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Note on the Equilibrium of Black-Body Radiation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 October 2008

W. Heitler*
Affiliation:
H. H. Wills Physical Laboratory, University of Bristol

Extract

Recent discoveries have shown that two light quanta with total energy not less than 2mc2 can create a pair of electrons (inverse process to the ordinary annihilation). Hence it follows that ordinary black-body radiation no longer represents an equilibrium state. In thermodynamic equilibrium a certain number of electron pairs must be present, the number of which will depend upon the temperature. It can be calculated as follows.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge Philosophical Society 1935

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References

* Note added in proof. The probability of the creation of a pair by two light quanta has in the meantime been calculated by Breit, J. and Wheeler, T. A., Phys. Rev. 46 (1934), 1087.Google Scholar

* If, besides the electron pairs, a certain additional number of negative electrons are present, the left-hand side of (5) has to be replaced by √N + N , where N represents the total number of negative electrons.