Umdeutung paper

Heisenberg 1926

In the history of physics, "On the quantum-theoretical reinterpretation of kinematical and mechanical relationships" (German: Über quantentheoretische Umdeutung kinematischer und mechanischer Beziehungen), also known as the Umdeutung (reinterpretation) paper,[1][2] was a breakthrough article in quantum mechanics written by Werner Heisenberg, which was published in Zeitschrift für Physik in July 1925.[3]

In his article, Heisenberg described a new framework for quantum theory that was based on observable parameters (parameters that could be measured in scientific experiments), such as transition probabilities or frequencies associated with quantum jumps in spectral lines, rather than unobservable parameters, like the position or velocity of electrons in electron orbits. Thus, Heisenberg used two indices for his reinterpretation of position, corresponding to initial and final states of quantum jumps. Heisenberg used his framework to successfully explain the energy levels of a one-dimensional anharmonic oscillator.[4]: 153 

Mathematically, Heisenberg used non-commutative operators in his new multiplication rule, i.e. generally for quantum quantities and . This insight would later become the basis for Heisenberg's uncertainty principle.[5]: 97–9 

This article was followed by the paper by Max Born and Pascual Jordan of the same year, building on the conceptual ideas of the Umdeutung paper,[6] and by the 'three-man paper' (German: Dreimännerarbeit) by Born, Heisenberg and Jordan in 1926.[7][1][8] These following articles along with the Umdeutung paper laid the groundwork for matrix mechanics that would come to substitute old quantum theory, becoming the first mature mathematical formulation of quantum mechanics.[9] Heisenberg received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1932 for his work on developing quantum mechanics.[10]

Historical context

The general narrative surrounding the Umdeutung paper states that Heisenberg, then 23 years old, worked on the article whilst recovering from hay fever on the largely vegetation-free island of Heligoland for about 10 days after arriving on June 6 1925, where he had a 'eureka moment' discovery that lead to mature quantum mechanics.[11][12] However, this narrative has been criticised for stemming from Heisenberg's account in his 1969 to 1971 memoirs, where Heisenberg stated his book was written in broad historical terms without precise detail.[13] It has been argued that Heisenberg's account is hard to reconcile with contemporary evidence and that the majority of the paper was likely written after Heisenberg's stay on Heligoland in the first weeks of July.[1]

It has also been argued that the idea of a 'eureka' discovery conflicts with Heisenberg's frequent correspondence with Wolfgang Pauli on his paper that expressed uncertainty.[13] When asked for his opinion of the manuscript, Pauli responded favorably, but Heisenberg said that he was still "very uncertain about it". After returning from Heligoland, Heisenberg would discuss exclusively with Pauli using letters, making Pauli the only person aware of the successes and failures of Heisenberg's quantum mechanics.[14] In July 1925, he sent the manuscript to Max Born to review and decide whether to submit it for publication.[14] The idealisation of Heisenberg's work as a 'eureka' breakthrough has also been seen as disproportional when compared to the work other physicists made at the same time.[15]

In classical physics, the intensity of each frequency of light produced in a radiating system is equal to the square of the amplitude of the radiation at that frequency, so attention next fell on amplitudes. The classical equations that Heisenberg hoped to use to form quantum theoretical equations would first yield the amplitudes, and in classical physics one could compute the intensities simply by squaring the amplitudes. But Heisenberg saw that "the simplest and most natural assumption would be"[16]: 275f  to follow the lead provided by recent work in computing light dispersion done by Hans Kramers.[17] The work he had done assisting Kramers in the previous year[16]: paper 3  now gave him an important clue about how to model what happened to excited hydrogen gas when it radiated light and what happened when incoming radiation of one frequency excited atoms in a dispersive medium and then the energy delivered by the incoming light was re-radiated – sometimes at the original frequency but often at two lower frequencies the sum of which equalled the original frequency. According to their model, an electron that had been driven to a higher energy state by accepting the energy of an incoming photon might return in one step to its equilibrium position, re-radiating a photon of the same frequency, or it might return in more than one step, radiating one photon for each step in its return to its equilibrium state. Because of the way factors cancel out in deriving the new equation based on these considerations, the result turns out to be relatively simple.

Description

Heisenberg's reinterpretation of quantum theory

One of the key aspects of Heisenberg's paper in forming a new quantum theory was its deliberate choice to not utilise unobserved quantities such as the electron's position and period but only to utilise observable parameters like transition probabilities or spectral frequencies.[16][18] Whilst this has been seen as one of the succeeding innovations of Heisenberg's paper in moving away from classical mechanics,[19] others have viewed the correspondence principle, the idea that quantum systems will behave like classical systems in the classical limit, as the primary driver of Heisenberg's argument.[20][21] His letter to Ralph Kronig one month before the publishing of the Umdeutung paper closely follows the same structure as the paper but emphasises the correspondence of the Fourier coefficients rather than the philosophical focus on observable quantities.[22]

An electron falling from energy state 3 to energy state 2 (left) emits a photon. The wavelength is given by the Rydberg formula (middle). Calculating the wavelength for hydrogen energy levels, it correspond to a red photon (right). The important question was what will be the intensity of radiation in the spectrum at that wavelength?

Fourier reinterpretation

Classically, a periodic orbit for an electron in stationary state may be described as using a Fourier series, where ( is the complex conjugate) for to be real-valued.[23]

Heisenberg decides to reinterpret this for his quantum theory to be[24][25]

Heisenberg's equation for position

where represents the frequency of light emitted/absorbed and represents an intensity relating to transition probabilities when there is a transition from stationary state to . Heisenberg mentions that may be found using the Bohr model calculation of where is the energy of a given stationary state .[26]

A justification for Heisenberg's Fourier reinterpretation can be seen when comparing classical and quantum expressions for the orbital frequencies. Classically, using action-angle variables, it can be found that as ; in the Bohr model, by contrast, it is found that Using the correspondence principle it can be found using from the old quantum theory.[27] This correspondence between and also suggests a correspondence between the intensities and in the connection

This Fourier reinterpretation was also justified in Heisenberg's view so that the electron in its periodic motion, which the Bohr model predicted, would not have a single characteristic radiation frequency in stationary state that had never been experimentally measured. Under Heisenberg's reinterpretation, the motion of the electron would only have the experimentally observed spectral frequencies as components of its periodic motion. Heisenberg notes, however, that by the publishing of the paper that the electronic orbit was abandoned as physically meaningful.[28]

Non-commutative multiplication rule

Heisenberg uses the Rydberg–Ritz combination principle as a fundamental part of how frequencies should behave in his quantum theory. Rather than the classical rule Heisenberg writes out the Ritz combination principle .[29]

Classically, multiplying two position Fourier series together forms a new Fourier series: where [30]

Heisenberg analogised from this classical case that multiplying two quantum series should give another quantum series of the same form. In other words, Heisenberg finds that if a quantum series may be written then

Whilst a normal multiplication would not work to form a new quantum series, Heisenberg deliberately reinterprets multiplication to be now following the new quantum multiplication rule [1]: 223–224  [22]

This is so that using the earlier Rydberg-Ritz Combination Rule so that all the frequencies are correct for the new series.[21]

Intensities of the visible spectrum of a hydrogen plasma obtained with Ocean Optics USB2000 low resolution spectrometer. Alpha, Beta, Gamma Balmer lines are visible, other lines are indistinguishable from the noise.

Generalizing from the earlier multiplication case of , Heisenberg wrote out his new, non-commutative multiplication rule that is the quantum mechanical analog for the classical computation of intensities:[16]: 266 [31]: 5 [24]

Heisenberg's non-commutative multiplication rule

There will potentially be an infinite series of terms and their matching terms. Each of these multiplications has as its factors two measurements that pertain to sequential downward transitions between energy states of an electron. This type of rule differentiates matrix mechanics from the kind of physics familiar in everyday life because the important values are where (in what energy state or "orbital") the electron begins and in what energy state it ends, not what the electron is doing while in one or another state.

If and both refer to lists of frequencies, for instance, the calculation proceeds as follows:

Multiply the frequency for a change of energy from state n to state na by the frequency for a change of energy from state na to state nb, and to that add the product found by multiplying the frequency for a change of energy from state na to state nb by the frequency for a change of energy from state nb to state nc, and so forth. Symbolically, that is:

(According to the convention used, na represents a higher energy state than n, so a transition from n to na would indicate that an electron has accepted energy from an incoming photon and has risen to a higher orbital, while a transition from na to n would represent an electron falling to a lower orbital and emitting a photon.)

It would be easy to perform each individual step of this process for some measured quantity. For instance, the boxed formula at the head of this article gives each needed wavelength in sequence. The values calculated could very easily be filled into a grid as described below. However, since the series is infinite, nobody could do the entire set of calculations.

Heisenberg originally devised this equation to enable himself to multiply two measurements of the same kind (amplitudes), so it happened not to matter in which order they were multiplied. Heisenberg noticed, however that if he tried to use the same schema to multiply two variables, such as momentum, p, and displacement, q, then "a significant difficulty arises".[16]: 266  It turns out that multiplying a matrix of p by a matrix of q gives a different result from multiplying a matrix of q by a matrix of p. It only made a tiny bit of difference, but that difference could never be reduced below a certain limit, and that limit involved the Planck constant, h.

Motion

Heisenberg also notes that, in the old quantum theory, the observable quantities are solved from Newton's Second Law and the Wilson–Sommerfeld quantisation rule where is the force per unit mass function, where Heisenberg then makes the assumption that using his new Fourier reinterpretation of that the same Newtonian equations may be used to solve for observable quantities.[21]

Quantisation

As a part of Heisenberg's justification for a theory of mechanics that is only reliant on the intensities and frequencies that are measurable, Heisenberg derives the Thomas-Reiche-Kuhn sum rule found from studying dispersion[26]

Heisenberg's quantisation rule

for . [21]

Quantum anharmonic oscillator

Heisenberg additionally studies the energy levels of the anharmonic oscillator described by , as the conceptually more simple harmonic oscillator would not have required his new multiplication rule.[32] Whereas under a classical consideration he finds that , but under a quantum consideration using the theory developed in his paper, up to order , he finds that explaining the existence of zero-point energy that had already been inferred from experiment.[33] The lack of dependence on made the equation written allowed to be used for the energy levels of the harmonic oscillator () as well. Heisenberg would also extend this equation to the electron rotating at angular frequency around the nucleus with moment of inertia to find[32] and for the energy in agreement with experimental observations on the cyanide spectroscopic bands by Adolf Kratzer that introduced half-integral quantum numbers.[23]

Legacy

Development of matrix mechanics

Visible spectrum of hydrogen.

The one thing that people at that time most wanted to understand about hydrogen radiation was how to predict or account for the intensities of the lines in its spectrum. Although Heisenberg did not know it at the time, the general format he worked out to express his new way of working with quantum theoretical calculations can serve as a recipe for two matrices and how to multiply them.[16]: Ch 12 

The Umdeutung paper does not mention matrices. Heisenberg's great advance was the "scheme which was capable in principle of determining uniquely the relevant physical qualities (transition frequencies and amplitudes)"[31]: 2  of hydrogen radiation.

After Heisenberg wrote the Umdeutung paper, he turned it over to one of his senior colleagues for any needed corrections and went on vacation. Max Born puzzled over the equations and the non-commuting equations that Heisenberg had found troublesome and disturbing. After several days he realized that these equations amounted to directions for writing out matrices.[34]

By consideration of ... examples. .. [Heisenberg] found this rule ... This was in the summer of 1925. Heisenberg ... took leave of absence ... and handed over his paper to me for publication ... Heisenberg's rule of multiplication left me no peace, and after a week of intensive thought and trial, I suddenly remembered an algebraic theory....Such quadratic arrays are quite familiar to mathematicians and are called matrices, in association with a definite rule of multiplication. I applied this rule to Heisenberg's quantum condition and found that it agreed for the diagonal elements. It was easy to guess what the remaining elements must be, namely, null; and immediately there stood before me the strange formula

This equation is now called the canonical commutation relation, where the symbol is the matrix for displacement, is the matrix for momentum, i stands for the square root of negative one, and h is the Planck constant.[35][31]: A 

Born discovered this equation by taking which allowed him to simplify Heisenberg's complicated quantisation condition[36] where he was able to recognise the multiplication of the components of and surmounted to matrix multiplication.[14]

When Born read the article, he recognized the formulation as one which could be transcribed and extended to the systematic language of matrices. Born, with the help of his assistant and former student Pascual Jordan, began immediately to make the transcription into pure matrix algebra and extension, and they submitted their results for publication; their manuscript was received for publication just 60 days after Heisenberg’s article.[6] A follow-on article by all three authors extending the theory to multiple dimensions was submitted for publication before the end of the year.[7]

Paul Dirac, who had received a proof copy in August 1925, realized that the non-commutative law had not been fully developed, and he produced an algebraic formulation to express the same results in more logical form.[37] His insight led to new and productive directions in developing quantum mechanics.[38]

"Magical paper"

Steven Weinberg would in 1993 refer to Heisenberg's paper as "pure magic" due to Heisenberg's lack of written motivation that he takes in justifying each mathematical step, leaving the reader "mystified" despite the successful predictions of Heisenberg's framework.[39] A number of attempts have been made to explain his paper more accessibly.[3]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d Duncan, Anthony; Janssen, Michel (2023). "Heisenberg's Umdeutung Paper". Constructing Quantum Mechanics. Vol. 2. Oxford: Oxford Academic. pp. 209–254. doi:10.1093/oso/9780198883906.003.0004. ISBN 978-0-19-888390-6.
  2. ^ Kragh, Helge (2012-05-03). Niels Bohr and the Quantum Atom: The Bohr Model of Atomic Structure 1913-1925. OUP Oxford. ISBN 978-0-19-163046-0.
  3. ^ a b Aitchison, Ian J. R.; MacManus, David A.; Snyder, Thomas M. (November 1, 2004). "Understanding Heisenberg's "magical" paper of July 1925: A new look at the calculational details". American Journal of Physics. 72 (11): 1370–1379. arXiv:quant-ph/0404009. Bibcode:2004AmJPh..72.1370A. doi:10.1119/1.1775243. ISSN 0002-9505.
  4. ^ Segrè, Emilio; Segrè, Emilio (1980). From x-rays to quarks: modern physicists and their discoveries. San Francisco: Freeman. ISBN 978-0-7167-1147-6.
  5. ^ Dirac, Paul (1967). The Principles of Quantum Mechanics (4th, revised ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-852011-5.
  6. ^ a b Born, M.; Jordan, P. (1925). "Zur Quantenmechanik". Zeitschrift für Physik. 34: 858–888. Bibcode:1925ZPhy...34..858B. doi:10.1007/BF01328531.. [English translation in: B. L. van der Waerden, editor, Sources of Quantum Mechanics. Dover Publications, 1968. ISBN 0-486-61881-1].
  7. ^ a b Born, M.; Heisenberg, W.; Jordan, P. (1926). "Zur Quantenmechanik. II". Zeitschrift für Physik. 35 (8–9): 557–615. Bibcode:1926ZPhy...35..557B. doi:10.1007/BF01379806.. [English translation in: B. L. van der Waerden, editor, Sources of Quantum Mechanics. Dover Publications, 1968. ISBN 0-486-61881-1].
  8. ^ Physics, American Institute of. "Heisenberg / Uncertainty". history.aip.org. Retrieved 2024-03-05.
  9. ^ De Biasio, Davide (13 November 2025). "A century of quantum mechanics". CERN. Retrieved 4 December 2025.
  10. ^ "The Nobel Prize in Physics 1932". NobelPrize.org. Retrieved 2024-03-05.
  11. ^ Traynor, Shelby (28 July 2025). "Quantum mechanics physics theory was born 100 years ago, thanks to Heisenberg's hay fever". ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 5 December 2025.
  12. ^ Kumar, Manjit (26 March 2021). "Helgoland by Carlo Rovelli review – a meditation on quantum theory". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 December 2025.
  13. ^ a b Dahn, Ryan (12 June 2025). "What happened on Helgoland 100 years ago—and what didn't?". American Institute of Physics. Retrieved 5 December 2025.
  14. ^ a b c Mehra, Jagdish; Rechenberg, Helmut (1982). The Formulation of Matrix Mechanics and its Modifications 1925–1926. The Historical Development of Quantum Theory. Springer. ISBN 0-387-90675-4.
  15. ^ Duncan, Anthony; Janssen, Michel (9 October 2007). "On the verge of Umdeutung in Minnesota: Van Vleck and the correspondence principle. Part one". Archive for History of Exact Sciences. 61 (6): 553–624. doi:10.1007/s00407-007-0010-x. Retrieved 8 December 2025.
  16. ^ a b c d e f B. L. van der Waerden (2007). Sources of Quantum Mechanics. Dover Publications. ISBN 978-0486458922.: 261 
  17. ^ Kramers, H. A. (1924). "The Law of Dispersion and Bohr's Theory of Spectra". Nature. 113 (2845): 673–674. Bibcode:1924Natur.113..673K. doi:10.1038/113673a0. ISSN 0028-0836. S2CID 4138614.
  18. ^ Diaz, Jorge S. (24 August 2025). "This is how Heisenberg created quantum mechanics - a step-by-step guide #SoME4". YouTube. Retrieved 15 September 2025.
  19. ^ Plotnitsky, Arkady (July 2004). "'In Principle Observable': Werner Heisenberg's Discovery of Quantum Mechanics and Romantic Imagination". Parallax. 10 (3): 20–35. doi:10.1080/1353464042000226080.
  20. ^ Wolff, Johanna (February 2014). "Heisenberg's observability principle". Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics. 45: 19–26. Bibcode:2014SHPMP..45...19W. doi:10.1016/j.shpsb.2013.11.006. hdl:10722/198271. S2CID 122972241.
  21. ^ a b c d Fedak, William A.; Prentis, Jeffrey J. (1 February 2009). "The 1925 Born and Jordan paper "On quantum mechanics"" (PDF). American Journal of Physics. 77 (2): 128–139. Bibcode:2009AmJPh..77..128F. doi:10.1119/1.3009634. Retrieved 7 December 2025.
  22. ^ a b Blum, Alexander; Jähnert, Martin; Lehner, Christoph; Renn, Jürgen (1 November 2017). "Translation as heuristics: Heisenberg׳s turn to matrix mechanics". Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics. 60: 3–22. doi:10.1016/j.shpsb.2017.03.005. Retrieved 7 December 2025.
  23. ^ a b Longair, Malcolm S. (2013). Quantum concepts in physics: an alternative approach to the understanding of quantum mechanics. Cambridge ; New york: Cambridge University Press. p. 203–223. ISBN 9781107017092. Retrieved 6 December 2025.
  24. ^ a b Cassidy, David C. (1992). Uncertainty: the life and science of Werner Heisenberg. New York: W.H. Freeman. pp. 181–203. ISBN 978-0-7167-2243-4.
  25. ^ Razavy, Mohsen (2011). Heisenberg's quantum mechanics. Singapore Hackensack, N.J: World Scientific. pp. 39–43. ISBN 978-981-4304-10-8.
  26. ^ a b Cappellmann, Herbert (26 November 2016). "The Development of Elementary Quantum Theory from 1900 to 1927". p. 15. arXiv:1606.00190 [physics.hist-ph].
  27. ^ Komeč, Aleksandr I. (2013). Quantum Mechanics: Genesis and Achievements. Dordrecht: Springer. pp. 25–34. ISBN 978-94-007-5541-3. Retrieved 7 December 2025.
  28. ^ Heisenberg, Werner (May 1975). "Development of concepts in the history of quantum theory". American Journal of Physics. 43 (5): 389–394. Bibcode:1975AmJPh..43..389H. doi:10.1119/1.9833. Retrieved 15 September 2025.
  29. ^ Mehra, Jagdish. "THE BIRTH OF QUANTUM MECHANICS; Werner Heisenberg Memorial Lecture delivered at the CERN Colloquium on 30 March 1976" (PDF). CERN Document Server. CERN. Retrieved 6 December 2025.
  30. ^ Darrigol, Olivier (2021). From C-Numbers to Q-Numbers: The Classical Analogy in the History of Quantum Theory (1st ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 270–271. ISBN 9780520328280. Retrieved 7 December 2025.
  31. ^ a b c Aitchison, Ian J. R.; MacManus, David A.; Snyder, Thomas M. (2004). "Understanding Heisenberg's "magical" paper of July 1925: A new look at the calculational details". American Journal of Physics. 72 (11): 1370–1379. arXiv:quant-ph/0404009. Bibcode:2004AmJPh..72.1370A. doi:10.1119/1.1775243. S2CID 53118117.
  32. ^ a b Jammer, Max (1989). The conceptual development of quantum mechanics (2nd ed.). Los Angeles (Calif.): Thomas publishers. pp. 208–218. ISBN 0883186179.
  33. ^ Tomonaga, Sin-itiro (1962). Quantum Mechanics Volume 1 Old Quantum Theory. North-Holland Publishing Company; Interscience Publishers Inc., New York. pp. 204–224.
  34. ^ Born's Nobel lecture quoted in Thomas F. Jordan's Quantum Mechanics in Simple Matrix Form, p. 6
  35. ^ See Introduction to quantum mechanics. by Henrik Smith, p. 58 for a readable introduction.
  36. ^ Jungnickel, Christa; McCormmach, Russell (1986). Intellectual Mastery of Nature Volume 2 The Now Mighty Theoretical Physics 1870–1925. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press. pp. 355–372. ISBN 9780226415857.
  37. ^ Kragh, H. (2004). "Dirac, Paul Adrien Maurice (1902–1984)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press.
  38. ^ Thomas F. Jordan, Quantum Mechanics in Simple Matrix Form, p. 149
  39. ^ Giliberti, Marco; Lovisetti, Luisa (31 July 2025). Heisenberg's 1925 "Umdeutung" Paper; A Commented Translation from a Physicist's Perspective. Springer Nature Switzerland. p. viii. ISBN 978-3031969201. Retrieved 17 September 2025.

Further reading