NotesFAQContact Us
Collection
Advanced
Search Tips
Back to results
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
ERIC Number: EJ829401
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2007-May
Pages: 14
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0143-0807
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
The Gravitational Analogue to the Hydrogen Atom
Kober, Martin; Koch, Ben; Bleicher, Marcus
European Journal of Physics, v28 n3 p465-478 May 2007
This paper reports on a student summer project performed in 2006 at the University of Frankfurt. It is addressed to undergraduate students familiar with the basic principles of relativistic quantum mechanics and general relativity. The aim of the project was to study the Dirac equation in curved spacetime. To obtain the general relativistic Dirac equation we use the formulation of gravity as a gauge theory in the first part. After these general considerations we restrict the further discussion to the special case of the Schwarzschild metric. This setting corresponds to the hydrogen atom, with the electromagnetic field replaced by gravity. Although there is a singularity at the event horizon it turns out that a regular solution of the time-independent Dirac equation exists. Finally the Dirac equation is solved numerically using suitable boundary conditions. (Contains 3 figures.)
Institute of Physics Publishing. The Public Ledger Building Suite 929, 150 South Independence Mall West, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 215-627-0880; Fax: 215-627-0879; e-mail: info@ioppubusa.com; Web site: http://www.iop.org/EJ/journal/EJP
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Germany
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A