ultraviolet catastrophe

Meaning

Noun

• A fault in classical physics, from the Rayleigh's Law/Rayleigh-Jeans Law outcomes at short wavelengths/high frequencies, that causes infinite amplification of shorter wavelength/higher frequency radiation inside a cavity, due to the application of equipartition theorem on black body radiation within a cavity.

Related

Similar words

• Rayleigh-Jeans catastrophe
• Rayleigh catastrophe / Rayleigh's catastrophe

Origin

• Coined by Paul Ehrenfest in 1911 in German. From the explosion of energy at the ultraviolet end of the spectrum (away from visible and infrared light) caused by the Rayleigh-Jeans Law theory. The use of UV is to represent that end of the spectrum, given that the visible spectrum represents a stand-in for the whole electromagnetic spectrum, and infrared and ultraviolet are stand-ins for the endpoints. This usage is similar to that represented by the logic behind the terms "redshift" and "blueshift", which assume endpoints of red and blue.