nLab black body radiation

Contents

Context

Physics

physics, mathematical physics, philosophy of physics

Surveys, textbooks and lecture notes


theory (physics), model (physics)

experiment, measurement, computable physics

Contents

Idea

What is called black body radiation is the electromagnetic radiation emitted by an ideal non-reflecting (“black”) piece of matter in thermal equilibrium with the electromagnetic field around it, at any given temperature.

The experimentally observed black body radiation spectrum is a key effect and property of quantum physics, governed by energy/frequency quantization controlled by Planck's constant. In contrast, in classical field theory black body radiation comes out incorrectly, with an infinite energy] in the high [[frequency? modes (historically: “ultraviolet catastrophe”).

References

Last revised on January 26, 2019 at 12:30:18. See the history of this page for a list of all contributions to it.