Arno Bohm - Böcker

This text attempts to present the whole range of quantum mechanics, from the fundamental assumptions to the experimental numbers. The author presents a unified theoretical formulation and includes examples from recent research. Earlier editions of this text have become a standard text and reference work; it has been reprinted and translated. In this third edition, the author has made some minor corrections of the previous edition and has added two new chapters: one on quantal phase factors and their consequences (the "Berry phase") and another on the gauge theory of molecular physics.

Aimed at graduate physics and chemistry students, this is the first comprehensive monograph covering the concept of the geometric phase in quantum physics from its mathematical foundations to its physical applications and experimental manifestations. It contains all the premises of the adiabatic Berry phase as well as the exact Anandan-Aharonov phase. It discusses quantum systems in a classical time-independent environment (time dependent Hamiltonians) and quantum systems in a changing environment (gauge theory of molecular physics). The mathematical methods used are a combination of differential geometry and the theory of linear operators in Hilbert Space. As a result, the monograph demonstrates how non-trivial gauge theories naturally arise and how the consequences can be experimentally observed. Readers benefit by gaining a deep understanding of the long-ignored gauge theoretic effects of quantum mechanics and how to measure them.

Aimed at graduate physics and chemistry students, this is the first comprehensive monograph covering the concept of the geometric phase in quantum physics from its mathematical foundations to its physical applications and experimental manifestations.

Dirac's formalism of quantum mechanics was always praised for its elegance. This book introduces the student to its mathematical foundations and demonstrates its ease of applicability to problems in quantum physics. The book starts by describing in detail the concept of Gel'fand triplets and how one can make use of them to make the Dirac heuristic approach rigorous. The results are then deepened by giving the analytic tools, such as the Hardy class function and Hilbert and Mellin transforms, needed in applications to physical problems. Next, the RHS model for decaying states based on the concept of Gamow vectors is presented. Applications are given to physical theories of such phenomena as decaying states and resonances.

This volume has its origin in the Semigroup Symposium which was organized in connection with the 21st International Colloquium on Group Theoretical Methods in Physics (ICGTMP) at Goslar, Germany, July 16-21, 1996. Just as groups are important tools for the description of reversible physical processes, semigroups are indispensable in the description of irreversible physical processes in which a direction of time is distinguished. There is ample evidence of time asymmetry in the microphysical world. The desire to go beyond the stationary systems has generated much recent effort and discussion regarding the application of semigroups to time-asymmetric processes. The book should be of interest to scientists and graduate students

Representations of the algebra of the harmonic oscillator and of the algebra of angular momentum are determined in chapters 1 and 2 respectively. The algebra of angular momentum is enlarged by adding the position operator so that the algebra can be used to describe rigid and non-rigid rotating molecules.