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Preliminary Note on the Masses of the Electron, the Proton, and the Universe

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 October 2008

A. S. Eddington
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Extract

In an investigation which I hope to publish shortly, I think I have been able to improve my theory of the constant hc/2πe2 and to bring it at last into a precise form. No alteration is made in the value 137 obtained in the work already published. The recent advance has been mainly due to the fresh light thrown on the foundations of wave-mechanics by Dr Dirac's book. With a fuller understanding of the “theory of 137” it has been possible to discern opportunities for extension in several directions, and it is with these developments that the present paper deals. They are still in a rudimentary state; but since the theory appears to give correctly either accurate or approximate values of the masses of the electron, the helium atom, and the cosmos in terms of the mass of the proton, it would seem to be on the right lines. Moreover the principle of “ignoration of degrees of freedom” on which the numerical predictions depend is strongly suggested by the theory of the constant 137. If my view is right the only arbitrary constant of nature is the number of particles in the universe—if the number is arbitrary.

Type
Research Article
Information
Mathematical Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society , Volume 27 , Issue 1 , January 1931 , pp. 15 - 19
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge Philosophical Society 1931

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References

* Proc. Roy. Soc., 126, p. 696 (1930).Google Scholar

† I take like charges for simplicity, but the theory can be extended to unlike charges.

† Two proper-times would be meaningless, since the purpose of proper-time is to provide a linear sequence to which changes or perturbations of the system are correlated.

* Macroscopic space is of spherical type, and by Einstein's theory (if it is static) its radius is proportional to the mass contained in it. For the systems of a few charges considered in elementary problems the radius of space is very small indeed; so that there is no absurdity in admitting a cyclic momentum which represents an electron going “round the world.” The extraordinary fluke (as it has always appeared to me) that results calculated for these systems reproduce themselves in observations made in the actual world is doubtless due to the fact that we are chiefly concerned with infinitesimal virtual displacements which can be transferred to an osculating space.

† Mathematical Theory of Relativity, p. 167.

* Monthly Notices, Royal Astronomical Soc., 90, p. 678 (1930).Google Scholar