Quantum Mechanics

Thomas Banks is a theoretical physicist at University of California, Santa Cruz and a professor at Rutgers University. He earned his PhD in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and has been a visiting scholar at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. Professor Banks is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

"This is an excellent textbook and an extremely useful reference. It addresses both simple and complex issues from a modern perspective, while being pedagogical and accessible. The author is an accomplished and famous researcher. Here he shares his deep insights about quantum mechanics in a very powerful and fresh way. Beginning students and senior scientists will benefit from it." —Nathan Seiberg, Professor, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey"Provides remarkable insights into technical aspects of the subject, but also into the most basic conceptual questions which trouble both new students and more mature researchers" —Michael Dine, Professor of Physics, University of California, Santa Cruz"An excellent book"—Andreas Karch, Professor, University of Washington

• PREFACEAUTHORChapter 1 IntroductionChapter 2 Two State Systems: The Ammonia MoleculeChapter 3 Quantum Mechanics of Single Particle in One-Dimensional Space IChapter 4 Quantum Mechanics of a Single Particle in One-Dimensional Space IIChapter 5 The Harmonic OscillatorChapter 6 Review of Linear Algebra and Dirac NotationChapter 7 Rotation Invariance and the Hydrogen AtomChapter 8 Scattering Electrons on a NucleusChapter 9 Charged Particles in a Magnetic FieldChapter 10 The Meaning of Quantum Measurement and the Emergence of a Classical RealityChapter 11 Sketch of Atomic, Molecular, and Condensed Matter PhysicsChapter 12 Quantum Statistical MechanicsChapter 13 Perturbation Theory: Time IndependentChapter 14 Perturbation Theory: Time DependentChapter 15 The Adiabatic Approximation, Aharonov–Bohm, and Berry PhasesChapter 16 Scattering TheoryChapter 17 The JWKB ApproximationChapter 18 The Variational PrincipleChapter 19 The Feynman Path IntegralChapter 20 Quantum Computation?Chapter 21 L’Envoi: Relativistic Quantum Field TheoryAppendix A Interpretations of Quantum MechanicsAppendix B The Dirac Delta FunctionAppendix C Noether’s TheoremAppendix D Group TheoryAppendix E Laguerre PolynomialsAppendix F Summary of Dirac Notation and Linear AlgebraAppendix G Answers to Selected ProblemsBibliographyIndex