Jean-Louis Basdevant – författare

Beautifully illustrated and engagingly written, Twelve Lectures in Quantum Mechanics presents theoretical physics with a breathtaking array of examples and anecdotes. Basdevant’s style is clear and stimulating, in the manner of a brisk classroom lecture that students can follow with ease and enjoyment. Here is a sample of the book’s style, from the opening of Chapter 1: "If one were to ask a passer-by to quote a great formula of physics, chances are that the answer would be ‘E = mc2’. In fact, of the three watershed years for physics toward the beginning of the 20th century – 1905: the Special Relativity of Einstein, Lorentz and Poincaré; 1915: the General Relativity of Einstein, with its extraordinary reflections on gravitation, space and time; and 1925: the development of Quantum Mechanics – it is surely the last which has the most profound implications for the development of science and technology. There is no way around it: all physics is quantum, from elementary particles, to stellar physics and the Big Bang, not to mention semiconductors and solar cells."

A graduate of the Ecole Normale Superieure, Jean-Louis Basdevant is Professor and Chair of the Department of Physics at the Ecole Polytechnique, and Director of Research for the CNRS. Specializing in the theoretical physics of elementary particles, quantum field theory and astrophysics, Prof. Basdevant works in the Leprince-Ringuet Laboratory at the Ecole Polytechnique.

Optimization under constraints is an essential part of everyday life. Indeed, we routinely solve problems by striking a balance between contradictory interests, individual desires and material contingencies. This notion of equilibrium was dear to thinkers of the enlightenment, as illustrated by Montesquieu’s famous formulation: "In all magistracies, the greatness of the power must be compensated by the brevity of the duration."

Astonishingly, natural laws are guided by a similar principle. Variational principles have proven to be surprisingly fertile. For example, Fermat used variational methods to demonstrate that light follows the fastest route from one point to another, an idea which came to be known as Fermat’s principle, a cornerstone of geometrical optics. Variational Principles in Physics explains variational principles and charts their use throughout modern physics. The heart of the book is devoted to the analytical mechanics of Lagrange and Hamilton, the basic tools of any physicist. Prof. Basdevant also offers simple but rich first impressions of Einstein’s General Relativity, Feynman’s Quantum Mechanics, and more revealing and amazing interconnections between various fields of physics.

This textbook presents problems with detailed solutions showing how to apply quantum theory to modern physics. The text is divided in three parts, the first dealing with elementary particles, nuclei and atoms, the second presents quantum entanglement and measurement. Finally complex systems are examinated in depth. The aim of the text is to guide the student towards applying quantum mechanics to research problems. Advanced undergraduates and graduate students will find a rich and challenging source for improving their skills.

This new edition has been extended with sections on neutrino oscillations, quantized vortices in Bose-Einstein condensates, quantum correlations in multi-particle systems, Bloch oscillations in periodic lattices and non-destructive quantum measurements.

The new edition of this remarkable textbook offers the reader a conceptually strong introduction to quantum mechanics, but goes beyond this to present a fascinating tour of modern theoretical physics. Beautifully illustrated and engagingly written, it starts with a brief overview of diverse topics across physics including nanotechnology, materials science, and cosmology. It provides new chapters on astrophysics, quantum information and the photon. Each chapter provides a set of exercises, questions, a problem and solutions.

The core of the book covers both established and emerging aspects of quantum mechanics. A concise introduction to traditional quantum mechanics covers the Schrödinger equation, Hilbert space, photon physics, the algebra of observables, hydrogen atom, spin and Pauli principle. Modern features of the field are presented with Bell''s inequality by exploring systems of entangled states, that have generated the ''second quantum revolution'' of systems that communicate instantly at a distance, and the birth of quantum information: cryptography, teleportation and quantum computers.