Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-04T20:31:09.350Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Sum Rule Has not Been Tested

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

Nancy Cartwright
Nancy Cartwright*
Affiliation:
Stanford University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The debate between Glymour ([2]) and Fine ([1]) hinges in part on a comparison of the width of the incoming wave packet in momentum space with the angles intercepted by the detectors in the Cross-Ramsey experiment. As Fine argues, it follows from the quantum formalism that the initial dispersion will be conserved in Compton scattering, and he allows that the Sum Rule is constrained by the statistical results of quantum mechanics. The Sum Rule may fail, but it will not fail in any way that violates quantum mechanics. Thus most of the time the individual momentum value does not change more than the width of the initial wave packet: usually the value of Qγe at t must equal the value of Qγ at t′ plus the value of Qe at t′ ± Δp/2, where Δp represents the dispersion in momentum for the initial gamma ray. Thus in order to refute Fine's thesis, the detectors must discriminate finely enough to pick out changeovers of individual values within Δp.

Type
Discussion
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 44 , Issue 1 , March 1977 , pp. 107 - 112
Copyright
Copyright © 1977 by the Philosophy of Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Fine, A. “Conservation, the Sum Rule and Confirmation.” Philosophy of Science 44 (1977): 95–106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glymour, C. “The Sum Rule is Well-Confirmed.” Philosophy of Science 44 (1977): 86–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldberger, M. L. and Watson, K. W. Collision Theory. New York: Wiley, 1964.Google Scholar
Rodberg, L. S. and Theler, R. M. Introduction to the Quantum Theory of Scattering. New York and London: Academic Press, 1967.Google Scholar