Book Description
Developing a theory that seamlessly combines relativity and quantum mechanics, the most important conceptual breakthroughs in twentieth century physics, has proved to be a difficult and ongoing challenge. This book details how two distinguished physicists and Nobel laureates have explored this theme in two lectures given in Cambridge, England, in 1986 to commemorate the famous British physicist Paul Dirac. Given for nonspecialists and undergraduates, the talks transcribed in Elementary Particles and the Laws of Physics focus on the fundamental problems of physics and the present state of our knowledge. Professor Feynman examines the nature of antiparticles, and in particular the relationship between quantum spin and statistics. Professor Weinberg speculates on how Einstein's theory of gravitation might be reconciled with quantum theory in the final law of physics. Highly accessible, deeply thought provoking, this book will appeal to all those interested in the development of modern physics.
Customer Reviews:
Tougher than the Lectures on Physics.......2007-03-21
When I read the lectures on physics, I was hoping to understand the reasoning behind the exclusion principle, and was disappointed to find that RPF felt that this was too complex for undergraduates, so he asked them to take it on faith for the moment.
Here he is talking to a more advanced audience, and explains it - he was right, it's tough. I'm still struggling to understand it, but I have confidence that this is a good book to help.
Recommended.......2007-01-17
From Richard Feynman, with love. Need more to be said? Read it, and read it again. This one can be read all over again once in a while and does not get boring.
Great Lectures. Requires Math Background........2006-02-19
This short book, Elementary Particles and the Laws of Physics, offers two lectures: Richard Feynman's The Reason for Antiparticles and Steven Weinberg's Toward the Final Laws of Physics. These two talks comprise the 1986 Dirac Memorial lectures at Cambridge University. Both presentations are cogently structured and make fascinating reading.
The talks were directed at an advanced audience, one that was familiar with quantum mechanics. Unlike many popular presentations by Feynman and Weinberg, these lectures are not suitable for the general layman.
However, these lectures are accessible to a persistent (perhaps, stubborn) layman with a calculus background and a deep interest in particle physics. I am not a physicist, but I did take my share of physics, chemistry, and math courses several decades ago. I encountered Schrodinger's equation in more than one class, but not relativistic quantum mechanics. However, having recently read Bruce Schumm's wonderful review of particle physics (titled Deep Down Things), I was sufficiently motivated to work my way through both Dirac memorial lectures.
Richard Feynman's lecture, The Reason for Antiparticles, is decidedly the more difficult. Feynman first demonstrates that quantum mechanics and relativity together require the existence of antiparticles, and then shows that they also establish the spin-statistics connection. Within a few pages advanced mathematical expressions appear and then persistently stay in the foreground for nearly the entire talk.
Although understanding Feynman's mathematics is critical for a full and deep appreciation of his exposition, with careful, repeated readings the stubborn layman will have sudden moments of enlightenment and can come away with a deeper understanding of antiparticles and spin statistics. For readers engaged in some self-tutorial readings, it may prove helpful to return occasionally to this classic Feynman lecture to qualitatively measure progress. I have no doubt that, on a deeper level, Feynman's lecture will similarly challenge and enlighten physics majors as well.
Steven Weinberg discusses his speculations on the shape of a final underlying theory of particle physics. Initially, his talk is deceptively easy as few mathematical expressions are used. However, about midway a Lagrangian density equation appears, ratcheting the difficulty several notches, as Weinberg considers a theoretical framework based on quantum mechanics and a few symmetry principles, that is also mathematically consistent with the Lagrangian dynamical principle. After discussion of some limitations of the Standard Model, Weinberg concludes his talk with a somewhat mathematical introduction to string theory.
Physics by two of the very best!.......1999-09-25
As usual, the best physics books are short and to the point, as is this one. The two Dirac lectures may serve as a perfectly good mini physics course all by themselves. I always enjoy a Feynman lecture, and this is no exception. He cuts to the chase without sacrificing the plot. But, I must say, in this case the Wienberg lecture is the better of the two. Weinberg's style has a particular grace & beauty about it that gently exposes the aesthetic meaning of the search for a picture of nature.
Two of the best give great insight into fundamentals........1998-11-18
Feynman yet again gives great insight into the laws of physics, this time exploring the reasons for existence of anti-particles, starting from the dirac equation etc.. Plus some really outstanding photographs, that fella Weinberg will be chuffed to have his name mentioned on the book cover!
Book Description
The use of visualization techniques greatly enhances the understanding of quantum mechanics as it allows us to depict phenomena that cannot be seen by any other means. "Visual Quantum Mechanics" uses the computer generated animations found on the accompanying CD-ROM to introduce, motivate, and illustrate the concepts explained in the book. For example, by watching QuickTime movies of the solutions of Schroedinger's equation, students will be able to develop a feeling for the behavior of quantum mechanical systems that cannot be gained by conventional means. While there are other books on the market that use Mathematica and Maple to teach quantum mechanics, this book differs in that the text describes the mathematical and physical ideas of quantum mechanics in the conventional manner, with no special emphasis on computational physics or the requirement that the reader know a symbolic computation package or Mathematica. In this book, instead, the computer is used to provide easy access to a large collection of animated illustrations, interactive pictures, and lots of supplementary materials. "Visual Quantum Mechanics" takes a mathematical rather than a physical approach to quantum mechanics, and includes results more typical in more advanced books but which are more comprehensible via visualization. Despite the presentations of advanced results, the book requires only calculus, and the book will fill the gap between classical quantum mechanics texts and mathematically advanced books. The book will have a home page at the author's institution (http://www.kfunigraz.ac.at/imawww/vqm/) which will include supplementary material, exercises and solutions, additional animations, and links to other sites with quantum mechanical visualization. This book along with its accompanying CD-ROM, which contains over 300 digital movies, form a complete introductory course on spinless particles in one and two dimensions. There is a second book in development which will cover such topics as spherical symmetry in three dimensions, the hydrogen atom, scattering theory and resonances, periodic potentials, particles with spin, an relativistic problems (the Dirac equation).
Customer Reviews:
Highly recommended!.......2003-06-18
This is the best quantum mechanics book I know! It explains quantum mechanics in a very understandable way (well, at least for a physics student). The explanations are just better than elsewhere, and its easier to follow the mathematical derivations. There are no unfair remarks like 'it is easy to see that..', etc. Now I can understand quantum mechanics much better. The movies are just great. The CD-ROM alone is worth the price (unfortunately it works only for Windows and Macintosh, not for Linux). In particular, I liked the section about one-dimensional scattering theory. Here the movies and the text fit together in an optimal way. If you can only afford one book about quantum mechanics, buy this one. Unfortunately, this book is only the first part of the story. The web site tells me that the next book will describe the hydrogen atom, the Dirac equation, and quantum information. I am growing impatient. What am I going to do until the second book appears?
it's not that complicated.......2001-08-24
This is a great combination: Many diagrams, animations and so on on the CD-ROM, which are not just to look at, but you can modify parameters and interact with some of them, which is great for understanding and the book with the theoretical background to everything you can see an the CD-ROM and more. You should be fimilar with higher mathematics (complex numbers and stuff) if you really want to understand the complicated-looking mathematical background, but the CD-ROM shows that the core of the whole Quantum-Mechanic-Thing seems to be very natural (what a surprise). This book is an excellent approach to this topic - take a glance. ... and for those, who are not interested in QM-theory: the animations are very colorful and fine to look at ;)
Book Description
This book gives a comprehensive account of local quantum physics, understood as the synthesis of quantum theory with the principle of locality. Centered on the algebraic approach it describes both the physical concepts and the mathematical structures, and their consequences. These include the emergence of the particle picture, general collision theory covering the cases of massless particles and infraparticles, the analysis of possible charge structures and exchange symmetries, including braid group statistics. Thermal states of an unbounded medium and local equilibrium are discussed in detail. The author takes care both to describe the ideas and to give a critical assessment of future perspectives. The new edition contains numerous improvements and a new chapter concerning formalism and interpretation of quantum theory.
Customer Reviews:
I practically owe my today's academical self to this work..........2004-10-12
As someone working in the field created by Prof. Haag - Local Quantum Physics, aka Algebraic Quantum Field Theory - I feel somewhat oblidged to write a review on this book. This is all the more true when a large amount of misunderstandings about this subject among, so to speak, "outsiders", pervade the community of theoretical physics. As for me, I had the good luck of having Local Quantum Physics as my entering door to Quantum Field Theory, after my undergraduate involvement with Nuclear Physics. Learning this through (in a major part) Prof. Haag's book, alongside with a conventional course in QFT, has helped me clear several conceptual issues underlying QFT tools and calculations - specially renormalization - which alone seemed to me more witchcraft than physics.
The aims of Local Quantum Physics, even when linked to computational issues, are eminently structural and conceptual, going beyond particular models. These concerns are transparent in this book, where only the essentials of the Lagrangian approach are mentioned, and even these with a conceptually clean and deep purpose (just to cite an example, quantization of free fields are treated in a covariant way by using the Peierls' bracket, instead of canonical quantization), and with no predilection whatsoever by any particular quantization technique (for instance, path integrals are only mentioned "en passant", with no formulas, in Section VIII.1, in the discussion on the Euclidean/Lagrangian approach to QFT). This last proviso, which is a common source of complaint, actually (at least, it looks so to me) bears the following message under the aegis of the aims above: the physical concepts of QFT have nothing to do with the quantization method chosen. Although the justification for this is somewhat subtle, it ends up being a natural consequence of the line of thinking along which this book proceeds.
Most of the things about which Prof. Haag writes in this book seem to have been thought about for a pretty long time. It's thanks to this that the formalism of Local Quantum Physics acquired a remarkably flexible and synthetic language. The underlying idea, present in almost every topic treated in the book, is the principle of locality ("Nahwirkungsprinzip" = "Principle of local action", i.e., no action at a distance). Namely, that physical procedures are all localized in finitely extended regions of spacetime, as it "usually" happens in experimental situations, and that the matter of choosing a Hilbert space on which these procedures act (often based on global criteria such as the concept of a vacuum state) is mainly a matter of convenience. The abstract framework of C*- and von Neumann algebras is what allows one to work independently of a particular representation. This is strengthened by Einstein causality - physical procedures localized at causally disjoint regions commute with each other (This is quite distinct from locality in the sense of the EPR phenomenon, which is intrinsically linked to the notion - here generalized - of states, this one still highly nonlocal, as restrictions of a state to two causally disjoint local algebras of procedures can, and do, present quantum entanglement if this state is suitably prepared), and Poincaré covariance.
The principle of locality, when applied to the myriad of inequivalent representations of the local algebras which is characteristic of QFT, lead to enormous achievements (most of them described in the book), such as: the meaning of internal global symmetries and fermion degrees of freedom, and how these emerge from the observables alone, independently of the assumption of an underlying field theory (superselection sectors); the meaning of infinities and renormalization in perturbation theory (disjointness and quasi-equivalence of representations); a natural setting for QFT at finite temperature and its thermodynamics (KMS condition, modular techniques, phase space conditions); when moving to curved spacetime, the clarification of the (still open) issue of the choice of physical states from nonessentials and how this forces us to "unlearn" several concepts of Minkowski QFT (Unruh effect, etc.). Recent developments by the schools of Wald and Fredenhagen show the growing importance of the latter and related problems.
Finally, other two admirable aspects of Haag's book are the honest treatment of latest developments regarding conceptual open issues such as the meaning of local gauge invariance in quantum theory, the infrared problem, and questions regarding the interpretation of quantum mechanics and the meaning o spacetime itself. Haag's closing personal views on the latter, in the light of the mathematical formalism of Local Quantum Physics, bear an intriguing resemblance with modern ideas by Rovelli, Ashtekar, etc. on loop quantum gravity.
The book as a whole takes quite some time to digest, due to the mathematical machinery involved (functional analysis and an acquaintance in C*-algebra theory are a rather strongly recommended background) and the subtlety of the physical ideas. But, to sum up, for me it was, in due time, the ultimate temptress.
A complete recapitulation.......2002-04-26
LQFT, a kind of Axiomatic Quantum Field theory, was slowly
developed during the 1970 age to provide solid fundamentals
to quantum fields. Haag was one of the leaders of the
development, and this book resumes the climax of the theory.
From here the development has continued, looking for nets
of observables as a tool to incorporate the renormalization
mechanism. But it is to be noted that, since then, a branch
of C* algebras has developed to formulate NonCommutative
geometry, a tool completely unavailable to the people working
in Local Quantum Field Theory. One should kept a leg in
each side, aiming to marry both formalims.
Deserves 10 stars.......2002-04-16
Quantum field theory is a subject that has occupied the time of an enormous number of researchers, both in physics and in mathematics. Those who have studied perturbation methods in quantum field theory have no doubt run acroos "Haag's theorem" that is usually loosely stated as saying that "the interactive representation does not exist". The statement of this theorem, and many other results in quantum field theory, particularly the procedure of renormalization, have been viewed by many as unsound from a mathematical standpoint, and so efforts were begun to put quantum field theory on a rigorous mathematical foundation. Going by the names of axiomatic or constructive quantum field theory, these approaches are interesting, but also a little troubling from a scientific perspective. Axiomitization is usually appropriate in mathematics when a subject has matured to the point where it can be "closed off", and this usually happens when the theory is very well understood and so its essence can be codified in a few well-forumlated axioms. But quantum field theory is no where near that stage; indeed one can say that it continues to be a theory that, oddly, has immense predictive power but whose rigorous mathematical formulation remains elusive. Not only that, quantum field theory is still in a course of evolution, and any attempt at axiomitization might become obsolete as soon as it is put down on paper. In addition, physical insight, as much as mathematical understanding, must not be sacrificed in any resulting axiomatization of quantum field theory. Frequently, the result of axiomatization is to divorce a physical theory from its physical roots, and beginning students of the theory then have difficulty in acquiring intuition of the essential physics of the theory.
One of the best attributes of this book is that the author realizes this, and early on he refers to "general", rather than "axiomatic" QFT as being more appropriate since it allows flexibility in relation to future discoveries. Not only that, the author endeavors to explain the formalism that he is expousing in the book, and he succeeds brilliantly. Anyone interested in the mathematical physics behind quantum field theory, and not just doing bread-and-butter perturbation calculations, will gain a lot from the reading of this book. It is packed full of insight, a rare occurence in books that employ the heavy mathematical formalism that this one does. One will need a strong background in operator theory, abstract theory, and several complex variables to read the book, but a lot of this is developed impromptu as the text unfolds. When it is not, the author gives references for those readers who need more in-depth discussion.
There are so many ineresting discussions in this book that space does not permit an evaluation of all of them, but the following is a short list of points in the book that I found particularly well-written: 1. The Wigner analysis of irreducible unitary representations of the Poincare group. This is not a mathematically rigorous discussion, but the author points out the physical relevance of the fact that the spectrum of the 4-momentum operator must be concentrated on a single orbit. This fact ensures the stability of matter. And, as frequently happens in physics, several mathematical consequences of a particular physical theory are discarded as not being relevant; in this case the other three classes of the irreducible representations. That being said, the author does include as of possible physical relevance the idea of parastatistics. He points out his reasons for this, namely that a strict adherence to the Bose-Fermi alternative is not operationally justified. 2. The role of fields in implementing the principle of locality and not as observable particles. This fact is usually not emphasized in books on quantum field theory. 3. The author clarifies the distinction between the notion of locality that deals with the commutation of two observables that are space-like separated, and the one dealing with the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox and Bell's inequality. 4. The discussion on the Bose-Einstein alternative, in particular the suggestion that parastatistics can be replaced by Bose or Fermi statistics in the presence of a non-Abelian unbroken global gauge group. 5. The discussion on topological charges and their prohibition by the Doplicher-Haag-Roberts selection criterion. The Doplicher-Haag-Roberts criterion was used in scattering theory and thought to be reasonable, but the author shows that its use is problematic in this case also, as well as in prohibiting topological charge. Purely massive fields can, it turns out, have measurable correlations at large distances, and Borcher's selection criterion, also discussed along these lines, gives topological charges. 6. The treatment of the Tomita-Takesaki theorem, modular automorphisms, and their connection to the KMS-condition. 7. The discussion on the need for type III-1 von Neumann algebras in relativistic quantum field theory versus type I in ordinary quantum mechanics. Such a von Neumann algebra is hyperfinite and is unique. 8. The discussion on the impossibility of coherent wave packets of one-electron states in quantum field theory, as contrasted with the usual practice in quantum mechanics. This is dues to superselection rules and the "infraparticle" nature of electrically charged particles, which are not associated with discrete eigenvalues of the mass operator. The author asks the reader to justify electron interference experiments in quantum field theory.
The most important book about algebraic qft by its founder.......1999-05-01
In spite of the succes of quantum field theory it became very early clear that this theory needed a new mathematical formulation. Haag was one of the founders of this new theory which was later called algebraic quantum field theory but Haag himself preferred "local quantum physics".
The algebra of observables is designed as the C*-inductive limit of a net of von Neumann-algebras the index set of which is formed of open subsets of space-time. The book discusses the DHR-selection criterion as well as the BF-criterion of Buchholz and Fredenhagen that is more adequate to massive fields. Furthermore Haag gives a short introduction to statistical qft in the algebraic framework. Especially the KMS-condition which was formulated in the sixties by Haag, Hugenholtz and Winnink is discussed.
A highly recommended book!
Book Description
Diffusive motion--displacement due to the cumulative effect of irregular fluctuations--has been a fundamental concept in mathematics and physics since Einstein's work on Brownian motion. It is also relevant to understanding various aspects of quantum theory. This book explains diffusive motion and its relation to both nonrelativistic quantum theory and quantum field theory. It shows how diffusive motion concepts lead to a radical reexamination of the structure of mathematical analysis. The book's inspiration is Princeton University mathematics professor Edward Nelson's influential work in probability, functional analysis, nonstandard analysis, stochastic mechanics, and logic. The book can be used as a tutorial or reference, or read for pleasure by anyone interested in the role of mathematics in science. Because of the application of diffusive motion to quantum theory, it will interest physicists as well as mathematicians.
The introductory chapter describes the interrelationships between the various themes, many of which were first brought to light by Edward Nelson. In his writing and conversation, Nelson has always emphasized and relished the human aspect of mathematical endeavor. In his intellectual world, there is no sharp boundary between the mathematical, the cultural, and the spiritual. It is fitting that the final chapter provides a mathematical perspective on musical theory, one that reveals an unexpected connection with some of the book's main themes.
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Elementary Quantum Mechanics in One Dimension
Robert Gilmore
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Lie Groups, Lie Algebras, and Some of Their Applications
ASIN: 0801880157 |
Book Description
One of the key components of modern physics, quantum mechanics is used in such fields as chemistry, electrical engineering, and computer science. Central to quantum mechanics is Schrödinger's Equation, which explains the behavior of atomic particles and the energy levels of a quantum system. Robert Gilmore's innovative approach to Schrödinger's Equation offers new insight into quantum mechanics at an elementary level.
Gilmore presents compact transfer matrix methods for solving quantum problems that can easily be implemented on a personal computer. He shows how to use these methods on a large variety of potentials, both simple and periodic. He shows how to compute bound states, scattering states, and energy bands and describes the relation between bound and scattering states. Chapters on alloys, superlattices, quantum engineering, and solar cells indicate the practical application of the methods discussed.
Gilmore's concise and elegant treatment will be of interest to students and professors of introductory and intermediate quantum courses, as well as professionals working in electrical engineering and applied mathematics.
Book Description
Based on lectures given in an advanced course in the theory of solids at the University of Illinois in 1961, this text continues to fill the need to communicate the present view of a solid as a system of interacting particles which, under suitable circumstances, behaves like a collection of nearly independent elementary excitations. In addition to introducing basic concepts, the author frequently refers to experimental data. For the most part, both the basic theory and the applications discussed deal with the behavior of "simple" metals, such as the alkali metals, rather than the "complicated" metals, such as the transition metals and the rare earths. Problems have been included for most of the chapters.
Customer Reviews:
A delightful and insightful read.......2000-05-19
A gem of scientific literature, Elementary Excitations in Solids is organized, well thought out, and readable. Pines mixes experimental evidence with theoretical models in way that reminds the reader we are doing science not just math or experimental engineering. I recommend this book to any one who is learning condensed matter theory and wants to sit back some weekend afternoon, kick back, and enjoy a brisk but insightful presentation of phonons and plasmons. This book is truly a classic!
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- A good start
- Really good for a first course in QM!!
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Elementary Quantum Mechanics
David S. Saxon
Manufacturer: Holden Day
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ASIN: 007054980X |
Customer Reviews:
A good start.......2003-01-29
This book, first published in 1968, is the one I used as an undergraduate for a first course in quantum mechanics and one that I used to teach such a course. It introduces the subject from a physical standpoint but does not hesitate to use the appropriate mathematical tools, without getting too involved in the structure of Hilbert spaces, which might be too overbearing for the typical undergraduate. A familiarity with ordinary linear differential equations and Fourier series is assumed, along with some knowledge of special functions. The author therefore treats mainly the quantum mechanics of one-dimensional systems, but motion in three dimensions is also discussed in the last three chapters of the book. It is also assumed that the student has a background in classical mechanics the covers the Hamiltonian formalism. It would be helpful of course if the student has had a prior course that discussed elementary quantum phenomena, such as a sophomore-level course in "modern physics". The goal of the book is to introduce students to bread-and-butter calculations in quantum mechanics, and not to entice them to think critically about the subject, or propose alternatives to it. Due to space considerations, I will only review the first 6 chapters of the book.
The first chapter of the book endeavors to explain the historical origins of quantum theory and its need to explain various experiments that could not be resolved using "classical physics". These include the equipartition theorem, the stability of the atom, and the photoelectric effect. The move by Max Planck in 1901 to introduce "energy quanta" solved the equipartition problem and introduced the quantum theory, the success of which is now well-established and has had enormous consequences for physics and technology. Interestingly, the author engages in a little philosophical speculation in this chapter, holding to the idea that quantum theory is based on constructs removed from experience, such as state functions and observables. The origin of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle is then discussed as a consequence of the nature of quantum observables as being discrete in nature. The wave nature of matter, the de Broglie hypothesis, is discussed in the context of the Davisson-Germer experiment.
Chapter 2 attempts to explain the nature of state functions and their interpretation, this being done in the context of the famous statistical (Born) interpretation. The principle of superposition of state functions is discussed, and care is taken to differentiate the probabilistic nature of quantum mechanics (the relation between interference and superposition) from that of classical statistic mechanics. The double slit experiment is discussed as a thought experiment, and no mention is made that this experiment has never been done in the way described (using electrons). The author also uses wave packets as a way of making the correspondence between quantum and classical descriptions of a state. Current research on quantum decoherence and quantum chaos was not available at the time of publication, and so the author is (justifiably) comfortable with using wave packets to make this correspondence.
In chapter 3 the author studies linear momentum in quantum mechanics and uses the state function to describe a particle with a definite linear momentum. Interestingly, and importantly, he uses symmetry considerations to deduce the form of this state function. After superposing many such state functions, Fourier transforms are then brought in to find the form of this superposition in position space. The origin of the momentum and position operators then follows nicely.
The motion of a free particle is considered in chapter 4. The form of the frequency dispersion relation in momentum space is derived using the correspondence principle, giving the familiar Planck relation. This derivation is dependent very strongly on the particle being free (and the author understands this), for if one attempts to do this in more complicated situations, such as in classically nonintegrable systems, it becomes very complex, involving highly esoteric mathematical constructions. The Schrodinger equation for the free particle is then derived later in the chapter.
The Schrodinger equation for a particle under the influence of a conservative force is the subject of chapter 5. The Schrodinger equation is represented first as an operator H that acts on a state function and gives its time derivative (multiplied by Planck's constant times i). The author proves right away that because of probability conservation, H must be Hermitian. He then uses the correspondence principle to identify H as the total energy. Using again the Fourier transform, the author derives the Schrodinger equation in both configuration and momentum space. The reader can see the equations becomes an integral equation in momentum space, and the equation is much more complicated than the free particle case, due to the influence of the external force. The technique of separation of variables is then used to find the stationary states and the energy spectrum. More general mathematical considerations occupy the rest of the chapter, wherein the author finds the eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of a Hermitian operator, studies what it means for a set of operators to be complete, proves the uncertainty principle for a general observable, and discusses the basic postulates of quantum mechanics.
Chapter 6 is an overview of the quantum-mechanical states of a particle moving in a potential. Symmetry principles make their appearance here, via the classification of states according to their parity. The author then studies the bound states of a particle in a square-well potential. He then gives a detailed treatment of the harmonic oscillator in one dimension using the method of power series and the method of factorization. The latter method introduces the all-important creation and annihilation operators. And even more importantly, the author studies the motion of a wave packet in the harmonic oscillator, introducing the propagator or Green's function, and then showing the existence of minimum uncertainly wave packets, the famous "coherent states". Then after a discussion of the purely quantum-mechanical phenomena of tunneling through a barrier, the author ends the chapter with a discussion of the numerical solution of the Schrodinger equation.
Really good for a first course in QM!!.......2002-04-09
This text is really clear and, most of all, makes you think. It derives every formula and everything seems logical. Understanding this book enables you to tackle many problems, and prepares you for a grad course (I used Ballentine and Sakurai, the first 3 chapters).
I really liked it.
Book Description
Quantum mechanics is a difficult subject for students to learn after years of rigorous training in classical physics. In quantum mechanics they have to abandon what they have laboriously learned and adopt a new system of thinking.
In the previous edition of this book, the author reformulated classical mechanics as a classical theory with an undetermined constant. As the constant approaches zero the theory reduces to Newton's exactly, but when set equal to the Planck constant the theory reduces to the Schrödinger representation of quantum mechanics. Thus the new theory, at least in its mathematical form, can be learned without ramifications and complexity. Over the years, the book has shepherded the growth of a generation of physicists.
In this expanded edition, a similar trick is applied to introduce matrix mechanics. The matrix formulation presented allows quantum theory to be generalized to new physical systems such as electron spin, which cannot be done by the Schrödinger approach.
The result is a textbook which promises to provide a future generation of students a clear, usable and authoritative resource to study the fundamentals of quantum mechanics. Twenty new problems are added to existing chapters.
Book Description
The conceptual foundations for a deterministic quantum mechanics are presented with the Socratic method. The theory is attacked and weaknesses elucidated. These are compared against those of convention. Directions for future research are proposed.
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