Feynman Least Action Thesis

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Full Title

The Principle of Least Action in Quantum Mechanics[1] was Feynman's 1942 PhD thesis.

Context

This thesis introduced the ideas that came to be known as the Wheeler–Feynman absorber theory (also called the Wheeler–Feynman time-symmetric theory) derived from the assumption that the solutions of the electromagnetic field equations must be invariant under time-reversal transformation, as are the field equations themselves. Indeed, there is no apparent reason for the time-reversal symmetry breaking, Maxwell's equations and the equations for electromagnetic waves have, in general, two possible solutions: a retarded (delayed) solution and an advanced one.

References

  1. ↑ Richard P. Feynman, The Principle of Least Action in Quantum Mechanics, Princeton University 1942, reprinted in Feynman's Thesis, Ed Laurie M. Brown, 2005 ISBN 9789812563804

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