Abstract
The adiabatic hypothesis of old quantum theory which formed the basis for Bohr-Sommerfeld quantization assumed that the adiabatic invariants Jl=pldql of multiply periodic mechanical systems should be quantized with the discrete values Jl=nh or sometimes Jl=(n+12)h, where h is Planck's constant. The hypothesis did not follow from any more general assumption. In the present paper we derive some related results within the theory of classical electrodynamics with classical electromagnetic zero-point radiation. We derive the fact that the adiabatic invariants of a charged nonrelativistic periodic mechanical system with no harmonics remain adiabatic invariants when placed in the classical electromagnetic zero-point radiation spectrum and only in this spectrum. Furthermore the phase-space distribution for the three-dimensional mechanical system in zero-point radiation becomes P(J1, J2, J3)=const×exp[2(J1+J2+J3)h] leading to the average value Jl=12h for each of the adiabatic invariants. Here h, which is naturally chosen as Planck's constant, is just the scale factor appearing in the classical zero-point radiation. For each of the systems in equilibrium with zero-point radiation already treated in the literature, we sketch the connection with the unifying formalism of action-angle variables.