Matrix Mechanics - Mathematical Development

Mathematical Development

Once Heisenberg introduced the matrices for X and P, he could find their matrix elements in special cases by guesswork, guided by the correspondence principle. Since the matrix elements are the quantum mechanical analogs of Fourier coefficients of the classical orbits, the simplest case is the harmonic oscillator, where X(t) and P(t) are sinusoidal.

Read more about this topic:  Matrix Mechanics

Famous quotes containing the words mathematical and/or development:

    What is history? Its beginning is that of the centuries of systematic work devoted to the solution of the enigma of death, so that death itself may eventually be overcome. That is why people write symphonies, and why they discover mathematical infinity and electromagnetic waves.
    Boris Pasternak (1890–1960)

    I could not undertake to form a nucleus of an institution for the development of infant minds, where none already existed. It would be too cruel.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)