Quantum Mechanics: Fundamentals

This classic text provides a comprehensive exposition of the concepts and techniques of quantum mechanics. The phenomena treated are sufficiently simple to allow the student to readily assess the validity of the models so that attention is not deflected from the heart of the subject. To that end, the book concentrates on systems that can either be solved exactly or be handled by well-controlled, plausible approximations. With few exceptions, this means systems with a small number of degrees of freedom. The exceptions are many, electron atoms, the electromagnetic field and the Dirac equation. The inclusion of the last two topics reflects the belief that every physicist should now have some knowledge of these cornerstones of modern physics.

Table of Contents:
Uncertainty and Complementarity * Nonclassical Aspects of the Electromagnetic Field * Wave-Particle Duality for Systems with Finite Rest Mass * Uncertainty Relations for the Electromagnetic Field Strengths Wave Mechanics * The Free Particle * Schrdingers Equation for an Interacting System of Particles * Constants of the Motion and Symmetries of the Hamiltonian * Eigenfunctions * The Classical Limit Illustrative Solutions of Schrdingers Equation * Separation of Variables in the Two-Body Problem * Eigenvalues and Eigenfunctions of the Angular Momentum Operators * Free-Particle Wave Functions * Scattering Theory * The Born and Eikonal Approximations * Partial Waves * The Delta-Shell Potential * Resonance Scattering and Exponential Decay * The Coulomb Field * References The Measurement Process and the Statistical Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics * The Two-Body System in a Slowly Varying External Field * The Stern-Gerlach Experiment * Changes of State Resulting from Measurement * References States and Observables. Transformation Theory * Measurement Symbols and Transformation Functions * Probabilities * State Vectors and Operators; Unitary Transformations * The Uncertainty Relations for Arbitrary Observables * Addition of Angular Momentum * Mixtures and the Density Matrix * Equivalent Descriptions Symmetries * Displacements in Time and Equations of Motion * Spatial Translations * Systems that Correspond to Classical Point MechanicsGalileo Invariance * The Harmonic Oscillator * Rotations and Angular Momentum * Spin * The Irreducible Representations of the Rotation Group * Transformation of States Under Rotation * Tensor Operators * Reflections in Space: Parity * Static Electromagnetic Moments and Selection Rules * Time Reversal * Invariance Principles Applied to the Scattering of Spin 1/2 Particles * Indistinguishable ParticlesSpin and Statistics * Symmetries of the Two-Nucleon System * Scattering of Identical Particles Stationary State Perturbation Theory * Symmetries and Perturbation Theory * The Rayleigh-Schrdinger Perturbation Expansion * The Fine Structure of Hydrogen * The Hydrogen Atom in an External Magnetic Field * The Variational Method Applied to the Spectrum of Helium * Scattering Viewed as Perturbation of the Continuum The Electromagnetic Field * Classical Electrodynamics in Hamiltonian Form * Canonical Quantization * Photons * Commutation Rules for the Free FieldsComplementarity Time-Dependent Perturbation Theory * The Interaction Picture * Magnetic Resonance * Transitions in a Continuum: Scattering * Collision Phenomena in the Born Approximation * The Photo-Effects in Hydrogen

About the Author :
Kurt Gottfried Born in Vienna, Kurt Gottfried emigrated to Canada in 1939 and received his Ph.D. in theoretical physics from MIT in 1955. He is professor of physics at Cornell University, and has been a Junior Fellow and assistant professor of Physics at Harvard University, a visiting professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a senior staff member at CERN in Geneva. A recipient of a John Simon Guggenheim fellowship, Dr. Gottfried is also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has served as chairman, Division of Particles and Fields of the American Physical Society. He is also the co-author, with V.F. Weisskopf, of Concepts of Particle Physics. Dr. Gottfried has an active interest in arms control and human rights and has testified before Congress on these issues.