A rigorous analysis of the radiation equilibrium was presented as a
poster on March 15th at the APS Meeting. Its core result, that h is the
frequency-domain equivalent of k and is purely classical, contradicts
current wisdom as represented, for instance, by the tutorial T3
Currrent Interpretations of Quantum Mechanics [March 12th, 8:30am -
12:30pm] at the same Meeting. Note that the present analysis does not
contradict QM itself - rather, it actually reinforces QM by providing
it a far better analytical foundation than was hitherto conceivable
from any set of "Interpretations" (you'll find that it's just mundane
heat, not god, that plays the dice).

At least 10 sets of visitors stopped by with the expected smirks on
noticing the title (whew!); smirks generally vanished within the first
three sentences of the verbal explanation, however, and every visitor
left agreeing that this result is too simple and too complete to be
wrong. It identifies and corrects a 100 year bug of Boltzmann, Planck
and others of that time likely due to their relative unfamiliarity with
the nature travelling and standing waves (see the poster link
http://www.inspiredresearch.com/qm-aps2006-poster.html for references
to EE history dealing with the travelling wave energies), plus a 150
year bug of Boltzmann that wall thermal motions were ignored in the
kinetic theory: The walls were inadvertently taken to be at T = 0 -
i.e. perfectly rigid - as premise for equilibrium even at T >> 0. This
is not so much a problem for Boltzmann's statistical reasoning of
entropy for molecules but fatal for standing waves - and forced Planck
to _postulate_ "elementary disorder" (according to the PhysicsWeb
article pointed to in the poster). In other words, it includes a
Gordian-knot solution for the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam problem.

The full paper (10 pages, submitted to JAP) is available for
constructive comments and review at http://www.inspiredresearch.com/ -
see also the poster link for a quick summary of the argument. The core
result - that the #antinodes (more precisely, λ/2 intervals
centred on the antinodes) in a standing wave is exactly proportional to
the frequency and hence that Planck's law => an equal energy
distribution of the antinode intervals - was adequately established
only as of 19 July 2002 in a private discussion within the quantum
information group at IBM Research (Ykt). The APS poster is the first
presentation of the completed analysis.

Endorsement is hereby respectfully sought for posting this as revision
to physics/0003041 (which had only the core hunch right and was thus
"not even wrong"!).


sincerely,
-prasad

A rigorous analysis of the radiation equilibrium was presented as a
poster on March 15th at the APS Meeting. Its core result, that h is the
frequency-domain equivalent of k and is purely classical, contradicts
current wisdom as represented, for instance, by the tutorial T3
Currrent Interpretations of Quantum Mechanics [March 12th, 8:30am -
12:30pm] at the same Meeting. Note that the present analysis does not
contradict QM itself - rather, it actually reinforces QM by providing
it a far better analytical foundation than was hitherto conceivable
from any set of "Interpretations" (you'll find that it's just mundane
heat, not god, that plays the dice).

At least 10 sets of visitors stopped by with the expected smirks on
noticing the title (whew!); smirks generally vanished within the first
three sentences of the verbal explanation, however, and every visitor
left agreeing that this result is too simple and too complete to be
wrong. It identifies and corrects a 100 year bug of Boltzmann, Planck
and others of that time likely due to their relative unfamiliarity with
the nature travelling and standing waves (see the poster link
http://www.inspiredresearch.com/qm-aps2006-poster.html for references
to EE history dealing with the travelling wave energies), plus a 150
year bug of Boltzmann that wall thermal motions were ignored in the
kinetic theory: The walls were inadvertently taken to be at T = 0 -
i.e. perfectly rigid - as premise for equilibrium even at T >> 0. This
is not so much a problem for Boltzmann's statistical reasoning of
entropy for molecules but fatal for standing waves - and forced Planck
to _postulate_ "elementary disorder" (according to the PhysicsWeb
article pointed to in the poster). In other words, it includes a
Gordian-knot solution for the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam problem.

The full paper (10 pages, submitted to JAP) is available for
constructive comments and review at http://www.inspiredresearch.com/ -
see also the poster link for a quick summary of the argument. The core
result - that the #antinodes (more precisely, λ/2 intervals
centred on the antinodes) in a standing wave is exactly proportional to
the frequency and hence that Planck's law => an equal energy
distribution of the antinode intervals - was adequately established
only as of 19 July 2002 in a private discussion within the quantum
information group at IBM Research (Ykt). The APS poster is the first
presentation of the completed analysis.

Endorsement is hereby respectfully sought for posting this as revision
to physics/0003041 (which had only the core hunch right and was thus
"not even wrong"!).