Elementary Particles and the Principle of Reciprocity
Abstract
THE discovery of different kinds of mesons with rest-masses spreading over a considerable range has brought about a fundamental change in the aspect of the problem of elementary particles. It looks as if there exists a great many, possibly an infinite number of particles with different rest-masses, most of them being unstable, while a few have a long life-time. So long as one had to deal only with a small number of particles, the electron, nucleon (proton-neutron), and Yukawa's meson, it was appropriate to treat each of them separately and to describe them by wave equations constructed according to the more or less known properties (rest-mass, spin) of the particles. This procedure has now become inadequate; one has to face the problem of the interrelation of the particles and in particular of their rest-masses. The safest course to take would, of course, be to wait until enough experimental material has been accumulated for building a reliable theory on it. Yet I think that preliminary work can be done now, namely, a discussion of the type of theory which could deal with the situation.
- Publication:
-
Nature
- Pub Date:
- February 1949
- DOI:
- 10.1038/163207a0
- Bibcode:
- 1949Natur.163..207B