We introduce an analytical solution to one of the most familiar problems from the elementary quantum mechanics textbooks. The following discussion provides simple illustrations to a number of general concepts of quantum chaology, along with some recent developments in the field and a historical perspective on the subject.
The present collection of papers is devoted to a rather new and very controversial topic, the so-called “quantum chaos”. Some researchers see nothing essentially new at all in this phenomenon (apart from a number of various examples and models), and they have good reason to believe so. Indeed, the problems in this field all belong to the traditional, “old-fashion”, and rather “simple” quantum mechanics of finite-dimensional systems with a given interaction and no quantized fields. Nevertheless, many, including ourselves, consider quantum chaos to be a new discovery, though in an old field, of a great importance for fundamental physics. To understand this, the phenomenon of quantum chaos should be put into its proper perspective in recent developments in physics. The central point of this perspective is the conception of dynamical chaos (also a rather new topic) in classical mechanics (for a good review see, e.g., Refs.[l-3]). Thus before discussing the current understanding of quantum chaos we need briefly to describe classical dynamical chaos
Abstract This book provides the reader with a contemporary and comprehensive introduction to Quantum Mechanics. It is suitable for beginners as well as for more advanced university students. Quantum mechanics is presented in a pedagogical fashion, with a clear logical organization. The various concepts and methods are introduced first in elementary terms, and later developed into more precise formulations. Systematic studies of approximation methods and the discussion of a wide class of physical applications follow. Part I of the book, together with the opening sections of Part II, provide adequate material for an introductory course of one semester at most universities. The rest of the book might be used in an advanced course on Quantum Mechanics. The basic material is fairly standard, even though some discussions such as those on general systems with time-dependent Hamiltonians, on metastable systems, as well as the discussions in some of the Complement sections, may not be found in other textbooks. The book also contains many original observations or new ways of illustrating even well-known subjects. In fact, the authors wish to convey in this book the sense of wonder in the logical simplicity and at the same time the beauty of subtle and far-reaching consequences of Quantum Mechanics, to young physics students in particular. Problem sets are provided at the end of each chapter, to be solved either analytically or by numerical methods. The solutions to both types of problems are given as separate pdf files or as Mathematica notebooks (there are 88 of them), all together on a CD accompanying the textbook. The presence of such a collection of numerical analyses enriches the main text and is one of the characteristic features of the book. With the many interesting systems discussed, the book will also be a useful reference for researchers and teachers. It provides the reader with a unique, enjoyable and rather complete textbook of Quantum Mechanics, destined to set a new standard for many years to come.
This chapter should be treated as an appendix. It is included for completeness and covers certain fundamentals of quantum mechanics that will aid the understanding of topics discussed in this textbook. The reader is urged to refer to many of the good introductory textbooks on the subject to learn or revisit the fundamental concepts [1, 2, 3, 4]. First, we briefly discuss three key ingredients of quantum mechanics, i.e., the blackbody radiation spectrum, the concept of the photon and de Broglie wavelength, and the related wave-particle duality concept. Next, we briefly restate the four major postulates of quantum mechanics used in the so-called orthodox or Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics that is in vogue. We continue on to describe a generalized form of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle which is illustrated with a few familiar bound state problems (particle-in-a-box and one-dimensional harmonic oscillator) and a few spin related problems.