Electron remain as particle in atoms?

[exmarine]

I guess I'll take pot luck and ask another question here. I think I read somewhere that the current thinking is that the electron remains as a point or particle, even when it "orbits" an atomic nucleus. Yet I thought that deBroglie's contribution was that the electron is some sort of standing "wave" when orbiting a nucleus. Aren't those two things incompatible? Doesn't a standing wave require some sort of extended structure in space? So my questions are:

1. Is the current thinking that the electron is a point particle in the atom?
2. If so, what is the evidence for that?

Thanks,
BB

 

[Ich]

1. Is the current thinking that the electron is a point particle in the atom?

No. Yes.

The wave-particle dualism holds in an atom, too. Under normal circumstances, the wavelike proerties are donminating its appearance, but if you look at high energy scattering, you'll find a point particle.

Aren't those two things incompatible?

Yes. No.

 

[exmarine]

So in high energy scattering the electrons appear as particles? What is being scattered, other electrons? The only thing I can find are the Rutherford experiments with alpha particles hitting gold foil, etc. Can you recommend any papers or books? (I don't have access to grad school resources...) Thanks.

 

[Ich]

I googled an old PF thread about compton scattering. Astronuc cited some resources there.
https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=178653"