RankingsPrimerArbiterPhysicistMathematicianContrarianQESites logClaimsSourcesResearch notes

2026-10-09 Internet Archive (archive.org)

Accessed by script (metadata and advancedsearch APIs, direct downloads); no login. All items below report access-restricted-item = none (open).

Queries: advancedsearch creator:(Sommerfeld) AND (title:(Atombau) OR title:(spectral) OR title:(Spektrallinien) OR title:(Quantentheorie)); title:("Annalen der Physik") AND date:[1916 TO 1917]; identifier:sim_annalen-der-physik_1921_65*; creator:(Paschen) AND date:[1910 TO 1930]; Sommerfeld Quantentheorie Spektrallinien (no hits). Then full-text (djvu.txt) greps of individual Annalen issues for Sommerfeld, Paschen, Glitscher, Gehrcke, Lau.

Editions of the book itself (priority 1)

  • atomicstructures0000somm: Atomic structure and spectral lines, Sommerfeld, New York, Dutton, 1923, 654 page images, Trent University copy, https://archive.org/details/atomicstructures0000somm [web]. This is the same Brose translation as the project PDF but a different scan with single-page images (the project PDF is two-page spreads). Saved: files/Sommerfeld-1923-AtomicStructure-IA-atomicstructures0000somm.pdf (36 MB) and _djvu.txt (OCR). A spot check shows its OCR of equations is no better than the project's (same "experimentum crucis" passage, similar garbling), but the single-page scans may be easier for the remaining deep reads (claims.md items a-d: PDF pp.157-235 and 80-106). The deep read's "[memory, high]" English date of 1923 is confirmed by this record's metadata.
  • atombauundspekt00sommgoog: Atombau und Spektrallinien, Braunschweig, Vieweg, 1921 (2nd German edition), 610 images, open [web]. Not downloaded. Lets a reviewer check the two positions the 3rd edition says it retracts from "earlier German editions".
  • dli.ernet.15947: Atomic Structure and Spectral Lines Vol. I, Methuen, 1934 (translation of the 5th edition), open [web]. Not downloaded. Shows how Sommerfeld restated the fine structure after spin and Dirac.
  • atombauundspektr00somm: Wellenmechanischer Ergänzungsband, 1929, open [web]. Not downloaded.
  • Restricted (lending only): 1931 German and English, 1939 German.

Primary papers on the fine structure (priorities 1 and 2)

  • Sommerfeld, "Zur Quantentheorie der Spektrallinien", Ann. d. Phys. 51 (1916), issue 17 (p.1 ff.), https://archive.org/details/sim_annalen-der-physik_1916_51_17 [web]. Saved: files/sim_annalen-der-physik_1916_51_17.pdf and files/Sommerfeld-1916-ZurQuantentheorieDerSpektrallinien-AnnPhys51-iss17_djvu.txt; part II is in issue 18 (files/sim_annalen-der-physik_1916_51_18.pdf). This is the full original treatise behind Chapters IV and VIII. Passage found: Sommerfeld calls it "sehr merkwürdig" that Paschen found, for the He line, a mode of excitation (impulsive discharge of large quantities of electricity) that seems to lift the quantum inequalities, so that "scheinbar alle" lines allowed by eqn (15) appear and the intensity rule (20) seems to hold exactly; he returns to it in Part II, §10 for "die Bestimmung der idealen Größe des Wasserstoffdubletts" [web: djvu text lines ~2554-2570]. Bears on claim 2 (the "forbidden" components and the derivation of the ideal doublet from He+).
  • Paschen, "Bohrs Heliumlinien", Ann. d. Phys. 50 (1916), issue 16, with Plate V, https://archive.org/details/sim_annalen-der-physik_1916_50_16 [web]. Saved: files/sim_annalen-der-physik_1916_50_16.pdf and _djvu.txt. This is the experimental paper the book cites for the He+ 4686 pattern and the 0.3645 cm^-1 value. Passage: Paschen says that taking the stronger (red) components of the hydrogen lines would make the mean e/mu x 10^-7 = 1.74, "im Widerspruche mit dem sonst bekannten Werte 1,76 +/- 0,01"; "Eine Klärung der Unstimmigkeiten brachte die neue Theorie von A. Sommerfeld"; with "freundlicher Hilfe ihres Schöpfers" the whole helium and hydrogen material was brought "in genügende Übereinstimmung" with Bohr's theory and Sommerfeld's fine-structure theory [web: djvu text lines ~4232-4262]. Bears on claim 2: the deep read's point that Paschen fitted the theory's own interval scheme is confirmed in Paschen's own wording, which the reviewers should weigh with the plate.
  • Glitscher, "Spektroskopischer Vergleich zwischen den Theorien des starren und des deformierbaren Elektrons", Ann. d. Phys. 52 (1917) p.608, issue 6 (shortened Munich dissertation, Feb 1917), https://archive.org/details/sim_annalen-der-physik_1917_52_6 [web]. Saved: files/Glitscher-1917-...-AnnPhys52-iss6_djvu.txt (PDF not downloaded). Opening: Kaufmann's beta-ray deflection experiments are hard to make precise, so a spectroscopic comparison is "sehr erwünscht"; W. Lenz asked Sommerfeld in a field-post letter how the fine structure would come out with Abraham's formulas, so that one could decide "zwischen Abraham und Lorentz-Einstein"; the radial phase integral is hard with Abraham's formulas, so Glitscher expands in power series and tests both against Paschen's helium lines. This is the source behind claim 6's "experimentum crucis" and the 4/5 factor.
  • Gehrcke and Lau, "Über die Balmerserie des Wasserstoffs", Ann. d. Phys. 65 (1921), issue 14, p.564 ff., Plate II (from the Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt, at W. Wien's suggestion), https://archive.org/details/sim_annalen-der-physik_1921_65_14 [web]. Saved: files/Gehrcke-Lau-1921-Balmerserie-AnnPhys65-iss14_djvu.txt (PDF not downloaded). Key passage (p.575): "Bemerkenswert ist, daß der Betrag für Delta nu etwa um 25 Proz. kleiner gemessen wird, als er aus der theoretischen Feinstrukturkonstanten sich nach Sommerfeld berechnet"; they see no measurement error that could account for a deviation of that size, and note that earlier observers found similar values. §5: the intensity ratio of the two components depends on how the light is produced and on the source. This is one of the direct measurements the book tabulates (0.272, 0.283, 0.271 cm^-1) and calls only "partly explained". Gehrcke was a prominent anti-relativist (see the de.wikipedia note in sites.md); that is his stance, recorded beside the measurement, not a reason to set the measurement aside.
  • Paschen and Götze, Seriengesetze der Linienspektren (1922), item bwb_W9-CRV-268 (restricted; not checked).

Not reached: Ann. d. Phys. 51 issue 18 text (PDF saved, not read); Lau's 1924 "Bericht" that Sommerfeld cites (journal not identified); Paschen's 1916 Plate V images.