Group Theory and Its Application to Physical Problems (Dover Books on Physics) [Paperback]

Morton Hamermesh (Author), Physics (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0486661814 | ISBN-13: 978-0486661810 | Publication Date: December 1, 1989

One of the best-written, most skillful expositions of group theory and its physical applications, directed primarily to advanced undergraduate and graduate students in physics, especially quantum physics. With problems. "Well-organized, well-written and very clear throughout." — Mathematical Reviews. 71 illustrations.

Product Details

• Paperback: 544 pages
• Publisher: Dover Publications (December 1, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0486661814
• ISBN-13: 978-0486661810
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #480,004 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars the language of theoretical physics, January 5, 2003

By 

Abigail Nussey (Boston University) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Group Theory and Its Application to Physical Problems (Dover Books on Physics) (Paperback)

When I first encountered this book I was an undergrad, a junior. I flipped through the pages and could barely read the English portions, not to mention the proofs and examples. I must say that it's a tough book for a beginner; MH quickly runs through group theory in the beginning (pay attention: there are some important sentences in there that pop up later when you least expect them to) and then goes into rather a lengthy description of symmetry (point) groups, fit for a chemist or crystallographer more than a theoretical physicist.

After those two chapters come perhaps the most important chapters in the book: the ones on group representation theory. There is a long chapter on theory, and then a great short one on applications of GR that's extremely helpful in understanding what you've just read. After that MH gets into Kronecker products and Clebsch-Gordon coefficients as well as other operations with GR, and has another neat chapter afterwards on physical applications. He speak about the symmetric group in great length, and then about continuous groups, another extremely important chapter. The rest of the book uses the core of what you've just learned to help you understand linear groups in Hilbert space, and applications to sub-atomic physics.

Here's what you need to do to consume this book successfully:

1) Don't wait for MH to give you an example. Make them up as you go along! And make sure you fully understand each and every little statement he makes: there's no extravagant sentences here, all are vitally important and he will make use of every statement at least once to prove another point.

2) If you haven't had quantum mechanics yet, hold off on the last half of the book until you have! MH assumes this knowledge, but you can get away with your ignorance for the first part of the book, up until chapter six (and then you can skip around a little bit).

3) Know the fundamentals of group theory before you begin. It's true that MH doesn't assume this knowledge, but I assure it's vital for ease of reading. There are enough new concepts to absorb with out making your brain less permeable by not having group theory under your belt.

Overall, this book is good for physicists who want to become more adept in the language of theoretical physics (especially quantum mechanics and quantum field theory). I recommend it; but I also recommend you keep at least three other texts on hand that have their own way of explaining the things MH tries to explain. It is a good idea to do that in any independent learning venture, anyway.

35 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A good reference, August 23, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Group Theory and Its Application to Physical Problems (Dover Books on Physics) (Paperback)

This is one of those books that appear just before their subject matter becomes a fashion. The most famous example is Courant-Hilbert "Methods of Mathematical Physics", which contained the mathematics of quantum mechanics as if the authors had guessed what the future had in store. Hamermesh taught group theory for physicists just before SU(3), quarks, etc, dominated particle physics. Everybody learned groups from "Hamermesh". Now time passed, more specialized books appeared, physicists learned more mathematics... What of Hamermesh? Well, I always thought it was rather boring, a collection of methods with very little motivation. If one compares it with a modern book such as Inui, Tanabe, Onodera, one sees the difference: much more physical context. Hamermesh has, notwithstanding, done his job.

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars great book for beginners, February 21, 2001

By 

martin (Voorburg Netherlands) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Group Theory and Its Application to Physical Problems (Dover Books on Physics) (Paperback)

At the time I ran into this book I was doing research on martensitic transformations in metals. For that, as an engineer, I needed lots of information on point groups. The first chapter of the book contains the basics of group theory and teaches the totally ignorant all he has to know about the subject. The second chapter immediately deals with the point groups as one encounters them in crystallography. Very comprehensive and usefull information. Then the formal theory on groups is treated and general theorems are derived. For an average engineer without too much mathematical background this may be a bit too much, but the chapter is well written and provides usefull information that is used in chapter 4 to derive the irreducible representations and character tables for the point groups discussed in chapter 2. After that, I did not need the book anymore besides the short treatement of translation groups at the end of the book. I definately recommend te book for anyone who has to deal with point groups and wants to know more than just the basics.