Modern physics through questions, Volume 1 A question-led introduction to quantum physics, beginning with a two-route interference experiment. It develops amplitudes and probabilities, measurement and records, wave packets, uncertainty, spin, exclusion, entanglement and interactions. Optional mathematical sections introduce complex numbers, kets and bras, matrices and the uncertainty relation through worked examples. A closing case study discusses an information-based framework as a conditional proposal; it is not presented as a derivation of gravity or an established unified theory. Written for able graduates, undergraduates, researchers entering a new field and interested readers. Each group of questions begins with physical context; individual lessons use prediction prompts, explanations, simple examples, diagrams and worked answers. Unfamiliar mathematical ideas are introduced through their physical meaning. This volume contains 27 questions and 65 pages. It is educational material, not a claim of new experimental evidence or independent scientific peer review. OpenAI's Codex assisted with organisation, prose, diagrams and teaching checks. Responsibility for the content rests with the author. Companion volumes in Modern physics through questions Volume 2: Matter and its interactions Volume 3: Space, time and gravity Volume 4: The universe and its history
Modern physics through questions, Volume 1 A question-led introduction to quantum physics, beginning with a two-route interference experiment. It develops amplitudes and probabilities, measurement and records, wave packets, uncertainty, spin, exclusion, entanglement and interactions. Optional mathematical sections introduce complex numbers, kets and bras, matrices and the uncertainty relation through worked examples. A closing case study discusses an information-based framework as a conditional proposal; it is not presented as a derivation of gravity or an established unified theory. Written for able graduates, undergraduates, researchers entering a new field and interested readers. Each group of questions begins with physical context; individual lessons use prediction prompts, explanations, simple examples, diagrams and worked answers. Unfamiliar mathematical ideas are introduced through their physical meaning. This volume contains 27 questions and 65 pages. It is educational material, not a claim of new experimental evidence or independent scientific peer review. OpenAI's Codex assisted with organisation, prose, diagrams and teaching checks. Responsibility for the content rests with the author. Companion volumes in Modern physics through questions Volume 2: Matter and its interactions Volume 3: Space, time and gravity Volume 4: The universe and its history
Why does observing a particle change an experiment? What gives matter its mass? How do clocks respond to motion and gravity? And what can we really know about the beginning of the universe? Modern Physics Through Questions explores these puzzles through experiments, diagrams and simple arithmetic before introducing compact mathematical notation. Its four parts cover quantum physics, particles and interactions, spacetime and gravity, and cosmology. Each chapter explains the physical setting before asking its questions. Prediction prompts and 87 worked exercises invite readers to test their reasoning; optional mathematical chapters provide a route into more formal treatments. Written for able graduates, undergraduates, researchers entering a new field and curious readers, the book distinguishes established results, assumptions used in examples and questions that remain unsettled. Includes 30 diagrams, a glossary and guided further reading. This combined edition brings together the four source books into a single 182-page print layout, with 87 questions and worked exercises, 30 diagrams, a 40-term glossary and 33 references. The text is the combined edition also published on Kindle. Print navigation, pagination and monochrome artwork have been adapted for paperback. Paperback ISBN: 9798163906604 (Amazon KDP-assigned ISBN; imprint: Independently published). This Zenodo deposit is the digital companion PDF and is linked to the paperback as an alternative format. The four source volumes remain available at their existing DOIs. OpenAI's Codex assisted with organisation, prose, diagrams and teaching checks. Responsibility for the content rests with the author.
Offering a detailed account of the key concepts and mathematical apparatus of quantum mechanics, this textbook is an ideal companion to both undergraduate and graduate courses. The formal and practical aspects of the subject are explained clearly alongside examples of modern applications, providing students with the tools required to thoroughly understand the theory and apply it. The authors provide an intuitive conceptual framework that is grounded in a coherent physical explanation of quantum phenomena, established over decades of teaching and research in quantum mechanics and its foundations. The book's educational value is enhanced by the inclusion of examples and exercises, with solutions available online, and an extensive bibliography is provided. Notes throughout the text provide fascinating context on the tumultuous history of quantum mechanics, the people that developed it, and the questions that still remain at its center. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.
The hallmark of a good book of problems is that it allows you to become acquainted with an unfamiliar topic quickly and efficiently. The Quantum Mechanics Solver fits this description admirably. The book contains 27 problems based mainly on recent experimental developments, including neutrino oscillations, tests of Bell's inequality, Bose--Einstein condensates, and laser cooling and trapping of atoms, to name a few. Unlike many collections, in which problems are designed around a particular mathematical method, here each problem is devoted to a small group of phenomena or experiments. Most problems contain experimental data from the literature, and readers are asked to estimate parameters from the data, or compare theory to experiment, or both. Standard techniques (e.g., degenerate perturbation theory, addition of angular momentum, asymptotics of special functions) are introduced only as they are needed. The style is closer to a non-specialist seminar rather than an undergraduate lecture. The physical models are kept simple; the emphasis is on cultivating conceptual and qualitative understanding (although in many of the problems, the simple models fit the data quite well). Some less familiar theoretical techniques are introduced, e.g. a variational method for lower (not upper) bounds on ground-state energies for many-body systems with two-body interactions, which is then used to derive a surprisingly accurate relation between baryon and meson masses. The exposition is succinct but clear; the solutions can be read as worked examples if you don't want to do the problems yourself. Many problems have additional discussion on limitations and extensions of the theory, or further applications outside physics (e.g., the accuracy of GPS positioning in connection with atomic clocks; proton and ion tumor therapies in connection with the Bethe--Bloch formula for charged particles in solids). The problems use mainly non-relativistic quantum mechanics and are organised into three sections: Elementary Particles, Nuclei and Atoms; Quantum Entanglement and Measurement; and Complex Systems. The coverage is not comprehensive; there is little on scattering theory, for example, and some areas of recent interest, such as topological aspects of quantum mechanics and semiclassics, are not included. The problems are based on examination questions given at the École Polytechnique in the last 15 years. The book is accessible to undergraduates, but working physicists should find it a delight.
The hallmark of a good book of problems is that it allows you to become acquainted with an unfamiliar topic quickly and efficiently. The Quantum Mechanics Solver fits this description admirably. The book contains 27 problems based mainly on recent experimental developments, including neutrino oscillations, tests of Bell's inequality, Bose–Einstein condensates, and laser cooling and trapping of atoms, to name a few. Unlike many collections, in which problems are designed around a particular mathematical method, here each problem is devoted to a small group of phenomena or experiments. Most problems contain experimental data from the literature, and readers are asked to estimate parameters from the data, or compare theory to experiment, or both. Standard techniques (e.g., degenerate perturbation theory, addition of angular momentum, asymptotics of special functions) are introduced only as they are needed. The style is closer to a non-specialist seminar rather than an undergraduate lecture. The physical models are kept simple; the emphasis is on cultivating conceptual and qualitative understanding (although in many of the problems, the simple models fit the data quite well). Some less familiar theoretical techniques are introduced, e.g. a variational method for lower (not upper) bounds on ground-state energies for many-body systems with two-body interactions, which is then used to derive a surprisingly accurate relation between baryon and meson masses. The exposition is succinct but clear; the solutions can be read as worked examples if you don't want to do the problems yourself. Many problems have additional discussion on limitations and extensions of the theory, or further applications outside physics (e.g., the accuracy of GPS positioning in connection with atomic clocks; proton and ion tumor therapies in connection with the Bethe–Bloch formula for charged particles in solids). The problems use mainly non-relativistic quantum mechanics and are organised into three sections: Elementary Particles, Nuclei and Atoms; Quantum Entanglement and Measurement; and Complex Systems. The coverage is not comprehensive; there is little on scattering theory, for example, and some areas of recent interest, such as topological aspects of quantum mechanics and semiclassics, are not included. The problems are based on examination questions given at the École Polytechnique in the last 15 years. The book is accessible to undergraduates, but working physicists should find it a delight.
Written for a two-semester graduate course in Quantum Mechanics, this comprehensive text helps develop the tools and formalism of Quantum Mechanics and its applications to physical systems. It suits students who have taken some introductory Quantum Mechanics and Modern Physics courses at undergraduate level, but it is self-contained and does not assume any specific background knowledge beyond appropriate fluency in mathematics. The text takes a modern logical approach rather than a historical one and it covers standard material, such as the hydrogen atom and the harmonic oscillator, the WKB approximations and Bohr-Sommerfeld quantization. Important modern topics and examples are also described, including Berry phase, quantum information, complexity and chaos, decoherence and thermalization, nonstandard statistics, as well as more advanced material such as path integrals, scattering theory, multiparticles and Fock space. Readers will gain a broad overview of Quantum Mechanics, as solid preparation for further study or research.