Related papers: Majorana: from atomic and molecular, to nuclear ph…
We report on an original method, due to Majorana, leading to a semi-analytical series solution of the Thomas-Fermi equation, with appropriate boundary conditions, in terms of only one quadrature. We also deduce a general formula for such a…
The Ettore Majorana paper - Theory of incomplete P triplets- published in 1931, focuses on the role of selection rules for the non-radiative decay of two electron excitations in atomic spectra, involving the configuration interaction…
The Varenna school is a hub where generations of physicists, including numerous Nobel laureates, have shaped the field, often through collaborative exchanges across political and cultural boundaries. We examine the scientific legacy of…
Majorana fermions are the real (in a mathematical sense) counterparts of complex fermions like ordinary electrons. The promise of topological quantum computing has lead to substantial experimental progress in realizing these particles in…
We give an accurate historical and scientific account of a previously unknown manuscript written by Ettore Majorana in French. The retrieved text deals with Quantum Electrodynamics by using the formalism of field quantization, and it is…
The standard model of elementary interactions has long qualified as a theory of matter, in which the postulated conservation laws (one baryonic and three leptonic) acquire theoretical meaning. However, recent observations of lepton number…
A complete history of early atomic models would fill volumes, but a reasonably coherent tale of the path from mechanical atoms to the quantum can be told by focusing on the relevant work of three great contributors to atomic physics, in the…
This short essay aims to offer a discursive presentation of three scientific articles by Ettore Majorana highlighting the fundamental importance of one of them - the last one - for the investigation of the intimate constitution of matter.…
Dawning neutron physics was more complex than one might expect. The chance that the neutron comprised a proton and an electron was diffusely taken into account after the discovery of the neutron. Moreover, uncertainties persisted about the…
The 1937 theoretical discovery of Majorana fermions--whose defining property is that they are their own anti-particles--has since impacted diverse problems ranging from neutrino physics and dark matter searches to the fractional quantum…
Fermi helped establish a new framework for understanding matter, based on quantum theory. This framework refines and improves traditional atomism in two crucial respects. First, the elementary constituents of matter belong to a very small…
The Majorana fermion: fermion that is its own antiparticle, was predicted by Majorana in 1937. No fundamental particles are known to be Majorana fermions, although there are speculations that the neutrino is one. Many proposed theories…
Understanding of the weak force is traced from Fermi's theory of beta decay to the V-A theory of the mid 1950's. The theoretical suggestion and experimental confirmation of parity violation in the weak force is discussed. Topics are…
Neutrinos are the only known elementary fermions that can exhibit Majorana nature. As per the "practical Dirac-Majorana confusion theorem" it is impossible to distinguish between Dirac and Majorana neutrinos via any kinematic tests when…
After a recent series of rapid and exciting developments, the long search for the Majorana fermion - the elusive quantum entity at the border between particles and antiparticles - has produced the first positive experimental results, but is…
In the fall of 1924, Enrico Fermi visited Paul Ehrenfest at Leyden on a 3-month fellowship from the International Education Board (IEB). Fermi was 23 years old. In his trip report to the IEB, Fermi says he learned a lot about cryogenics and…
We outline Fermi's early attitude towards old quantum physics. We sketch out the context from which his interest for quantum physics arose, and we deal with his work on quantum statistics. We also go through the first two courses on…
The Majorana transformation makes it possible to reduce the Thomas-Fermi equation to a first-order differential equation. This reduction is possible due to the special scaling property of the Thomas-Fermi equation under homology…
The discovery of neutrino oscillations invites many fundamental physics questions that have yet to be answered. Two of these questions are simple, easy to state, and essential: What are the values of the neutrino masses? Are neutrinos…
We report on the retrieval of the last missing papers of the "Senatore folder", given by Majorana to one student of his in Naples in 1938, just before his disappearance. The mentioned manuscript is conserved at the Domus Galilaeana in Pisa…