A Correspondence Principle

Abstract

A single mathematical theme underpins disparate physical phenomena in classical, quantum and statistical mechanical contexts. This mathematical “correspondence principle”, a kind of wave–particle duality with glorious realizations in classical and modern mathematical analysis, embodies fundamental geometrical and physical order, and yet in some sense sits on the edge of chaos. Illustrative cases discussed are drawn from classical and anomalous diffusion, quantum mechanics of single particles and ideal gases, quasicrystals and Casimir forces.