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Simulation of atom trajectories in the original Stern-Gerlach experiment

Computational Physics 2024-08-28 v1 Atomic Physics

Abstract

Following a comprehensive analysis of the historical literature, we model the geometry of the Stern\unicodex2013\unicode{x2013}Gerlach experiment to numerically calculate the magnetic field using the finite-element method. Using this calculated field and Monte Carlo methods, the atomic translational dynamics are simulated to produce the well-known quantized end-pattern with matching dimensions. The finite-element method used provides the most accurate description of the Stern\unicodex2013\unicode{x2013}Gerlach magnetic field and end-pattern in the literature, matching the historically reported values and figures.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2408.14530,
  title  = {Simulation of atom trajectories in the original Stern-Gerlach experiment},
  author = {Faraz Mostafaeipour and S. Suleyman Kahraman and Kelvin Titimbo and Yixuan Tan and Lihong V. Wang},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2408.14530},
  year   = {2024}
}