This invaluable book takes the reader from Planck's discovery of the quantum in 1900 to the most recent interpretations and applications of nonrelativistic quantum mechanics. The introduction of the quantum idea leads off the prehistory of quantum mechanics, featuring Planck, Einstein, Bohr, Compton, and de Broglie's immortal contributions. Their original discovery papers are featured with explanatory notes and developments in Part 1. The invention of matrix mechanics and quantum mechanics by Heisenberg, Born, Jordan, Dirac, and Schrödinger is presented next, in Part 2. Following that, in Part 3, are the Einstein–Bohr debates on the interpretation of quantum mechanics culminating in Bell's inequality and Aspect's experiment demonstrating the actuality of the long range quantum correlations to which Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen took great exception. Resolutions of quantum paradoxes and the current state of such debates are summarized. Part 4 presents a selection of the most dramatic modern developments, both theoretical and experimental. These include Feynman path integrals, the modern interpretation based on decoherence, quantum optics experiments leading to teleportation, DeWitt's wave function of the universe, and a brief introduction to the end-of-the-millennium prospects of quantum computation. A concluding chapter presents the authors' conjectures for the next 100 years of the quantum. This book is ideally suited to anyone with a junior level background in modern physics and quantum mechanics, and a cultural interest in the original sources of the greatest ideas of the greatest founders of this subject as derived from their first discovery papers. These papers have led, in giant strides across the whole of the twentieth century, to the revolutionary experimental advances of the last decade. The book makes accessible - physically and intellectually - both the deepest roots and the highest branches of nonrelativistic quantum physics
This invaluable book takes the reader from Planck's discovery of the quantum in 1900 to the most recent interpretations and applications of nonrelativistic quantum mechanics. The introduction of the quantum idea leads off the prehistory of quantum mechanics, featuring Planck, Einstein, Bohr, Compton, and de Broglie's immortal contributions. Their original discovery papers are featured with explanatory notes and developments in Part 1. The invention of matrix mechanics and quantum mechanics by Heisenberg, Born, Jordan, Dirac, and Schrödinger is presented next, in Part 2. Following that, in Part 3, are the Einstein–Bohr debates on the interpretation of quantum mechanics culminating in Bell's inequality and Aspect's experiment demonstrating the actuality of the long range quantum correlations to which Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen took great exception. Resolutions of quantum paradoxes and the current state of such debates are summarized. Part 4 presents a selection of the most dramatic modern developments, both theoretical and experimental. These include Feynman path integrals, the modern interpretation based on decoherence, quantum optics experiments leading to teleportation, DeWitt's wave function of the universe, and a brief introduction to the end-of-the-millennium prospects of quantum computation. A concluding chapter presents the authors' conjectures for the next 100 years of the quantum. This book is ideally suited to anyone with a junior level background in modern physics and quantum mechanics, and a cultural interest in the original sources of the greatest ideas of the greatest founders of this subject as derived from their first discovery papers. These papers have led, in giant strides across the whole of the twentieth century, to the revolutionary experimental advances of the last decade. The book makes accessible - physically and intellectually - both the deepest roots and the highest branches of nonrelativistic quantum physics
Quantum mechanics is one of the great success stories of modern physics, making sense of the very small just as Einstein's theory of relativity made sense of the very large. But, for most students, the ideas that make quantum mechanics powerful can be confusing and counterintuitive. This volume in the Greenwood Guides to Great Ideas in Science series provides a history of quantum mechanics from the early breakthroughs of Planck and Einstein, at the beginning of the 20th century, to the present frontiers of quantum computing and quantum gravity. The approach is entirely non-technical, and is aimed at the general reader who may not have much mathematical background but who has a strong curiosity about some of the most important developments in modern science. Quantum Mechanics: A Historical Perspectivetraces the history of this powerful theory, including: ; The early discoveries by Max Planck and Albert Einstein regarding the quantization of radiation ; The early quantum theory, including Neils Bohr's theory of the atom ; The birth of modern quantum mechanics through the work of Heisenberg, Schrodinger, Born, Dirac and others ; Applications of quantum mechanics in chemistry, nuclear physics, electronics, and many other areas ; Recent work in quantum computation and quantum information theory The book emphasizes the fact that despite the great success of quantum mechanics, many exciting intellectual frontiers remain open for further researchers to explore. It includes a glossary, a timeline, and a bibliography of accessible resources for further research.
Abstract Following the path by which humanity learned quantum mechanics can lead to an improved understanding of the theory and the origins of its perceived limitations. Our goal is to retrace the development by investigating primary sources, including original published papers and letters, with attention to their timing and influence. Quantum mechanics began in 1900 with the introduction of Planck’s constant, which lead to the “old” quantum theory and Bohr’s model of the atom. With the introduction of matter waves in 1924, a second more intense period began. By 1928 the complete fundamental structure of quantum mechanics was established with the introduction of the Schrödinger equation, the proof of its equivalence to Heisenberg’s matrix mechanics, and the introduction of the relativistic Dirac equation. The theory retains the same essential form today, fueling the technological revolution that began in the last century. We culminate with an introduction to quantum information and computing. This completely new physical scientific paradigm was developed largely in Germany during a period of enormous social, economic, and political upheaval—in a hostile intellectual environment—that parallels the overturning of classical physics. It is striking that all the problems debated today were immediately recognized by the founders of the theory and instructive to see how they dealt with the various issues. We emphasize the centrality of the often neglected second quantization form of the theory for questions of interpretation and give a detailed examination of von Neumann’s widely misunderstood hidden variable theorem.
This chapter starts with the historical development of quantum mechanics and explanations of key concepts behind fundamental discoveries such as Planck's hypothesis, the photoelectric effect, Bohr's atomic model, Compton scattering, the de Broglie hypothesis, the Pauli exclusion principle, the Schrödinger equation, Heisenberg quantum mechanics and the uncertainty principle, the Born interpretation of wave function, the Davisson and Germer experiment, and Dirac relativistic quantum mechanics, which made important contributions to the foundation of modern quantum mechanics. Concepts like the particle properties of radiation, the wave properties of matter, quantized energy and momentum, and the idea that one can no longer know exactly where a single particle like an electron is at any instant of time are brought out clearly through this chapter. A list of important quantum mechanical parameters along with solved examples and unsolved exercises on the key concepts are included towards the end.
This book covers the entire span of quantum mechanics whose developments have taken place during the early part of the twentieth century up till the present day. We start with the Rutherford-Bohr model of the atom followed by Schrodinger's wave mechanics with its application to the solution of calculating the energy spectrum of a particle in a box, the harmonic oscillator and finally the hydrogen atom. Heisenberg's matrix mechanics and its duality with Schrodinger's wave mechanics, quantum mechanics in the interaction picture. Dirac's relativistic theory of the electron exhibiting the spin of the electron as a relativistic effect when it interacts with an external electromagnetic field. Feynman's path integral approach to non-relativistic quantum mechanics with is a marvellous intuitive interpretation as a sum over paths and how classical mechanics is obtained from its limit as Planck' constant tends to zero, methods for computing the spectra of the Dirac Hamiltonian in a radial potential, quantum field theory as developed by Feynman, Schwinger, Tomonaga and Dyson for describing the interaction between electrons, positrons, and photons via propagators using both the operator theoretic expansions and Feynman's path integral. We also introduce time independent and time dependent perturbation theory in quantum mechanics with applications to quantum gate design for quantum computers forming a major part of the research conducted by the author's research group, Quantum noise introduced into the Schrodinger and Dirac's equation based on the Hudson-Parthasarathy quantum stochastic calculus in Boson Fock space, scattering theory and wave operators with applications to quantum gate design, some aspects of second quantization like the interpretation of Boson Fock space in terms of harmonic oscillator algebras and the BCS theory of superconductivity, Wigner-Mackey-Frobenius theory of induced representations of a group with applications to Wigner's theory of particle classification, Dirac's equation in a gravitational field and Yang-Mills non-Abelian gauge theories with application to the construction of unified quantum field theories and finally, the more recent theory of super-symmetry which is a Boson-Fermion unification theory. We have discussed the statistics of Boson's, Fermions and Maxwell-Boltzmann based on entropy maximization. The book is written in problem-solution format and it would be of use to physicists and engineers interested respectively in developing unified field theories and in the design of quantum gates. Note: T&F does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
Written for advanced undergraduates, physicists, and historians and philosophers of physics, this book tells the story of the development of our understanding of quantum phenomena through the extraordinary years of the first three decades of the twentieth century. Rather than following the standard axiomatic approach, this book adopts a historical perspective, explaining clearly and authoritatively how pioneers such as Heisenberg, Schrodinger, Pauli and Dirac developed the fundamentals of quantum mechanics and merged them into a coherent theory, and why the mathematical infrastructure of quantum mechanics has to be as complex as it is. The author creates a compelling narrative, providing a remarkable example of how physics and mathematics work in practice. The book encourages an enhanced appreciation of the interaction between mathematics, theory and experiment, helping the reader gain a deeper understanding of the development and content of quantum mechanics than any other text at this level.
Nobel Laureate Steven Weinberg combines his exceptional physical insight with his gift for clear exposition to provide a concise introduction to modern quantum mechanics. Ideally suited to a one-year graduate course, this textbook is also a useful reference for researchers. Readers are introduced to the subject through a review of the history of quantum mechanics and an account of classic solutions of the Schrödinger equation, before quantum mechanics is developed in a modern Hilbert space approach. The textbook covers many topics not often found in other books on the subject, including alternatives to the Copenhagen interpretation, Bloch waves and band structure, the Wigner–Eckart theorem, magic numbers, isospin symmetry, the Dirac theory of constrained canonical systems, general scattering theory, the optical theorem, the 'in-in' formalism, the Berry phase, Landau levels, entanglement and quantum computing. Problems are included at the ends of chapters, with solutions available for instructors at www.cambridge.org/9781107028722.