Exploring Quantum Mechanics

A series of seminal technological revolutions has led to a new generation of electronic devices miniaturized to such tiny scales where the strange laws of quantum physics come into play. There is no doubt that, unlike scientists and engineers of the past, technology leaders of the future will have to rely on quantum mechanics in their everyday work. This makes teaching and learning the subject of paramount importance for further progress. Mastering quantum physics is a very non-trivial task and its deep understanding can only be achieved through working out real-life problems and examples. It is notoriously difficult to come up with new quantum-mechanical problems that would be solvable with a pencil and paper, and within a finite amount of time. This book remarkably presents some 700+ original problems in quantum mechanics together with detailed solutions covering nearly 1000 pages on all aspects of quantum science. The material is largely new to the English-speaking audience. The problems have been collected over about 60 years, first by the lead author, the late Prof. Victor Galitski, Sr. Over the years, new problems were added and the material polished by Prof. Boris Karnakov. Finally, Prof. Victor Galitski, Jr., has extended the material with new problems particularly relevant to modern science. Finally, the reader receives the English translation of this magnificent book, arguably, the best collection of working problems in Quantum Mechanics. My congratulations are going to thousands of students and working physicists who will definitely find here the material for exercises as well as an inspiration in original research. David Khmelnitskii, Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge Most physicists and physics students will affirm that they learned the subject by working the problems. Here is a treasure trove of quantum problems and solutions - a splendid resource for teachers trying to expand the repertoire of their problem sets and for students of all ages trying to deepen their understanding of the heart of modern physics. William D. Phillips, NIST, Nobel Laureate Physics 1997 This is a must-have book for anybody who wants to gain working knowledge of quantum mechanics. It gives both fundamental physical understanding and concrete knowledge of specific technical methods and approaches. Eugene Demler, Harvard University A treasure-trove of insightful problems and solutions, 'Exploring Quantum Mechanics' provides a unique and rare perspective on quantum physics. Spanning a broad range of subfields, it is a testament to the mastery of the original authors, Galitski Sr. et al., and the translator, Galitski Jr. Students and specialists of quantum mechanics in the English speaking science world will greatly benefit from this invaluable collection. Gil Refael, CalTech This collection of problems in quantum physics, probably the largest of its kind in the world, gives the reader the unique possibility to learn to feel at home in the world of quantum mechanics. It includes more than seven hundred problems of various difficulty accompanied by detailed solutions, ranging from elementary single-particle quantum mechanics in one dimension to relativistic field theory and advanced aspects of nuclear physics. Andrey Varlamov, Italian National Research CouncilPreface ; 1. Operators in Quantum Mechanics ; 2. One-Dimensional Motion ; 3. Orbital Angular Momentum ; 4. Motion in a Spherically-symmetric Potential ; 5. Spin ; 6. Time-Dependent Quantum Mechanics ; 7. Motion in a Magnetic Field ; 8. Perturbation Theory; Variational Method; Sudden and Adiabatic Theory ; 9. Quasi-Classical Approximation; 1/N-Expansion in Quantum Mechanics ; 10. Identical particles; Second quantization ; 11. Atoms and Molecules ; 12. Atomic Nucleus ; 13. Particle Collisions ; 14. Quantum Radiation Theory ; 15. Relativistic Wave Equations ; 16. Appendix