Book on Quantum Physics

[Rootje]

I'm a physics enthausiast, but frankly I know nothing of the quantum world.

 

Does anyone have a suggestion what book is a good beginning to start studying Quantum Mechanics?

 

Complicated mathematics is not a problem, i'm more looking for the fundamentals, the predictions, all the assumptions, the effects, of course the mathematics, the history of experiments, etc, that lead to quantum mechanics.

 

Anyone any good ideas?

[Planck Tank]

What a coincidience. I am just delving into Quantum Mechanics myself, and my mom recommended The Dancing Wu Li Masters:An Overview of the New Physics. The title made me skepticle at first. I thought it was some spiritual book, but the book looks to be very legit. It is perfect for beginners. It barely contains math, as it only uses references and examples for the duration of the thick book. Before diving into the math, it is good to get and overview of what Quantum Mechanics looks like visually via relationships, which is what the book does. I picked it up used for $4.50 on Amazon.com. Many places have it. Good luck and have fun, for I know I will.

[Martin]

I'm a physics enthusiast' date=' but frankly I know nothing of the quantum world.

 

Does anyone have a suggestion what book is a good beginning to start studying Quantum Mechanics?

 

Complicated mathematics is not a problem, i'm more looking for the fundamentals, the predictions, all the assumptions, the effects, of course the mathematics, the history of experiments, etc, that lead to quantum mechanics.

 

Anyone any good ideas?[/quote']

 

Rootje, be patient a few days. I promise you will get some interesting suggestions of a book. But first I looked at your profile

http://www.scienceforums.net/forums/member.php?userid=2390

and it says you are 23 years old, and a student, in the Netherlands, who likes Computer Programming and Music and Theoretical Physics.

 

And you say that complicated mathematics is not an obstacle for you!

 

So I am trying to picture you. I suppose you were already at the university and studied something mathematical, but not physics. Maybe you studied Mathematics or Engineering or Music, something besides physics (or else you would already know some quantum theory).

 

so we have to find a book for some person who already knows her mathematics. and who has a dutch technical university education.

 

If you are actually like that, then my immediate suggestion for you would be to first visit the websites of two people at Utrecht------Renate Loll and Gerard 't Hooft.

Renate Loll is doing what I think is today the most interesting theoretical quantum physics research in the world, and it involves computer simulation. Renate Loll is about 20 years older than you----43 maybe. She has several graduate students (for masters and PhD) at Utrecht.

 

Like for example Willem Westra is a Loll student at utrecht. Wouldnt it be nice if you could get HIS suggestion for a book about Quantum Physics. Maybe he is not too busy to answer email. I don't know.

 

Gerard 't Hooft is older and I mention him because he has an original and far-seeing perspective. Older people sometimes have a good overall vision. He says that quantum physics must be changed at the foundations in order to incorporate gravity. right now conventional quantum field theory is incompatible with General Relativity because they disagree on the basic model of spacetime. To make quantum compatible with gravity either one or the other must change, and 't Hooft would probably say that BOTH sides of physics must fundamentally change to bring them together.

 

Of course there is that ROGER PENROSE BOOK "the Road to Reality", but I didnt read it so I cannot recommend it. The reviews said it is about all physics. a chapter about each topic.

 

But wait. Before you start to read some book, why not visit those two Utrecht websites? maybe 't Hooft even has an online introduction to quantum physics, maybe he has some book suggestions. It is possible

[Martin]

Well Rootje, i went to 't Hooft home page

 

http://www.phys.uu.nl/~thooft/

 

HMMM, I am not sure that this is for you. I was not too excited frankly. But maybe you would like it. He says

 

 

I am preparing a web site for all ambitious starting theoretical physicists, featuring a complete list of all mandatory topics in mathematics and elementary as well as advanced theoretical physics. Don't wait until you enter the University. Start now. Everything can be downloaded. Comments are welcome.

 

and he gives a link to this "web site for all ambitious starting theoretical physicists"

http://www.phys.uu.nl/~thooft/theorist.html

 

and in this "website for ambitious" he gives his suggestion for INTRODUCTION TO QUANTUM MECHANICS----he gives link to two sets of lecture notes, or books:

 

Introduction to QM and special relativity: Michael Fowler

 

Niels Walet lecture course on QM (Manchester) lecture notes

 

He gives links to these two sources, and he indicates that they cover these basic topics:

"

(Non-relativistic) Quantum Mechanics. Bohr's atom.

DeBroglie's relations (Energy-frequency, momentum-wave number)

Schrödinger's equation (with electric potential and magnetic field).

Ehrenfest's theorem.

A particle in a box.

The hydrogen atom, solved systematically. The Zeeman effect. Stark effect.

The quantum harmonic oscillator.

Operators: energy, momentum, angular momentum, creation and annihilation operators.

Their commutation rules.

Introduction to quantum mechanical scattering. The S-matrix. Radio-active decay.

"

 

The Michael Fowler link is

http://galileo.phys.virginia.edu/classes/252/home.html

 

and there, the table of contents has a lot of HISTORY which you asked for.

------------MICHAEL FOWLER TABLE OF CONTENTS------------

Photons

 

4 lectures

Blackbody Radiation.

The Photoelectric Effect.

Rays and Particles.

 

Atoms

 

6 lectures

Brief Historical Review.

Atomic Spectra

Early Atomic Models: Vortices and Pudding

Rutherford's Experiment and the Beginning of Nuclear Physics.

The Bohr Atom.

 

Particles and Waves

 

4 lectures

From the Bohr Atom to De Broglie's Waves.

Wave Packets and the Uncertainty Principle.

Probabilities, Amplitudes and Probability Amplitudes.

More on the Uncertainty Principle.

 

Schrodinger's Equation

 

6 lectures

Wave Equations for Photons and Electrons.

Electron in a Box.

Finite Square Well

Simple harmonic oscillator.

Barrier penetration.

Two-dimensional Wells.

Three dimensional waves,the hydrogen atom, angular momentum.

 

Many Electron Atoms

 

3 lectures

Symmetry of the wavefunction: fermions and bosons.

Angular Momentum, Electron spin, The periodic table.

 

Nuclear Physics

 

3 lectures

Stable and unstable nuclei, decay mechanisms, nuclear fission.

--------END QUOTE FROM FOWLER------

 

and if you do not like this book by Fowler then 't Hooft is also giving you a link to an introduction to Quantum Mechanics by Nick Walet.

 

these things that 't Hooft suggests have the advantage that they are free to download immediately. you can see immediately if it is the right thing for you, and dont have to order the book.

[Martin]

Rootje, quantum geometry is becoming interesting. this is not what you asked for but you should also perhaps look at

 

http://www.phys.uu.nl/~loll/Web/press/press.html

 

http://www.phys.uu.nl/~loll/Web/title/title.html

 

the first 75 years of quantum theory were mostly not about quantizing geometrical shape----how do you define a random shape a random world with a random geometry, maybe not even taking for granted the number of dimensions? what if even the topology of that world is random? what if the real geometry of our world is a kind of "weighted average" or sum or superposition of many many random random geometries?

 

in the first 75 years of quantum theory they mostly took for granted some fixed space---they imagined a fixed background geometry and then made quantum theories about how the atoms and particles run around and interact inside that fixed geometrical framework

 

now some theorists like Loll are considering the problem of how to go beyond that and include the geometrical background itself, so that the background can also be uncertain and have a "wave function"

 

this is a radical change. I suggest paying close attention to what Loll and her collaborators are doing

[Tom Mattson]

Does anyone have a suggestion what book is a good beginning to start studying Quantum Mechanics?

 

If you've got the math (through linear algebra and differential equations) then you could safely begin with either Brehm and Mullin or Eisberg and Resnick. They are both good introductions that don't require a lot of classical mechanics (like, say, Griffiths or Liboff).

[DQW]

I second Tom on Resnick and Eisberg - that's a very good beginning QM book. Another good book at about the same level is Gasiorowicz.

[DQW]

What a coincidience. I am just delving into Quantum Mechanics myself, and my mom recommended The Dancing Wu Li Masters:An Overview of the New Physics. The title made me skepticle at first. I thought it was some spiritual book, but the book looks to be very legit. It is perfect for beginners. It barely contains math, as it only uses references and examples for the duration of the thick book. Before diving into the math, it is good to get and overview of what Quantum Mechanics looks like visually via relationships, which is what the book does. I picked it up used for $4.50 on Amazon.com. Many places have it. Good luck and have fun, for I know I will.

While Zukav's book makes for interesting reading, it can hardly teach you any QM. Do not try to learn physics from a book written by someone who is not a physicist and has had no formal training in physics (Zukav studied International Relations at Harvard) - that will most likely lead to more misconceptions than revelations.

[Rootje]

Thank you all for the tips! And thanks martin, for putting in all the effort, it was well appreciated This all will get me started pretty well.

[Martin]

Thank you all for the tips! And thanks martin, for putting in all the effort, it was well appreciated This all will get me started pretty well.

 

Good luck to you Rootje!

 

theoretical physics is in a very exciting phase just now because

the problem of quantizing gravity looks like it is beginning to be solved.

you start watching at a good time.

[DQW]

I share Martin's excitement upon looking into t' Hooft's "theorist" page. Thanks, Martin - that page is already looking like a treasure (and it's currently under construction) !

[Martin]

I share Martin's excitement upon looking into t' Hooft's "theorist" page. Thanks, Martin - that page is already looking like a treasure (and it's currently under construction) !

 

as it happens I have experience of your good judgement (and physics smarts) DQW so I will adopt your assessment of 't Hooft's page for young theorists as my own. I was focusing on it because of the "dutch" angle, because of where Rootje lives, but it does seem very well put together!

[SorceressPol]

I would also like to say thank you. I was looking for the same thing, and there are some wonderful sites here.