I am not sure where this project belongs. It is not like classically reading a paper and it is not about classically citing some quotes of enjoyable books. For starters, I would like to note my impressions. I need to study physics to understand the simplest of Bohm’s arguments, I do not have the time, and the energy to do so fainted as well. So I try to make the best of it and note down what I feel most interesting.

Chapter 1

  • in three dimensions, a transverse wave (the link helped me a lot to understand the concept of polarization) has two options for polarization
    • Are there always $d-1$ options for polarization if $d$ is the space dimension?
      • No! Only $d-1$ basis directions, any combination is possible, the wave could also be tilted.
    • What is a longitudinal wave?
  • Maxwell’s equations and Fourier mathematics lead to a perfect blackbody radiation theory, as long as the frequency is not too high (Rayleigh-Jeans law)
    • Fourier mathematics, as is mentioned in a footnote on page 10, works as long as the function is piecewise continuous, which I find a pretty remarkable footnote in the realms of the borderline between classical physics and quantum mechanics
  • both Maxwell’s equations and Fourier mathematics are undisputable, but something is wrong when it comes to measurements at high frequencies
  • Max Planck (Einstein is also mentioned, Nobel Prize?) comes with the idea, that quantized energy packets might do the trick
  • it was not ovious earlier noted because the frequency-dependent package size $h\,\nu$ is small enough to make quantum theory look continuous at not too high frequencies
  • Maxwell’s distribution reconciles both the Rayleigh-Jeans law and the Wiener law, his new law interpolates even everything in between very well
  • most of the things are just greek to me but I hope I got the gist