Lectures On Quantum Mechanics - Volume 2: Simple Systems

by Berthold-Georg Englert

The three volumes are not sequential but rather independent of each other and largely self-contained.The reader of Simple Systems is not expected to be familiar with the material in Basic Matters, but should have the minimal knowledge of a standard brief introduction to quantum mechanics with its typical emphasis on one-dimensional position wave functions. The step to Dirac's more abstract and much more powerful formalism is taken immediately, followed by reviews of quantum kinematics and quantum dynamics. The important standard examples (force-free motion, constant force, harmonic oscillator, hydrogen-like atoms) are then treated in considerable detail, whereby a nonstandard perspective is offered wherever it is deemed feasible and useful. A final chapter is devoted to approximation methods, from the Hellmann-Feynman theorem to the WKB quantization rule.

277 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 18, 2006

About the author

Berthold-Georg Englert is Provost's Chair Professor at the National University of Singapore, and Principal Investigator at the Centre for Quantum Technologies. In 2006, he was recognized for outstanding contributions to theoretical research on quantum coherence. B.-G. Englert's principal research interests concern applications in quantum information science, but he is also known for his early work on quantum optics together with Marlan Scully at Texas A&M University.

Berthold-Georg Englert was American Physical Society Outstanding Referee in 2008, and is presently the Scientific Secretary of the Julian Schwinger Foundation.

Berthold-Georg Englert obtained his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Tubingen in 1981. He did post-doctoral research at the Technical University Munich and obtained his Dr. rer. nat. habil. in 1990.

He is the author of more than 160 publications in the fields of atomic, molecular and optical physics. His book Symbolism of Atomic Measurements is authoritative in the field of quantum mechanics.