Quantum Mechanics: Fundamentals

From the reviews of the second edition:

JOURNAL OF PHYSICS A: MATHEMATICAL AND GENERAL (27 FEBRUARY 2004)

"??? [The first edition] has become one of the most used and respected accounts of quantum theory ??? Gottfried and Yan??'s book contains a vast amount of knowledge and understanding. As well as explaining the way in which quantum theory works, it attempts to illuminate fundamental aspects of the theory ??? For use with a well-constructed course (and, of course, this is the avowed more >>

From the reviews of the second edition:

JOURNAL OF PHYSICS A: MATHEMATICAL AND GENERAL (27 FEBRUARY 2004)

"??? [The first edition] has become one of the most used and respected accounts of quantum theory ??? Gottfried and Yan??'s book contains a vast amount of knowledge and understanding. As well as explaining the way in which quantum theory works, it attempts to illuminate fundamental aspects of the theory ??? For use with a well-constructed course (and, of course, this is the avowed purpose of the book; a useful range of problems is provided for each chapter), or for the relative expert getting to grips with particular aspects of the subject or aiming for a deeper understanding, the book is certainly ideal."

PHYSICS TODAY (August 2004)

"???especially useful for graduate students and professors who have time to go beyond the bare essentials of a topic and explore it in depth??? I would recommend the book for its lucid discussions of less familiar topics alone, but the authors do not short-change the standard subjects??? I expect the second edition of Gottfried and Yan to join my library of well thumbed-through texts."

"The book ??? is intended for a graduate course in quantum mechanics. ??? would be especially useful for graduate students and professors who have the time to go beyond the bare essentials of a topic and explore it in depth. ??? The topics covered are unusually complete ??? . Along the way, one can learn about topics often not covered in more elementary textbooks ??? . And appearing at the end of most chapters are engaging and challenging problems." (William Happer, Physics Today, August, 2004)

"Written in collaboration with Tung-Mow Yan, this new treatise is much more than a simple revised version of the 1996 book. The reader will find in it a lot of new elements, essential to a modern formation in quantum mechanics ??? . This book concerns readers that beforehand have acquired some knowledge of elementary quantum mechanics, mainly graduate students and researchers. For sure it deserves to appear in any scientific library." (Philippe Spindel, Physicalia, Vol. 26 (1), 2004)

"Gottfried and Yan??'s book contains a vast amount of knowledge and understanding. As well as explaining the way in which quantum theory works, it attempts to illuminate fundamental aspects of the theory. ??? For use with a well-constructed course (and, of course, this is the avowed purpose of the book; a useful range of problems is provided for each chapter), or for the relative expert ??? aiming for a deeper understanding, the book is certainly ideal." (A Whitaker, Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and General, Issue 37, February, 2004)This classic text provides a comprehensive exposition of the concepts and techniques of quantum mechanics. The phenomena treated are sufficiently simple to allow the student to readily assess the validity of the models so that attention is not deflected from the heart of the subject. To that end, the book concentrates on systems that can either be solved exactly or be handled by well-controlled, plausible approximations. With few exceptions, this means systems with a small number of degrees of freedom. The exceptions are manya "electron atoms, the electromagnetic field and the Dirac equation. The inclusion of the last two topics reflects the belief that every physicist should now have some knowledge of these cornerstones of modern physics.

This new edition has been completely revised and rewritten throughout, but retains the clarity and readability of the first edition.

Born in Vienna, Kurt Gottfried emigrated to Canada in 1939 and received his Ph.D. in theoretical physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1955. He is a professor emeritus of physics at Cornell University, and had previously been at Harvard University and at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland. He is the coauthor of Concepts of Particle Physics (with V.F. Weisskopf) and of Crisis Stability and Nuclear War. Gottfri << less