https://doi.org/10.1140/epjh/s13129-024-00078-3
Regular Article
The development of the concept of exchange forces in the 1930s: close encounters between Europe and Japan and the birth of nuclear theory
1
Department of Physics, University of Trento, Via Sommarive, 38123, Povo, TN, Italy
2
Department of Physics “Ettore Pancini”, University of Naples “Federico II”, Piazzale Tecchio 80, 80125, Naples, Italy
3
Naples’ Unit, I.N.F.N., Complesso Universitario di Monte S. Angelo, Via Cinthia, 80126, Naples, Italy
Received:
15
February
2024
Accepted:
7
June
2024
Published online:
20
June
2024
The onset and the development of the concept of exchange force in quantum physics are historically reconstructed, starting from Heisenberg’s seminal contributions in 1926 and going through the great developments in nuclear physics, which allowed the emergence of the idea of force mediating virtual quanta. Although most of such work was performed in Europe, the last and decisive effort in this long path was carried out by Japanese scientists in the 1930s. This is the main focus of the present work, which retraces the achievements of Yukawa and Tomonaga, whose results and mutual interactions are carefully analyzed and related to those of European physicists.
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© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to EDP Sciences, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2024. Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
