Mathematisches Kolloquium

Zusammenfassung: The quantum theory of light began in 1900/1905 with the discovery of Planck's law and Einstein's interpretation of it in terms of photons. The first consistent form of the quantum mechanics of nonrelativistic matter was discovered by Heisenberg, Born and Jordan in 1925. Soon afterwards, Dirac and Jordan attempted to combine the two discoveries in what is known as Quantum Electrodynamics. Their aim was to arrive at a consistent theory of atomic and molecular spectroscopy and of scattering processes involving electrons and photons, such as Rayleigh scattering. From a mathematical point of view, this turned out to be extremely difficult because of the well known divergence problems (ultraviolet- and infrared divergences) that tend to invalidate formal perturbative calculations. The aim of my lecture is to review some of the recent progress in our mathematical understanding of Quantum Electrodynamics with static nuclei and nonrelativistic electrons. Emphasis will be put on a survey of results and a discussion of their physical significance. Some historical perspective will be developed. A serious and understandable exposition of mathematical methods underlying those results goes far beyond the scope of a single lecture.

Alle Interessierten sind hiermit herzlich eingeladen. Eine halbe Stunde vor dem Vortrag gibt es Kaffee und Tee im Sozialraum (Raum 448) im 4. Stock.

Treffpunkt zum Abendessen um 19.00 Uhr wird noch bekannt gegeben.