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SYHB: Hans-Bethe Symposium

SYHB 2: Hans-Bethe Symposium II

SYHB 2.2: Invited Talk

Monday, March 13, 2006, 17:05–17:35, HV

Hans Bethe’s Role in Solid State Physics — •H. Thomas — Universität, Basel

Hans Bethe started his scientific career with the theory of the newly discovered electron diffraction by crystals and with work on the electron theory of metals, but soon other areas attracted his interest. Nonetheless, his contributions to solid-state physics have had a lasting influence on this field. In particular, the famous "Bethe ansatz" used for calculating the eigenstates of the one-dimensional ferromagnet, including bound states of two or more spin waves, has proved to be a powerful tool for a large variety of problems and is very much alive today. Further, the "Bethe approximation" in the theory of order-disorder transitions, as well as the "Bethe lattice" for which it becomes the exact solution, have been and are being applied to a multitude of problems in statistical physics. And last but not least, the "Elektronentheorie der Metalle" by Arnold Sommerfeld and Hans Bethe in the Handbuch für Physik has been a source of wisdom for generations of solid-state physicists.