Physics of the Lorentz Group Physics of the Lorentz Group Sibel Ba¸skal Department of Physics, Middle East Technical University, 06800 Ankara, Turkey e-mail:
[email protected] Young S. Kim Center for Fundamental Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, U.S.A. e-mail:
[email protected] Marilyn E. Noz Department of Radiology, New York University, New York, NY 10016 U.S.A. e-mail:
[email protected] Preface When Newton formulated his law of gravity, he wrote down his formula applicable to two point particles. It took him 20 years to prove that his formula works also for extended objects such as the sun and earth. When Einstein formulated his special relativity in 1905, he worked out the transfor- mation law for point particles. The question is what happens when those particles have space-time extensions. The hydrogen atom is a case in point. The hydrogen atom is small enough to be regarded as a particle obeying Einstein'sp law of Lorentz transformations in- cluding the energy-momentum relation E = p2 + m2. Yet, it is known to have a rich internal space-time structure, rich enough to provide the foundation of quantum mechanics. Indeed, Niels Bohr was interested in why the energy levels of the hydrogen atom are discrete. His interest led to the replacement of the orbit by a standing wave. Before and after 1927, Einstein and Bohr met occasionally to discuss physics. It is possible that they discussed how the hydrogen atom with an electron orbit or as a standing-wave looks to moving observers.