Quantum Mechanics [Paperback]

Ernest S. Abers (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0131461001 | ISBN-13: 978-0131461000 | Publication Date: June 20, 2003 | Edition: 1

With clear discussion and numerous problems, this text is the first to adequately and comprehensively cover all the subjects of quantum mechanics. It carefully and thoroughly discusses symmetries—especially rotation symmetry, transition theory, the theory of the quantized electromagnetic field, and relativistic wave equations. For physicists, engineers, and chemists.

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With clear discussion and numerous problems, this text is the first to adequately and comprehensively cover all the subjects of quantum mechanics. It carefully and thoroughly discusses symmetries—especially rotation symmetry, transition theory, the theory of the quantized electromagnetic field, and relativistic wave equations. For physicists, engineers, and chemists.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

The principles of quantum mechanics were formulated by many people during a short period of time at the beginning of the twentieth century. Max Planck wrote down his formula for the spectrum of blackbody radiation and introduced the constant that now bears his name in 1900. By 1924, through the work of Einstein, Rutherford and Bohr, Schrodinger and Heisenberg, Born, Dirac, and many others, the principles of quantum mechanics were discovered much as we know them today. They have become the framework for thinking about most of the phenomena that physicists study, from simple systems like atoms, molecules, and nuclei to more exotic ones like neutron stars, superfluids, and elementary particles.

This book is a text for an advanced course in quantum mechanics and, indeed, started out as notes for a graduate course at UCLA. Usually students in any field of physics must study quantum mechanics at this level before undertaking more specialized subjects.

The first part covers some of the formalism of quantum mechanics, especially the mathematics of rotations and other symmetries. It begins with a brief review of the Hamiltonian formulation of classical mechanics, which has become a trustworthy guide to finding the form of the quantum rules. The second chapter explains how the canonical quantum rules follow from the superposition principle and some form of the correspondence principle. It ends with the Schrodinger equation and the uncertainty principle.

The third chapter is about stationary states and the energy eigenvalue problem, with particular emphasis on spherical symmetry. It includes the theory of orbital angular momentum and the famous hydrogen atom problem. The latter will serve as a wonderful example over and over again.

The next two chapters are about the role of symmetry transformations in quantum mechanics, and how they restrict the possible values of some observables. There is a detailed discussion of three-dimensional rotations, the general theory of angular momentum, addition of angular momentum and selection rules. A good understanding of rotations in quantum mechanical systems is important for what follows. Rotations are an example for all sorts of other symmetries we have discovered or invented. The techniques learned in this context can be recycled many times.

These first five chapters contain the mathematical foundation of our subject. I have tried to be fairly rigorous, understanding that this is the students' second course in quantum mechanics.

There follows a brief interlude containing a miscellany of short subjects: magnetic field interactions, measurement and probability, the density matrix, and a recently discovered example of a simple quantum system, neutrino oscillations.

The rest is application. There is a section on bound-state perturbation theory, with the hydrogen atom as an example. There is a brief discussion of the variational principle, important in the theory of atomic and molecular structure, and of the WKB method. Transitions are introduced next in the context of potential scattering, with some applications to atoms and nuclei.

Next I have chosen a topic that students seem to enjoy learning about but which is hard to find in much detail in most textbooks at this level. This is the theory of transitions in general and, in particular, decay rates for excited states. There is an introduction to path integration and a section on geometric phases.

Then comes the theory of photons, the quantized electromagnetic field. Historically, this subject came first. The blackbody spectrum and the photoelectric effect were explained in terms of photons, quanta of the electromagnetic field, more than two decades before a real theory was available. Now, with the full power of the machinery of quantum mechanics in hand, we can understand completely those observations that puzzled Planck and his contemporaries. The quantum theory of the electromagnetic field is a useful subject to learn in its own right, and it is a good introduction to the methods used in both many body physics and elementary particle physics.

Next there is a chapter on relativistic wave equations, developed in the spirit of the earlier discussion of rotational symmetry, but here the symmetry is Lorentz invariance. I conclude with the occupation number space description of systems of identical particles, with a few applications.

I have tried to show the details of most mathematical calculations, and tried not to claim that one line follows easily from another unless my experience is that an average student will actually find this to be true. For the same reason I have included in the appendix derivations of many mathematical formulas even though most of them can be found in standard works.

If you want to learn quantum mechanics from this book, you need some preparation. Only the most extraordinary student could be expected to get through this material without the benefit of an introductory course, though in principle it is possible. You should also have studied classical mechanics and some mathematical methods at an introductory level.

The quantum mechanics "prerequisite" is to know what Schrodinger's wave equation is and how to use it. That means knowing how to find the bound states of a given potential in one and three dimensions, about tunneling problems, transmission and reflection coefficients, momentum and energy eigenfunctions, the elementary theory of the harmonic oscillator and the hydrogen atom. You can learn about them in more detail in some of the books listed among the references at the back.

The mathematical prerequisite is minimal. The quantum chapter of the book of nature is written in the language of linear algebra, which is the mathematical formulation of the superposition principle. I do not expect you to have studied Hilbert spaces or group theory previously. Pieces of the mathematics of linear vector spaces are presented as the need arises. But you should already know a little about vector calculus in curvilinear coordinates, and elementary concepts of vector space methods such as eigenvalues, Hermitean and unitary matrices, changes of basis, eigenfunction expansions, and so forth. I shall repeat the definitions of these tools, but this is not the place to learn them for the first time. A nodding acquaintance with complex numbers is also useful. More advanced parts of complex analysis, including the residue theorem, will be touched on only in the later parts.

You should also know some undergraduate-level classical mechanics, in particular the central force problem and the Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formalisms. I avoid mentioning Poisson brackets in the body of the text, but as they provide an important insight into the structure of quantum mechanics, several problems are devoted to them.

Over the years I have assembled a collection of problems for the graduate quantum mechanics course. Some of the problems fill in gaps in the exposition. Most are the way to learn the tools of our trade. Occasionally the problems develop some themes not explained thoroughly in the body of the text. For a few of the problems you need to have access to a computer and know how to use it. Most are to be done analytically. You must work out many of the problems if you want to understand what is going on.

I have enjoyed collaborating with the many people at Prentice Hall and their associates who worked to turn the manuscript into this book. My thanks to Erik Fahlgren, my acquisitions editor, to Debra Wechsler, the production editor, to Daphne Hougham, who copyedited the manuscript, to Andrew Sobel, Bayani DeLeon, Adam Lewenberg, and many others whose names I do not know.

I am indebted to those who read earlier drafts with care and made suggestions for improvement, almost all of which I have included in the final version. Many thanks especially to Mike Berger (Indiana University), John Donoghue (University of Massachusetts), Colin Gay (Yale University), Maarten Golterman (San Rancisco State University), Herbert Hamber (University of California, Irvine), Thomas Mehen (Duke University), Chandra Raman (Georgia Institute of Technology), Serge Rudaz (University of Minnesota), and several anonymous reviewers.

I thank the Department of Physics and Astronomy at UCLA for granting me the time to complete this manuscript, and the very many students over the years who suggested improvements or corrections in earlier versions. Finally, I thank my colleagues at UCLA and elsewhere for their criticism, advice, encouragement, and conversations about quantum mechanics. I am particular grateful for the discussions I have had with Sudip Chakravarty, John M. Cornwall, Robert Cousins, Carlos A. A. de Carvalho, Eric d'Hoker, Robert Finkelstein, Graciela Gelmini, Noah Graham, Alex Kusenko, Richard Norton, Shmuel Nassinov, Silvia Pascoli, Hidenori Sonoda, and E. Terry Tomboulis.

Ernest S. Abers
Los Angeles

Product Details

• Paperback: 544 pages
• Publisher: Benjamin Cummings; 1 edition (June 20, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0131461001
• ISBN-13: 978-0131461000
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #659,007 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not for the faint, February 22, 2008

By 

C. Zelaya "The Theorist" (New Orleans,La USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Quantum Mechanics (Paperback)

According to the back cover, this book should be suitable for those in general chemistry and engineering. Not quite. This book introduces, fairly quickly, advanced topics in mathematics that many chemists or engineers may not be familiar with even at a graduate level. My overall impression of Aber's book is that the reader should already be quite familiar with quantum mechanics, and the ability of being able to extract information from wavefunctions. For instance, understanding basic Hamiltonian dynamics, Lagrangian Mechanics, expectation values, and so forth. However, the real dilemma with understanding the material is that the reader should have a working knowledge of tensor analysis; group theory and its application with SU(n) {SU(3) & SU(2)} and O(n); complex analysis(residue theorem); and variety of integral transforms (gamma functions, Laplace transforms, ect... ). In addition, if the reader has not taken, at least, two semesters of "Mathematical Methods in Physics" courses then Aber's book may seem a little out of reach. THIS IS NOT THE PLACE TO LEARN THE MATHEMATICS STATED ABOVE. In no way is this a negative attribute of Aber's presentation, it's just a more advanced presentation of quantum mechanics than other quantum books such as Griffiths or Shankar.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Instructors, please avoid this book, April 9, 2007

By 

S. Korenblit (University of Michigan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Quantum Mechanics (Paperback)

I just finished using this book for a graduate quantum class. I agree with other reviewers: this book is riddled with errors. However, even if the errors were corrected, the writing would still be clunky and boring.
Besides these problems, I feel like there is too little emphasis on physical insight, and the the problems are tedious and do not promote understanding. I feel like I've done a lot of work for a very meager reward. Since this is the first grad quantum book I used, I can't recommend another, but I'm ready to get a new one.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars If you like massive amounts of errors, this is your book, June 1, 2006

By 

twan - See all my reviews

This review is from: Quantum Mechanics (Paperback)

This is a poorly written book. It abounds with errors, and the notation is horribly inconsistent. In my opinion you would be better off using a combination of Griffiths, Sakurai, and Shankar. Abers was the text required for my quantum mechanics class, and I used it as little as was necessary.