How to Be a Quantum Mechanic

These lecture notes comprise an advanced undergraduate course in quantum mechanics as taught by Charles Wohl for over 30 years at the University of California, Berkeley. This textbook and its worked examples will teach students how to think like a quantum mechanic.

List of contents

1. Strangest things  2. The Schrodinger Equation. Bound States  3. Simple Approximations for Bound States  4. Scattering in One Dimension  5. Mathematical Formalism  6. The Harmonic Oscillator  7. Uncertainty Relations. Simultaneous Eigenstates  8. Angular Momentum  9. Hydrogen. The Isotropic Oscillator  10. Spin 1/2 Particles  11. Hyperfine Splitting. Two Angular Momenta. Isospin  12. Cryptography. The EPR Argument. Bell's Inequality  13. Time-Independent Perturbation Theory  14. Identical Particles  15. Time-Dependent Perturbations. Planck and Einstein  16. Scattering in Three Dimensions  17. The Dirac Equation

About the author

Charles G. Wohl taught for 40 years at the University of California, Berkeley. He earned his Ph.D. at Berkeley, in experimental elementary-particle physics in the group led by Luis Alvarez.

Summary

How to Be a Quantum Mechanic is an introduction to quantum mechanics at the upper-division level. It begins with wave-particle duality and ends with a brief introduction to the Dirac equation. Two attitudes went into its writing: Examples are the best way to get into a subject, and numbers and equations alone do not always sum to understanding. The author taught for 40 years at the University of California, Berkeley. He earned his Ph.D. at Berkeley, in experimental elementary-particle physics in the group led by Luis Alvarez.

Product details

• Authors: Charles G. Wohl, Charles G. (University of California Wohl
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd.
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 25.10.2022
• EAN: 9781032256030
• ISBN: 978-1-0-3225603-0
• No. of pages: 380
• Series: Frontiers in Physics
• Subjects: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Physics, astronomy > Theoretical physics; SCIENCE / Physics / General, SCIENCE / Physics / Quantum Theory, Life sciences: general issues, Quantum physics (quantum mechanics & quantum field theory), Quantum physics (quantum mechanics and quantum field theory), Applied mathematics