Summary
The paper reviews the actual experiments in which the dependence of electron mass on velocity is investigated. It is found that the most precise verification of the relativistic formula follows from the fine structure doublet separation of hydrogen-like spectra. Regarding the direct experiments on the behaviour of free electrons, the results do not contradict the relativistic formula, although the experimental error of the available measurements is rather high; i.e. it is in most cases comparable with the difference between theoretical formulae derived from different assumptions. Recent measurements on the velocity dependence of the mass of protons are also reviewed.
Riassunto
Il lavoro passa in rassegna gli attuali esperimenti coi quali si investiga la dipendenza dalla massa elettronica dalla velocità. Si trova che la verifica più esatta della formula relativistica segue dalla separazione dei doppietti degli spettri idrogenoidi. Gli esperimenti diretti sul comportamento degli elettroni liberi danno risultati che non contraddicono la formula relativistica, per quanto l’errore sperimentale delle misure disponibili sia abbastanza elevato, nella maggior parte dei casi dell’ordine della differenza fra le formule teoriche derivanti da differenti ipotesi. Si passano in rassegna anche misure recenti sulla dipendenza della massa protonica dalla velocità.
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Faragó, P.S., Jánossy, L. Review of the experimental evidence for the law of variation of the electron mass with velocity. Nuovo Cim 5, 1411–1436 (1957). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02856033
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02856033