Slashdot Mirror
Books on Quantum Mechanics?
manjunaths asks: "I would like to ask the physicists here to recommend some books on Quantum Mechanics. For those of us who have a decent background in calculus and have done some advanced physics (field theory, network theory etc.,). The books must have math as well as theoretical explanation. If it has examples which explain/relate to real world physics that would be really nice."
Try Feynman Lectures, Feynman "Six Easy Pieces" and "Six Not-So-Easy Pieces". Most of the physics has not aged from the time the books was written, - QED, relativistic gravitation and the Standard model were almost complete by then. And he had unusual gift for readability and ingenuous practical examples. [I think he won some teaching awards for his books, also.]
:)
w s/feynman .html
That is what I heard - but try to ask some physicist next time
Here is a nifty interview with Feynman (1979):
http://www.omnimag.com/archives/intervie
I doubt that we will ever figure out - and I suspect that even if we did figure out we couldn't do much about it
There is absolutely no question. David Griffith's Introduction to Quantum Mechanics is by far the best intro book out there. His prose is amazing, his explainations are always interesting and illuminating, and (pehaps best of all), he always gets the math right.
If you haven't poked around in a lot of intro (or "advanced"!) quantum books, you may not realize how important those things (especially the math bit) are. But it wouldn't matter if hadn't read any other books. If you gave them all a fair shot, you'd choose Griffiths because his explanations are just so much better than everyone else's.
Trust me. Griffiths.
Once you've read it, you may be ready for something more advanced (maybe Sakurai, or even the poorly written but still amazingly complete Cohen and Tannoudji, or even Feynman's QED), but nothing compares to Griffiths for a good introduction to Quantum.
Check out here. That's a GPL'ed book a professor at my school (go NM Tech!) has written as an interesting freshman year physics book. It covers some basic QM, amonsgt the other things you usually get freshman year in physics.
:)
In earnest, that book is a work in progress and it's really important to do the problems to get the full meaning from the text.
Hope that helps
PS: I don't reply to ACs.
For undergrad level: "Introduction to Quantum Mechanics" by David J. Griffiths. Griffiths is (IMHO) not only an excellent physics author, he is that rarest of textbook authors, one who remembers that a physics book is a BOOK, and thus should be enjoyable to read, as well as get the physics and math right. Any textbook that is boring to read is a failure as a book. Get ahold of his textbook on Electricity and Magnetism; how many physics textbooks make you burst into laughter? "Physics of Atoms and Molecules" by B.H. Bransden and C.J. Joachain Also quite readable, with lots of experimental stuff related to, well, atoms and molecules. Graduate Level: "Quantum Mechanics" by Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, Bernard Diu, and Franck Laloe. Somewhat turgid, but complete, thorough, and accessible. Highly theoretical. Practical examples tend to show up more in volume 2. (THICK volumes, too!) HTH.
"Don't blame the log for the fire." --Andrew Ratshin
But it really depends on YOU, I for one could only learn scattering from Landau, but found the book less than perfect for many other topics. Others in my class had quite the opposite reaction. It depends on what "clicks" for you, and how deep you want to go into what topics.
Balam
Quantum Theory This is Bohm's book. This is simply the best QM book ever written. You'll need Fourier analysis. If you are really interested in learning QM, that requirement will give you more confidence in this book, not less.
I'm sure you've heard of the EPR (sometimes called EPR-Bohm) experiments. The last chapters (and best chapters) of the book are where Bohm lays out his idea for an experiment to actually test EPR -- which is more or less the method used today. (written around 1952, I believe. The experiments weren't conducted until the 1980's.)
Although Bohm's book is one of the best defenses of orthodox quantum mechanics, Bohm went on to propose a non-local, hidden variable version of QM several years after writing the textbook. This theory turned out to have been mathematically identical to de Broglie's pilot wave formulation, which he had thrown out because he thought that non-local EPR effects were obviously impossible. Here is a page with introductions: Intros. Learn the orthodox theory first.
This one. (Ducks)
I'm interested in the answer. I haven't seen many books heavy in the math. However, I've got two books I love, which explain the concepts very well for people without a strong mathematics background.
Wolf, Fred Alan. Taking the Quantum Leap. Perennial Library, Harper & Row Publishers. ISBN: 0-06-096310-7
Wolf, Fred Alan. Parallel Universes. A Touchstone Book, published by Simom & Schuster. ISBN: 0-671-69601-7 (-8 for hardback)
Be warned, Parallel Universes has an almost insultingly big font, if you're one to take offense at large point sizes. Taking the Quantum Leap has a comfortable font, without being tiny-textbook sized.
I'm as mimsy as the next borogove but your mome raths are completely outgrabe.
Don't you know that because of Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, the more you read about quantum physics, the less you can actually know about it? Stupid Heisenberg...
Cohen-Tannoudji is by far the best quantum book if you want the full mathematical rigor. Feynman has several good books, both his introductory level explanatory stuff in his lectures on physics and an introduction to the path integral formulation of physics. However, based on your question, I am going to have to go with Cohen-Tannoudji.
There's no sig like SIGSEG
Now we can `see` into quantum (hopefully) by using week measurements (testing repeatedly to build up our confidence) ... what resources are available on this?
:p
Brute force quantum encryption waits for no man
A blog I run for the wealth
And which are absolutely excellent to give you a very solid grounding in quantum mechanics and quantum physics.
Mandl's Quantum Mechanics in the Manchester Physics Series
Gasiorowicz's Quantum Physics is absolutely excellent. It goes from simple stuff to pretty complicated stuff and tends to cover things in a thorough, 'no-fudge' way so that you have a solid perspective of how it should be done
Eisberg and Resnick's "Quantum Physics of Atoms, Molecules, Solids, Nuclei, and Particles" is good for bringing it all together with atomic physics, nuclear physics and particle physics
Bransden and Joachain's "Quantum Mechanics" Absolutely excellent. Goes into a LOT of details on everything. If there's anything you don't understand, you're likely to find it here in an understandable form (where other books just mention it in passing, this one will actually spell it out in full, which is well nice when you're in trouble with a concept)
That should get you started pretty well. After that you might want to get Dirac's very own book to seriously absorb the dirac notation (I've found that his book was very clear even so many years after it's been written), then you'll need to get into the subject referred to during my degree as "quantum theory" - basically it is to "normal" quantum mechanics as lagrangian mechanics is to classical mechanics... just much nicer!
Good luck,
Daniel
Carpe Diem
...when I was doing physics, we used:
An Introduction to Quantum Physics, A.P. French and E.F. Taylor. ISBN 0-412-37580-X
When we went on to nuclear physics we used:
Introductory Nuclear Physics, Kenneth S. Krane. ISBN 0-471-85914-1
Stick Men
real world examples!
You must have physics confused with some other field...
Have you read the Feynman lectures? Those are basically what you want right there. You descibed them perfectly. The compilation is some of the best QM, and is a required "free time" book for physics people.
I've found that quantum chemistry or solid state books often give a better "real world" account of QM. Something like Atkins Molecular Quantum Mechanics or Levine's Quantum Chemstry covers chemistry and Kittel's Solid State covers the rest.
If particle physics and field quantization is more your thing, depending on your level, you might want to start with something like Griffiths or Gasiorowicz. That's what the basic undergrad book is. If those look too simple, I highly recommend Sakurai. Start with his regular book before you look at the advanced one. You won't get through the advanced book unless you really, really know your stuff, but it covers the most mind-blowing aspects of quantum.
(Disclaimer: I study condensed matter, so I might be biased on what is applicable to the real world)
Oh, one other thing. If you want to learn some quantum, the first thing you have to do is learn what the action, Lagrangian and Hamiltonian are. You can try to learn it like a chemist does... in ignorance, but you will actually understand what you're doing if you know what those things are first.
The single best layman's guide to quantum theory is surely "In Search of Schrodingers Cat" by John Gribbin. It doesn't assume you know any physics - classical or quantum, but doesn't skimp on depth. It has some fascinating conjectures on what it all means for "reality" too. Search for it on amazon!
Modern Quantum Mechanics by J.J. Sakurai
Amazon Link
A bit expensive, but I found a new one much cheaper at a local store.
This is a very good book, and the good thing about it is that doesn't take a historical approach, but a more logical one. You should check it out.
For more advanced texts you should try his other book "Advanced Quantum Mechanincs" or Dirac's book.
Maybe a level under what you're asking, but I found that "Mr Tompkins in Wonderland" very useful for general understanding, which I found more important than the math beneath. Maybe a bit old-fashioned, but worth it.
#include "coucou.h"
Remember, if you're already fast don't eat a Quantum Mechanic, it will only slow you down.
Ranged weapons are a good way of taking them out
And remember, a box with Schroedinger's cat isn't anything special, just a stupid physics joke =).
I second the recommendation of Bransden and Joachain's book. It's maybe not suitable as an intro text if you know zero about the subject, but it gets into the nitty gritty of a lot of different areas better than other books I've looked at. If you can get through the whole book you'll really know a lot (say 1st year graduate level). The class I used it in (basic undergrad) covered only a few chapters.
Another good book which is accessiable to a wide range of math back grounds is What is Quantum Mechanics? A Physics Adventure, By Transnational College of LEX..
Author: RIG Hughes Book : The Structure & Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics Exceptionally clear explication of Quantum Mechanics (with a brief introduction to the fundamental maths needed). The author is a philosopher, so he goes beyond the mathematics and delves into the implications of quantum theory. I've read a lot of other crap on QM (van Fraasen comes to mind), but I strongly recommend this book.
"Quantum Physics" by Eisberg & Reisnick, (Pub Wiley);
(i seem to remember reading a copy when i was doing my MPhys Astrophysics course.
Tim
Eisberg, Resneck - Quantum Physics of Atoms, Molecules, a Solids, Nuclei, and Particles (047187373X) (undergraduate level, introductory)
Sakurai - Modern Quantum Mechanics (0805375015) (graduate level, good for matrix mechanics)
French, Taylor - Quantum Physics (?) (Introductory)
The much touted Griffiths is good as well, but is also very terse and doesn't go very much in depth. There is almost no motivation for QM to begin with. I suggest starting with French and Taylor or Eisberg,Resneck. Then read Sakurai before you are ready to go into field theory.
P.A.M. Dirac
The Principles of Quantum Mechanics
Absolute classic. May be better as the second book you read, but definitely worth a look.
A more advanced book, which also I recommend highly, is the one by Dicke and Wittke. These were my first books on QM (I was initially selftaught as an undergraduate, though I took regular courses later).
I also second the suggestions earlier of Sakurai and Feynman Lectures vol III. The latter is an unconventional introduction in that it starts directly with the Dirac bra-ket notation and Hilbert space, but that is really the way most physicists think about quantum mechanics after their first course, and the sooner you get used to it the better. For more advanced material, the Landau and Lifshitz book is one of the best.
On that subject, Dirac's original book on quantum mechanics is well worth reading too, though it's not thought of as a textbook.
I'm a physicist who specailizes in Quantum Information, so I've read just about every quantum book out there. I would have to agree that it is the all around top cookie in the arena of intro into quantum mechanics books. However, for exactly the reasons that physicists like myself like it, people just getting into quantum mechanics may not.
Quantum Mechanics is a Taoist precept in a way, where only understanding brings understanding.
I think that Griffiths is at its best when you already have some understanding to work with. To bootstrap your self into that place, I would recomend "Quantum Physics" by Stephen Gasiorowicz. Its more compact than Griffiths and so it may be easier to get a big picture view of what Quantum Physics is all about.
God, I love that line. :-)
Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati
I ended up using the Landau and Lifshitz book.
I found Saxon assumed you knew a lot of math theory, especially around special functions. And too much of the "and the derivation is relatively simple" or "since f(x) is arbitrary within wide bounds, it follows that..."
I have both Griffith's and Bohm's books. I bought Bohm's because I saw it in a bookstore for $12. $12! Later I was required to buy Griffith's for an undergrad class. It was about $90. I like both books, although the styles are different. I think having both makes a good complement. Whichever expensive book you buy, buy Bohm too.
/. I was beginning to think that scientists weren't nerds NEmore, and the computer geeks had stolen our title.
I am so glad to see other physicists on
How about: Eugen Merzbacher, Quantum Mechanics, John Wiley & Sons. I used this in my undergrads time.
As others have pointed out, the Feynman lectures are probably what you want. But hey, I gotta weigh in with my big physicist ego, and maybe you actually want to solve problems and stuff (which you won't learn from the Feynman lectures [1]), so here goes:
I haven't seen Griffith's QM text, must've been released in the last ten years. I'm not that big a fan of his E&M text. (Purcell is clearer and more elegant.)
Cohen-Tannoudji, which others have recommended, is an encyclopaedic treatment of non-relativistic QM, and was the de facto standard introductory graduate text for a long time. IMO it's very dryly translated from the French and tedious to learn from. If you have to really do this stuff, you'll probably end up with a copy, though. It's all in there.
The raves about Shankar---also newer than my education---on Amazon seriously tempt me.
My favorite introductory QM text for a long time was Liboff. Odd that no one has recommended it yet. Now I really like the underappreciated gem _Quantum Mechanics_ by Amit Goswami (despite the fact he hangs out with Deepak Chopra these days).
Maybe Griffith is better, but based on my appreciation of his E&M text, I seriously doubt it.
The Bohm book is a great bargain in the Dover edition, as is Pauling's book (oriented towards physical chemists) but both are very dated.
[1] Read the introduction or the afterword, where Feynman talks about what a disaster his attempt to teach introductory physics at Caltech turned out to be. And remember that the average student at Caltech is very smart and very motivated, and he was only able to "reach" the top ~10%. The Feynman lectures are marvels in many ways, but they're terrible pedagogy.
I used Liboff as an undergrad, and liked it. Shankar and Sakurai are also good choices. Vol. III of the Feynman Lectures is a good supplement to any of them.
While not mathematical at all, the classic Mr. Tompkins books by George Gamow give one of cearest presentations of what quantum mechanics and relativity are all about.
Mr. Tompkins visits lands where h-bar (Planck's constant) is roughly 1, and where the speed of
light is around 50mph.
The tiger diffracting through tall growing grasses
and Mr. Tompkins having to shoot enough bullets to raise the probability density function to save himself from the tiger are true classics.
Also the relativistic effects seen on a moving streetcar are great!
They do NOT have the math and theoretical underpinnings that you asked for, but they are wonderful introductions.
MIT has made most of their courses available publicly ->
http://web.mit.edu/physics/subjects/index.html
Hey relax fella, you need a rest, guy.
I can't believe that no one mentioned Shankar Principles of Quantum Mechanics. Its the only self contained book with real QM (Dirac's notation). It great, covers all the math you need, has good problems, and its very entertaining.
I think its better that Sakurai (its a finished book, unlike Sakurai, who died before finishing it), and its the real QM (not the lame differential eqn aproach).
"There is no teacher but the enemy."-Mazer Rackham
How can all those mechanics put a Quantum in their title? Do they have to do a special course or something ?
--- No 16-bit support in Vista? Half of our modules still use it! ---
For a very basic intro to quantum mechanics and how it relates to evolution (and biology in general), check out Quantum Evolution by Johnjoe McFadden. It really helped me out.
these boxen have no names
Weak measurement
See Aharonov's website for publications on superposition-preserving weak measurement techniques.
I have a recent article, experimental description and links detailing the theory, online at http://www.umsl.edu/~altmanc/measurement.html.
Quantum computing / Artificial intelligence: http://www.umsl.edu/~altmanc/news.html
The Sakurai books are concise and essential. They used to be known a "black sak" (_modern qm_) and "red sak" (_advanced qm_), although nowadays they both sport red covers.
--TRR
David Griffiths is currently my advisor at Reed college. I have never met a more brilliant physiscist, and having read several quantum mechanics texts, I can honestly say that no one presents the necessary ideas in a more straightforward and entertaining manner than Griffiths.
with thanks, but couldn't see any links on http://www.umsl.edu/~altmanc/measurement.html
all that seems to be there is the NS Article? No matter though, I can google with `Aharonov` now
A blog I run for the wealth
Apparently this book is out of print, and I had no idea it was so valuable. It's a good collection of original papers from all parts of the spectrum.
It's probably not for beginners, but it has a lot of deeper information, from original sources.
Good source for sig's too.
---- "If we have to go on with these damned quantum jumps, then I'm sorry that I ever got involved" - Erwin Schrodinger
One book that hasn't been mentioned yet that I think highly of is "Lectures on Quantum Theory: Mathematical and Structural Foundations" by Chris J. Isham (Imperial College Press). It presents things differently from most of the books mentioned above - a very modern axiomatic treatment. It shares a lot with Sakurai's book, but is more theoretical and less physical. I'd recommend as a second book - once you've got the idea of what's going on, it'll help fill in any gaps in your understanding of the mathematical framework.
I had the pleasure of taking my 3-quarter undergraduate quantum course from
a professor who recently received a Nobel prize for his work in applied
theoretical quantum mechanics.
We had the option of choosing Griffiths, Shankar, both, or neither. My
suggestion would be neither -- don't learn this from a book, learn it from
someone who knows how to use it. But that may well not be an option.
The single most important thing when learning QM is that you actually work
out calculations to real problems (not toy problems). For instance the
hydrogen atom to start with.
The second most important thing is that you NOT get caught up in the
so-called "Principles of QM". Because there really are none! The
justification for QM is purely experimental, it can NOT be derived from
first principles.
Thus, I recommend starting with Griffiths. His book has good examples, is
not too wordy, small enough to carry around, covers a lot of ground quickly
and has real numbers in it. The last point is hugely important.
As you start to get the hang of it, buy Shankar's book. It is more detailed
and more rigorous and covers more advanced topics by the end. It is also
very wordy, very big, and above all lacks any real-life examples. It also
mentions "principles" way too soon. It is a very good book, though. As
others have pointed out, the initial chapters establish an extremely strong
mathematical base, which you won't get immediately in Griffiths, and which
is required to understand Shankar's last chapters.
In sum: "Griffiths" first, then add in "Shankar" as you go. Only believe
that for which you are shown experimental evidence. Do the examples. Solve
the Hydrogen atom. If you're gung-ho, and about a year into things, solve
the helium atom variationally. Other books you should then consider are the
classic by "Landau and Lifshitz" and the one by "Sakurai"
Enjoy!
shortcut through time by George Johnson. Probably not what you are looking for, but I enjoyed the book to read. Not too much physics stuff. Actually it just has the word quantum in the title.
bananas like monkeys.
It is tautological to say that the justification for Q.M. is experimental. The justification for any scientific theory is experimental. Q.M. was introduced and is best understood as a set of principles from which a mathematical scheme can be derived which is capable of predicting the outcomes of experiments. The results of those experiments are inexplicable from the classical point of view. Without an understanding of what those principles are, why they were necessary to the development of modern science and how they are used to build the mathematical scheme that is Q.M. one would be faced with an unintuitive and mathematically complex fait accompli. Just as there are simple principles and ideas at the heart of special and general relativity so are there simple ideas underlying Q.M. I'd imagine that it would be rather comforting for a student to bear this in mind when first confronted with such a mathematically sophisticated theory. "The Principles of Quantum Mechanics" by P.A.M Dirac is a jolly good book and is not erroneously entitled !
Yes, every scientific theory is only as valid as experiment proves it to be.
FYI, it is entirely possible and highly suggested to teach an introductory QM course without even mentioning the word "probability" until the second semester.
Most new QM students are confused by the relationship of probability to QM (as they rightly should be), and most books that start off with "The Principles of QM" rely heavily on probabilistic analogies. This is not a good thing and tends to provide a FALSE sense of "understanding" to the pupils. Better to let them solve simple atomic problems and compare their results with those of a classical calculation. All this can be done without any "principles" and without the notion of "probability".
I'll second most of the books listed elsewhere in the responses -- 'cept Merzbacher which IMNSHO sucks. You WILL need more than one book. The material is hard enough to understand that you'll need multiple perspectives to build your own world view of QM.
Bransden and Joachain is good introductory and pre-qual relaxation reading.
Landau and Lifshitz is good.
Cohen-Tanoudji is handy for providing insight into how to attack problems.
I personally liked Messiah's multi-volume set even though the notation is a bit old.
And since you mentioned field theory, I would point out Peskin and Schroeder as really good RQFT book --- I liked it better than Bjorken and Drell and better than Itzykson and Zuber.