-9

Keywords

Navigation