arXiv subjects

Werner A Hofer

Publications and source records attributed to Werner A Hofer.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Is quantum mechanics creationism, and not science?

I revisit the reply of Bohr to Einstein. Bohr's assertion that there are no causes in atomic scale systems is, as a closer analysis reveals, not in line with the Copenhagen interpretation since it would contain a statement about reality. What Bohr should have written is that there are no causes in mathematics, which is universally acknowledged. The law of causality requires physical effects to be due to physical causes. For this reason any theoretical model which replaces physical causes by mathematical objects is creationism, that is, it creates physical objects out of mathematical elements. I show that this is the case for most of quantum mechanics.

physics.hist-ph↗

arXiv2013

Elements of Physics for the 21st century

Given the experimental precision in condensed matter physics -- positions are measured with errors of less than 0.1pm, energies with about 0.1meV, and temperature levels are below 20mK -- it can be inferred that standard quantum mechanics, with its inherent uncertainties, is a model at the end of its natural lifetime. In this presentation I explore the elements of a future deterministic framework based on the synthesis of wave mechanics and density functional theory at the single-electron level.

physics.gen-ph↗

arXiv2012

Heisenberg, uncertainty, and the scanning tunneling microscope

We show by a statistical analysis of high-resolution scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) experiments, that the interpretation of the density of electron charge as a statistical quantity leads to a conflict with the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. Given the precision in these experiments we find that the uncertainty principle would be violated by close to two orders of magnitude, if this interpretation were correct. We are thus forced to conclude that the density of electron charge is a physically real, i.e., in principle precisely measurable quantity.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2007

Creating pseudo Kondo-resonances by field-induced diffusion of atomic hydrogen

In low temperature scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) experiments a cerium adatom on Ag(100) possesses two discrete states with significantly different apparent heights. These atomic switches also exhibit a Kondo-like feature in spectroscopy experiments. By extensive theoretical simulations we find that this behavior is due to diffusion of hydrogen from the surface onto the Ce adatom in the presence of the STM tip field. The cerium adatom possesses vibrational modes of very low energy (3-4meV) and very high efficiency (> 20%), which are due to the large changes of Ce-states in the presence of hydrogen. The atomic vibrations lead to a Kondo-like feature at very low bias voltages. We predict that the same low-frequency/high-efficiency modes can also be observed at lanthanum adatoms.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2004

Multiple Scattering in a Vacuum Barrier from Real-Space Wavefunctions

We have developed a method to simulate multiple electron scattering in a vacuum barrier using real-space single-electron wavefunctions of the separate surfaces. The tunnelling current is calculated to first order in the Dyson series. In zero order, we find a result which differs from the usual Bardeen approach by the decay constants of the wavefunctions, entering the description as individual weights of tunnelling transitions. To first order we find multiple electron scattering, which can be formulated in terms of Bardeen matrices. Here, we also derive a first-principles formulation for the interaction energy between the two surfaces. With this method the tunnelling current can in principle be computed to any order in the Dyson expansion.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗