Book Description

This second edition of Baumann's Mathematica® in Theoretical Physics shows readers how to solve physical problems and deal with their underlying theoretical concepts while using Mathematica® to derive numeric and symbolic solutions. Each example and calculation can be evaluated by the reader, and the reader can change the example calculations and adopt the given code to related or similar problems.The second edition has been completely revised and expanded into two volumes: The first volume covers classical mechanics and nonlinear dynamics. Both topics are the basis of a regular mechanics course. The second volume covers electrodynamics, quantum mechanics, relativity, and fractals and fractional calculus.New examples have been added and the representation has been reworked to provide a more interactive problem-solving presentation. This book can be used as a textbook or as a reference work, by students and researchers alike. A brief glossary of terms and functions is contained in the appendices. The CD-ROM accompanying each of the two volumes contains Mathematica® notebooks as well as Mathematica® programs. The notebooks contain the entire text of the corresponding volume and can interface with Mathematica®. The examples given in the text can also be interactively used and changed for the reader’s purposes. The Author, Gerd Baumann, is affiliated with the Mathematical Physics Division of the University of Ulm, Germany, where he is professor. He is the author of Symmetry Analysis of Differential Equations with Mathematica®. Dr. Baumann has given numerous invited talks at universities and industry alike. He regularly hosts seminars and lectures on symbolic computing at the University of Ulm and at Technische Universität München (TUM), Munich. ... Read more

Book Description

Four concise, brilliant lectures on mathematical methods in quantum mechanics from Nobel Prize–winning quantum pioneer. The first lecture is an introduction to visualizing quantum theory through the use of classical mechanics. The remaining lectures build on that idea, showing how one can start with a classical field theory and end up with a quantum field theory, and examining the possibility of building a relativistic quantum theory on curved surfaces or flat surfaces.
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Reviews (3)

Has been surpassed
My three star review is no criticism of Dirac - after all, he is the pioneer of the theory of Hamiltonians with constraints and as such deserves all the credit that is due. However I would like to redirect you to Henneaux and Teitelboim's book on quantization of gauge systems since they have done much to clarify the mathematics behind the theory and I think give a better introduction to the field than Dirac's dated book.

Quantization
The concept of 'quantization' has acquired multiple meanings in mathematical physics, since the foundation of quantum mechanics in the 1920ties. I refer to the papers of Heisenberg, Schrodinger, and Dirac which made precise the variables: states, observables, probabilities, the uncertainty principle, dual variables, and the equations of motion. This was also when the wave-particle question received a more precise mathematical formulation, and resolution. Perhaps best known are the equation of Schrodinger, giving the dynamics of systems of quantum mechanical particles, and Dirac's equation for the electron. All three of the pioneers won the Nobel Prize at a young age;-- Schrodinger was a little older than the other two (Heisenberg and Dirac were both born in 1902.) In 1932, John von Neumann showed, surprisingly at the time, that Schrodinger's formulation is equivalent to Heisenbergs matrix mechanics, and von Neumann turned quantization into a field of mathematics. Von Neumann was a contemporary, but trained in mathemetics. His 1932 book "Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics" was reprinted by Princeton University Press in 1996. Occasionally the link to the foundations of physics have been missed: Reed and Simon quote Edward Nelson: "First quantization is a mystery, and second quantization is a functor." Dirac's lovely little book represents a set of lectures Dirac gave in 1964 at Yeshiva University, at a time when the great master could take advantage of hindsight. The Dover edition didn't appear until 2001. The clarity of Dirac's presentation is truely compelling (no mystery at all!). Very little background is required on the part of the reader. Dirac begins with the Hamilonian method, and then passes to quantization in terms of physics. The mathematics of quantization on curved (and flat) surfaces is clearly presented in the second part of the book. Dirac's ansatz for relativistic theory is Lorentz invariance, and the equations of motion arise naturally as extensions of the 'classical' theory. The Lorentz-invariant action integrals are central, and Dirac covers the Born-Infeld electrodynamics in the last chapter. In total the book is only 87 pages, but Dirac is the master of effective and consise exposition. He also firmly believed that, as a rule, the beauty of the mathematics involved is a good indication that the equation is right for physics. Readers who enjoy popular books by the pioneers in science might like to check out Schrodinger's "What is Life?" reprinted by Cambridge University Press 2002, with a Preface written by Roger Penrose, and a lovely set of biographical sketches, written by Schrodinger, and translated by his granddaughter Verena. And there is a lovely book edited by Pais, Jacob and Atiyah, "Paul Dirac: The Man and his Work" , Cambridge U Press, 1998. ---Review by Palle Jorgensen, July 2003.

Quantization with constraints- a very advanced text
This is a very important book. In it Dirac reviews his modified Hamiltonian formalism, including constraints, so that systems which do not have a proper hamiltonian can be canonically quantized anyway. For Dirac sustains that one only knows how to quantize a system when it has a Hamiltonian. So, if the system doesn't have one, what is a guy to do? He teaches how to generalize the canonical formalism and construct an effective Hamiltonian which is sufficient to do the job. These ideas gave origin to a flow of papers dealing with the matter, and to several good books. Still, Dirac's original lectures are the best introduction, in my opinion. Not to be confused with the famous "Principles of Quantum Mechanics" , the great expository classic. This book I am reviewing is more of a research document. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (9)

Philosophy: By Socrates, Quantum Chemistry: By Linus Pauling
How would an "Introduction to Philosophy" by Socrates or a "Basics of the Piano" by Mozart sound like? This is something similar. Linus Pauling, the unprecedented pioneer of the application of Quantum Mechanics to Chemistry, had written this book in the 1930s as perhaps the first introduction to QM for Chemists, supported by his colleague, E Bright Wilson, a brilliant chemist in his own right. A generation of Chemists grew up learning from this book, and its content is as relevant and articulate today as it was then. Hundreds of Quantum Chemistry books, some of which are excellent, have been written in the times since it was first published. But this book still retains an incomparable flavour that brings out the fundamental nature of QM and Chemical Bonding. I have to admit that I found this book slightly difficult, because Pauling and Wilson, although being extremely lucid, never compromise on the Math. But gradually I learnt that this is the kind of book which belongs in the same category of, say, Ernest Eliel's stereochemistry book. That means that every moment you spent on it will be worth it, even if it takes you a very long time to go through it. This is one of those books where every word is carefully thought and then stated, making the journey difficult at places, but always rewarding. And why not. It is hard to imagine anyone else writing with so much confidence on the topic. So it is important not to gloss over this book quickly and then discard it as being dry, but persist in reading it and get insight out of it. The book opens with a discussion of Lagrangian mechanics and discusses some simple examples of its applications. It then moves on to the basic principles of QM, and comes to the Hydrogen molecule, which was the pinnacle of succcess for the Physicists. I think that this book has the best discussion of the H molecule ever written. I have seen other excellent Quantum Chemistry books giving a reference to this work whenever they discuss the H molecule. Moreover, I believe that a thorough understanding of the H molecule is of paramount importance for understanding any further application of QM to Chemistry. Discussion of this molecule opens the door to understanding orbitals, spherical harmonics, angular momentum and all the important concepts in theoretical Chemistry. So the book will score top points for this alone. Later on there are excellent discussions of the Variational Method, Perturbation theory and finally the various important approximations like Hartree-Fock theory and the structure of molecules. The appendices deal with detailed discussions of derivation and some mathematical topics. All in all, a clear and extremely lucid presentation, well worth every moment you can spend on it, by one of the greatest scientists of all time.

Oldie but goodie
This is a great, simple presentation of the Schroedinger viewpoint. There is no Dirac representation and no matrix mechanics. However, there is much to be liked about this book and it is a pleasure to read. Those who are baffled completely by quantum mechanics will find this an enlightening introduction and a simple understandable place to start. This is another one of those lesser known gems.

Simple with everything
If you are an undergraduate and you want everything you need, this is the book. The lack of matrix mechanics makes this book unsuitable for serious graduate students, though. I think it would actually be best for 1st or 2nd year serious undergraduate chemists who are well acquainted with differential equations.

Richly historical account of molecular quantum mechanics
In many ways, this is still my favourite quantum mechanics text. Why? Because the text is completely grounded in the quantum mechanics of atoms and molecules.

Historically, Linus Pauling spent his post-doc working throughout Europe where he absorbed the, then, new theory of quantum mechanics. However, the physicists that he learnt q.m. from only analysed the physics of, relatively simple, atomic systems. It would require someone with an immense breadth of knowledge in chemistry to make quantum mechanics come alive for molecules. This was Linus Pauling. Pauling first applied q.m. to such diverse topics as: the chemical bond, resonance energy, electronegativity, crystal structure of molecules and hydrogen bonds.

And it shows. The uniqueness of this q.m. textbook is that it gives immensely detailed references to the different ways the early physicists/chemists attacked the q.m. of bonds in molecules. Many different ansatz's and approximations to pertubation problems are given. And Pauling should know, for he was right in the thick of it. The historical value of these references alone is worth the price of this book. It's a real shame that most modern books leave these out, because a discussion of these approximations methods give a lot of insight to q.m. in molecules.

In contrast, I find modern textbooks on physical chemistry to be often lacking in deep physical insight. However, textbooks written by physicists run into all sorts of esoteric directions like quantum entanglement and the uncertainty principle and as a previous reviewer noted, Pauling's books says nothing about scattering and hardly anything on spin. This is probably because chemists aren't interested in what happens to particles in beams or Stern-Gerlach experiments. They are more interested in ionisation energy, enthalpies and bond energies.

Nevertheless, for out-and-out modern-day quantum physicists, Pauling's explanation of aspects of quantum mechanics will seem quaint, overly pictorial and concrete, e.g. discussion of *actual* orbits. And it is. However, for chemists and even atomic physicists, pondering such esoteric questions clouds the immense power of quantum mechanics in explaining the detailed properties of atoms and molecules.

Hone your technical skills with Pauling.
Pauling and Wilson's introduction to quantum mechanics is an excellent text for students of quantum chemistry, and students of physics who are interested in the details of molecular wave-functions and perturbation techniques for extracting such wave-functions.

There is also a chapter devoted to "old quantum theory," which students of history of science may find interesting. In it, Pauling describes some incipient theories which predate QM, such as elliptical orbit corrections to the putative hydrogen electron orbit, the Wilson-Sommerfeld quantization rules and its apparently successful application to hydrogenic atomic spectra, particle in a box, and the rigid rotator.

A primer on classical mechanics and the Hamiltonian formulation is included, as is the standard wave mechanics treatment of basic quantum mechanics: Schrodinger's wave eqn, harmonic oscillator, hydrogen atom, etc. This exposition was clear.

Where the book shines is its several chapters on techniques of perturbation theory, and multi-particle theory. Pauling presents virtually step-by-step calculations, showing clearly what sorts of tricks and techniques one uses to calculate certain integrals, and what coordinate systems are appropriate for particular problems (e.g. elliptical coordinates for hydrogen molecule ion.) The Slater determinant is also introduced for the generalization of the multi-particle problem. For the biophysical chemist, there is a short section on van der Waal's forces from a QM perspective. And a chapter is devoted to QM in statistical mechanics. These chapters are indispensable for the aspiring quantum chemistry student, if even just for the sake of owning something from an old master. If you're poor, you should buy this book given that it gives a big bang for the buck. If you're not poor, you should buy this book given that you're not poor.

This book is extremely dense in terms of material. But that's not to say that there are a few shortcomings. The treatment of spin is not so clear- Pauling works completely in terms of wave functions and spin functions, and the reader does not have the benefits of Dirac notation in Pauling's treatment. There is also no discussion of scattering. The theoretically-minded student will also find that Pauling's treatment is lacking in explaining the deeper meanings of fundamental QM ideas, such as the commutation relations, or the time evolution of states. In short, this is not a heavily theoretical text, but rather a book of technical brilliance for applications of quantum mechanics. ... Read more

Reviews (100)

An awesome book with an optimistic world view
Combining quantum physics, the theory of knowledge
(Karl Popper), computation and evolution
David Deutsch arrives at a world view that is
optimistic and points the way to things to come
in the next century. A time were one person can
once again understand everything that is known,
according to Deutsch.

Surely, We might not experience reality but rather
some elaborate
Virtual Reality show in our minds, still we can construct
impressive models of the universe.

By looking at photons David Deutsch arrives at the remarkable
theory of the multiverse.
I guess most people wouldn't agree that the existence
of parallel universes can be detected
from experiments like the two-slit light experiment.
Also, I guess that most people would think that the
multiverse theory should be consigned
to the room of scientific oddities.
Still, I rather enjoy the theory and how Deutsch plays
around with it!

In the multiverse other times are just special
cases of other universes. So, travelling "back" in time
doesn't create a paradox. One might meet historical persons
and interact with them (in another universe),
but such universe will not evolve into the universe we
know - so no paradox.
Out there in the mindblowing array of parallel universes,
that make up the multiverse, Virtual Reality generators
of increasing sophistication exists. Including some that
can mimic any part of the multiverse.
If reality was not slippery before, certainly
it is after reading this book!
The grand finale is Frank Tiplers Omega Point Theory,
where extreme cosmological scenarios makes settings
possible where one can perform unlimited computations
in a limited time. Beings here might resurrect the dead (us)
in Virtual Reality renderings for their own amusement -
Or they might embark upon the solution of tremendous
problems creating still more awesome scenarios.

The book seems to be saying, that somewhere out
there in the multiverse, someone will necessarily
succeed in making a Omega Point spacetime.
Awesome perspectives in an awesome book.
And a fun read.

-Simon

Mind-bending analysis that falls short in places
Deutsch's presentation is fascinating, mind-expanding, challenging, provocative, and--at times--riveting. It is also infuriating, perplexing, reductive, and--at times--vague. (Please note: I am not convinced that the multiverse as Deutsch describes it exists, nor am I threatened by the possibility that it might. As a result, I do not mean to quarrel with--or support--the idea itself. Instead, I am reviewing Deutsch's book from the point of view of a lay reader.)

I do recommend this book to anyone interested in reading a summary of the pursuit of a "theory of everything" and a defense of the science of parallel universes. Deutsch's theory of everything depends on four theories: quantum (as espoused by Everett), epistemology (Popper), evolution (Dawkins), and computation (Turing). Even if one does not ultimately agree with Deutsch's ideas, his book offers some interesting thought experiments (the chapter on "time travel" is especially fun) and a concise overview of several scientific trends. In addition, his book provides a decent defense of why the theory of the multiverse should be considered a reasonable explanation for the interference results obtained the infamous two-slit experiment.

That said, I do think Deutsch's book contains many shortcomings. First, although the multiverse may be a valid explanation for interference phenomenon, Deutsch fails to convince that it is THE explanation. In one short paragraph, he dismisses David Bohm's theory of wave-particle duality. "Working out what Bohm's invisible wave will do requires the same computations as working out what trillions of shadow photons will do." One could easily reverse this sentence as a criticism of Everett and Deutsch: that the trillions of unseen photons requires the same computations as working out what Bohm's single invisible wave will do. Deutsch does not explain (in this book, anyway) why trillions of photons are simpler than one wave, and he does his readers a disservice by pretending that Bohm's work does not deserve a full refutation.

Second, and similarly, Deutsch dismisses with an even shorter paragraph the charge that his "theory of everything" is anthropocentric. (He pretty much admits it is, but tries--unconvincingly, to this reader--to turn it into an argument in his favor.) Third, his discussion of evolution (one of the four "equal" strands of his theory of everything) is a mere 25 pages and, unlike the rest of the book, is at times incomprehensible and seems completely indebted to Dawkins. (Not that there is anything wrong with Dawkins's work; rather, Deutsch just seems in over his head during this part of the book.) Fourth, he rejects Kuhn's belief in the rigidity of scientific paradigms (for example, the inability of thinkers in Galileo's time to accept the full implications of the Copernican system because they were so used to thinking of the world in Ptolemaic and Judeo-Christian terms), but then he describes a modern scientific establishment that refuses to accept the multiverse implications of quantum theory because they are rooted to the concept of a single universe. (Just because modern scientific discourse is more civil does not mean that Kuhn's argument is incorrect. Deutsch's opponents are still mocking him behind his back, in book reviews, and anonymously on this Web site. Or, even more effectively, they are ignoring him altogether.) And, finally, his discussion of Tipler's omega-point theory is hurried and unfortunately nebulous: at one point, Deutsch seems to be saying that knowledge in the universe will become omniscient and omnipresent--which is practically the same as saying that the universe will become itself.

Nevertheless, regardless of what you think of its implications, Deutsch's views deserve serious consideration and, as necessary, rebuttal--not mockery and scorn. In the same way that we read Lucretius even though we know him to be wrong (or, for that matter, Einstein because we believe he is mostly right), we should read Deutsch's work because he challenges the way we look at our world.

A scientist does not a philosopher make
I really cannot find any redeeming value in this book. I had hoped to find some insights from a world famous quantum physicist, and a founder of Quantum Computation, however what I received was a hodge-podge of loosely related themes, the only connection I could find was "Physics is the most important thing in the multiverse, and quantum physics is even more important."

Some of the outlandish claims that Deutsch makes in this book are the following: the mind-body problem is solved; P=NP is solved (it's false); the Church-Turing Thesis is a fact; everything that Deutsch dislikes is a form of solipsism. Of course, no details are given to the solutions, as these are just trivial facts, I guess, according to Deutsch.

But after reading the book, probably the one claim that I abhorred the most was never explicitly stated, but a simple corrollary are statements that he makes again and again: every human endeavour is just quantum physics. The reason for this is because human beings are (at the base level) just quantum-mechanical things, everything we do is a result of physics, and therefore while mathematicians (I happen to be a PhD student in mathematics, set-theory in particular) may think that they are dealing with abstract concepts, they are actually dealing with nothing more that quantum effects in their brains (which Deutsch equates with minds). A simple extension of this principle tells us that philosophy is just a quantum-mechanical process, ditto with art, politics, friendships, love, etc.

Of course, something that is hidden in the above idea is a reductionist claim --- that everything can be reduced to quantum effects. Not surprisingly, it turns out that Deutsch thinks that reductionism is wrong. There are several places in the text where Deutsch ends up contradicting himself, or appeals to claims that he thinks are incorrect. (He grants that criticism of scientific theories does not rest on experimental evidence alone, but while claiming that in fact experimental evidence is very low on the scale, for the most part the only criticisms he ends up making are through experimental evidence.)

My advice for anyone interested in the metaphysical or epistemological issues raised in this book --- read the works of a meta-physicist, not a quantum-physicist.

Waste of time & money. BADLY written. Better books elsewhere
Hello!

I actually slogged my way all the way through this EXCEPTIONALLY BADLY written book, because of my large interest in the subject matter. David Deutsch should have used a ghost writer for this, as he obviously was not up to the task. He is in love with page long paragraphs, as this book is filled with them. This, of course, reduces readability and comprehension. He couldn't write a clearly written sentence, if his life depended on it.

He also (out of 3,000+ books I have read) is the most arrogant writer I have ever read. He dismisses, cavalierly, and without much explanation, ANYONE who doesn't agree with him, and, though not saying this directly, certainly hinting strongly that he thinks that anyone disagreeing with him is an idiot. I found this attitude repulsive.

I expected to see a lot of experimental research to be quoted in this book, but it is almost totally lacking in any. He wanders around in this book, in bizarre philosophical mumbo-jumbo, that I don't think that he really understands properly, acting as if this proves some cosmic points.

The few facts that he actually provides in this book, are better described in any number of other books. If I had not read previously on related topics, his writing is so bad, that this book would have been incomprehensible to me.

To sum up in a much clearer way, than Deutsch could ever manage, the main point of his book, he basically says that a finite (but very large), number of parallel universes exist, that cover everything that every could, or might have happened; and that this in essence, happened at the moment of the big bang, or within 10 to the -43 seconds after. Time is discrete, not continuous (like a string of pearls looks continuous, but if you break the thread, it is actually shown to be discrete).

Time doesn't "flow", but our conciousnesses are only aware of one discrete moment of time, at a time. (Think, motion picture here. There are 30 static, non-moving picture frames per second, but your mind "fuses" them, into an apparent continuous whole, of an illusion of motion. This is how Deutsch views the universe. ALL the "movies" (universes), that can, could, or might, ever exist; and all possible events of "time", were created simultaneously at the moment of the big bang. Our conciousness, though, is only aware of one, discrete, "movie frame" (discrete bit of time), at a time, within only one "movie" (universe). So, continuous time DOESN'T really exist. It just appears that way because of limitations in our conciousness. Another way to think of it, is that the multiverse is like a video tape store. Each video tape, represents a different universe. Each static frame on the video tape, represents a discrete moment of time. Though all video tapes (universes), and all static frames (discrete moments of time), exist simultaneously, your consciousness can only derive meaning from it, from experiencing the frames sequencially, NOT simultaneously. So, only discret time exists, not continuous time.)

There, now you don't have to bother buying this book. Since he gives almost NO experimental evidence for this point of view, anyway, you don't need to worry about the fact that I didn't offer "proof", either!

For those people whose reviews I read, that seem to think that this book was a stunning revelation; I can only conclude that you haven't read much about this topic, before. Stuff along these lines, existed in science fiction probably since the thirties, and in hard science, for decades.

Whether or not some of what Deutsch believes, is ultimately proven to be correct or not, I don't know. For people in the field pushing parallel universes, though, it might have been better if this book had never been written, as it was such a HUGE turn-off for me.

My 2 cents worth.

Karl

Complicated - fluffed up and poorly written
I found this book to be extremely hard to follow as it was more of a fluffed up marshmellow than actually fact or theory based. What I found much easier to follow was one by M. R. Franks titled The Universe and Multiple Reality. ... Read more

Book Description

This book is a modern introduction to the ideas and techniques of quantum field theory.After a brief overview of particle physics and a survey of relativistic wave equations and Lagrangian methods, the author develops the quantum theory of scalar and spinor fields, and then of gauge fields. The emphasis throughout is on functional methods, which have played a large part in modern field theory. The book concludes with a brief survey of "topological" objects in field theory and, new to this edition,a chapter devoted to supersymmetry. Graduate students in particle physics and high energy physics will benefit from this book. ... Read more

Reviews (15)

Good Introduction
A very readable intro to QFT. After having tried a dozen or so different QFT books, this is the one that I eventually used. A nice feature is its emphasis on the path integral and its use in QFT. This book does not have any problems included. In order to gain some experience actually solving problems the book should be supplemented with another. I would recommend that Schwabl's "Advanced Quantum Mechanics" and Griffiths' "Introduction to Elementary Particles" be used in conjunction with Ryder. They complement the text perfectly. Also, you can't expect to learn QFT from only one source.

Written With Uneven Quality
Normally I would have given this book a three-star rating if it weren't for the number of interesting topics that it presents that usually don't find themselves in a QFT book: topological aspects, supersymmetry, nice approach to Dirac's equation, derivation of reduction theorem from path integrals only.

The presentations are written with uneven quality. Ryder's treatment of supersymmetry is excellent as an introduction. The first chapter on the other hand is entirely forgetable. The mathematics is too loose and somewhat sloppy at parts. However almost every field theory text I've come across suffers from this criticism. (It would be nice to see a QFT book written for physicists but by a mathematician.) Explanations and insight into QFT are scant; the book focuses mostly on formalism. The best thing about Ryder is it covers a great amount of material in a short size (487 pages) and in a very readable form.

An Inspiring Introduction to QFT
One of the basic questions in the education of theoretical physics is, what is a good way of introducing QFT and giving the student a taste of what is to come? In my opinion, this book offers a fine solution to this thorny problem.
There are many sides to this question; for example, there is the view that the students should be exposed to this vast topic in a complete and thorough way (for such a text, I HIGHLY recommend Weinberg's 3 volume set, which, if not commonly regarded as a classic yet, soon will be), and also there is the point of view that most of the students studying QFT are experimentalists, so they should first be exposed to how to calculate amplitudes and cross sections for useful processes as soon as possible (see Peskin-Schroder for an outstanding exemplification of this principle). Both of these points of view have strong arguments supporting them, and there are many other reasonable opinions that might be taken; perhaps this is an indication that there is not any one approach to this subject which is a good introduction for all, but rather that the student must choose intelligently which text he/she finds they are most comfortable with. However, I can say that for me at least, this book had just the right selection of topics and at just the right level to get me interested in the subject and to give me a taste as to what it would be like if I were to go into it in more depth (which indeed I did). Other reviewers are quite right in pointing out that there are several inaccuracies in this text; also in more than a few places the treatment is considerably less clear than it might have been (this is one of the main strengths of Weinberg's set; every last detail is crystal clear, and the physical reasoning in the derivations is very rarely muddled in the math). Perhaps in this sense, the book could have been better written, and just by this element of style, I probably would have rated this 4 stars. However, I think that these valid criticisms are more than offset by the overwhelming strength of the book:that it is truly inspiring. Several reviewers have gone over details; I shall not rehash these matters, but instead leave off with the statement that this book was the best introduction to QFT that I could have bought.

one of good books
1)as other reviewers put, we cannot expect every thing from one source. but without doubt, this is a good buy.
2)this is not so pedagogic as the book seller's copy on the backcover. it needs some endeavor of course.
3)major flaw i noticed is only one: at page 150 the author mingled two different things i.e. (a)subsidiary condition which excludes unphysical state from consideration (b)re-definition of norm which brings the unphysical state into consideration.

Reminds me of Sakurai
This book reminds me of Sakurai's book Modern Quantum Mechanics, in that Sakurai manages to explain many topics in a very compact form, but is not always suitable
for beginners who need to actually see calculations and have every step justified
for them; i.e., it is a bit TOO intuitive (yes, you can be too intuitive). Intuition is great, but intuition should come from first doing calculations and proving things thoroughly, which is something this book just doesn't do.
Also, the outstanding pedagogy mentioned by some other reviewers here isn't so outstanding. Allow me to give an example - on page 63 Ryder defines the little group as the subgroup of the Poincare group which leaves a certain vector invariant. Then a few lines later he writes down a certain vector and adds: "what is its little group? It is clearly the rotation group, since this will have no effect on [the vector]" - hardly an explanation; this look more like a tautology to me. I'm not nitpicking - this is the sort of reasoning provided in many places in the book. In my opinion, it might be good for readers who are looking for an intuitive angle on things, but for people learning QFT for the first time a book such as Bjorken and Drell will do a better job, even if not as exciting. ... Read more

Book Description

A modern presentation of theoretical solid state physics that builds directly upon Kittel's Introduction to Solid State Physics. Treats phonon, electron, and magnon fields, culminating in the BCS theory of superconductivity. Considers Fermi surfaces and electron wave functions and develops the group theoretical description of Brillouin zones. Applies correlation functions to time-dependent effects in solids, with an introduction to Green's functions. With 110 problems, the text is well-suited for the classroom or for self-instruction. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Still a good book
It is too bad this book is out of print, for it gives a good introduction to the quantum theory as applied to condensed matter, despite the many advances that have taken place since the date of publication, such as high-temperature superconductivity, the fractional quantum Hall effect, and nanoscale physics. Therefore, if a copy can be found, it is still worth perusing and having on one's shelf. I only read the first 8 chapters of the book, so my review will be confined to them.

After a brief introduction to the mathematics needed in the book, the author begins in chapter 2 with a treatment of acoustic phonons, which arise from the canonical quantization of the transverse motion of a continuous elastic line under tension. This object is handled using the Lagrangian formalism, and after finding the Hamiltonian density, employing a canonical transformation, the (bosonic) creation and annihilation operators are found: phonon excitations. Both longitudinal and transverse modes are shown to exist in general. Bogoliubov transformations are then used to show how phonons may arise in a system of weakly interacting particles. The author then derives the expression for the velocity of "second sound" in a phonon gas. Experimental evidence for second sound in liquid helium was known at the time of publication, but since then evidence has accumulated in Bose gases and in certain types of crystals, such as KTaO and SrTiO. The phenomenon of second sound has also been of considerable interest in the study of nonlinear optical phenomena in smectic liquid crystals. The author also discusses the occurence of van Hove singularities in the phonon frequency distribution function, and points to their connection with Morse theory.

In chapter 3 the author concentrates his attention on plasmons, which arises from longitudinal excitations in an electron gas, and optical phonons in ionic crystals. He then extends the latter analysis to include the interaction of optical phonons with photons, which he also treats using quantum field theory, giving what he calls a quantum theory of a classical dielectric.

The theory of spin waves, or "magnons" is discussed in chapter 4, wherein the author first treats ferromagnetic magnons via the consideration of the Hamiltonian consisting of nearest-neighbor exchange and Zeeman contributions. The dispersion relation for both optical and acoustical magnons in a spin system forming a Bravais lattice is derived and compared with experiment for magnetite. The author then treats antiferromagnetic magnons and discusses the zero-point sublattice magnetization and the heat capacity of antiferromagnets. He then returns to ferromagnetic magnons but from a more macroscopic point of view, treating the magnetization as a macroscopic field, rather than dealing with individual spins. Lastly, he considers the excitation of ferromagnetic magnons by parallel pumping and the temperature dependence of effective exchange.

After a short review of the Hartree-Fock approximation in chapter 5, the author considers the all-important electron gas in chapter 6. The electron gas, particularly in two dimensions, has been the subject of great interest since this book was first published, not only because of its technological importance, but also its role in the quantum Hall effect and the fractional quantum Hall effect. Although density functional and renormalization group methods are the current favored ones for studying the electron gas, readers can still gain much from the reading of the chapter. The author concentrates his attention on the approximate calculation of the correlation energy of the degenerate electron gas, particularly at high density. To do this he uses the self-consistent field approach and he exploits the frequency and wavevector dielectric constant as a tool for studying many-body interactions. Several bread-and-butter topics in quantum many-body theory appear in this chapter, such as the linked cluster expansion, which appear in other more complicated (relativistic) contexts, such as high energy physics.

The author introduces polarons in chapter 7 as a consequence of any deformation of the ideal periodic lattice of positive ion cores on the motion of conduction electrons, and notes that even the zero-point motion of phonons effects this motion. The interaction of an electron with the lattice results in a "lattice polarization field" around the electron, and the resulting composite particle is the polaron, which, as expected, has a larger effective mass then the electron in an unperturbed lattice. The electron-phonon interaction results in resistivity, results in attenuation of ultrasonic waves in metals, and results in some cases to an attractive interaction between electrons, this being one of the precursors of superconductivity. The problem of electron-phonon interaction in metals has been the subject of much study in attempts to give quantum field theory a rigorous mathematical foundation, particularly via the study of the "jellium model".

Chapter 8 is very important, and its content reveals again the age of the book. The phenomenon of superconductivity, and its description by the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer theory, is known as one of the triumphs of the quantum theory of solids. Of course, when this book was published, superconducting materials at high temperature, were not known. The author though gives a detailed overview of the BCS theory, starting with the Hamiltonian for the electrons, phonons, and their first-order interactions (the strength measured by a certain real constant D). Using a canonical transformation, the author reduces the Hamiltonian to one with no off-diagonal terms of order D. This results in an expression for an electron-electron interaction which can be attractive for excitation energies in a certain range (involving the Debye energy). Keeping only this interaction in the Hamiltonian, for wave vectors that satisfy this range constraint, the author studies the properties of bound electron pairs, and shows how they bring about superconductivity. He also outlines an alternative solution to the BCS equation, using what he calls the equation-of-motion method. More modern treatments of superconductivity employ the use of Higgs fields and the renormalization group, these approaches shedding light on whether one can indeed view superconductivity as a "macroscopic manifestation of quantum physics".

Good Overall Review of Advanced Solid State Theory
A good book in addition to another introductory text. I covers the subject manner in an orderly fashion and reviews the theory in an intricate fashion. However, the mathematical notation is not what one would expect from other Solid State texts however the same conventions are used from his introductory book on Solid State Physics. An excellent investment for those interested.

Excellent book!
This book contains all the necessary formalism to become aquainted with many-body theory and Green's functions. The writing is clear and to the point. ... Read more

Book Description

This book entertainingly traces the history of physics from the observations of the earlyGreeks through the discoveries of Galileo and Newton to the dazzling theories of such scientists as Planck, Einstein, Bohr, and Bohm. This humanized view of science opens up the mind-stretching visions of how quantum mechanics, God, human thought, and will are related, and provides profound implications for our understanding of the nature of reality and our relationship to the cosmos. ... Read more

Reviews (15)

Qwiffs, flows, and pops!
Reading this book is in fact the equivalent of taking a quantum leap, an explosive jump with uncertain destiny, off into an unchartered territory with little or no guidance. Fred Alan Wolf carries us through a scientific journey of how the phenomenon of motion has been viewed, from Zeno to the most recent scientific discoveries. It is a journey of risks and paradoxes. The apex in this adventure is the Principle of Indeterminism or Uncertainty, a law that has given a new meaning to world order and has disrupted the foundations of mechanical motion, determinism, continuity, and objectivity. What is matter? Particles or waves? It depends on what one chooses to observe! There is no reality until that reality is perceived. But quantum mechanics affirms there is an order in the universe, and it may be the order of our minds.

If duality was a term used by theologians and philosophers, quantum mechanics brought about the concept of duality in nature. Our actions in the world are always a compromise between two such opposites, the more we determine one side of reality, the less the other side is shown to us. When it comes to the so-long discussed theme of free will versus determinism, the philosophy of quantum mechanics affirms both views are wrong and right at the same time.

Moving away from traditional physics, dissatisfied with mechanical notions of the universe, the author passionately moves into the world of deep philosophical questions, a world which arises from the limitations of quantum theory. Albeit using a logical reasoning, he speculates on some of his concepts, his wild imagination carries him into a world in which God is placed in the center of the universe, "preparing quantum feasts of knowledge, all kinds of magical and tasteful future goodies in the form of magnificent qwiffs!" Fred A. Wolf dares to exceed the speed of light!

Mind-bending
Fred Alan Wolf does a good job of explaining the latest thinking in quantum physics, which he himself concedes to be impossible for us to visualize in many respects, for readers without scientific training. He does this by adopting a historical approach, following the evolution of man's understanding of the nature of motion from the speculations of early Greek philosophers such as Zeno and Aristotle through the work of ground-breaking physicists such as Einstein and Bohr up to the most current knowledge about the crucial importance of the observer in determining reality. Wolf includes some mind-blowing speculations about the nature of human consciousness in the quantum universe which should fascinate you even if you find them difficult to accept.

A few good sections, but I was underwhelmed
This book had three good sections. One discussed how Zeno and other early philosophers looked at physical space as continuous. Another covered the historical period where Bohr, Einstein, and others were making radical new discoveries about how physical space really (or apparently) operated. Finally, there was some discussion about possible worlds. I'm sure any descent physics book would and should cover these areas, so I can't credit Wolf for doing anything special. Although Wolf did a pretty good job at explaining the wave-particle duality with reference to various famous experiments and their interpretations, the end of the book is just plain goofy with his amateurish speculation about physics and philosophy of mind.

Absolutely fascinating
"Taking the Quantum Leap" is an excellent introduction to the bizzare and amazing world of quantum physics. Wolfe takes the reader on a journey from the early Greeks to the modern day as man searched for the answers to the universe's riddles. He shows systematically how physicists first thought they had solved everything with Newtonian mechanics and were then thrown on their heads with the discovery of the quanta. Wolfe proceeds to describe how the science world struggled with these new ideas and attempted to bring meaning to a universe that had suddenly become unpredictable.

Wolfe's analysis delves into the inner workings of the human mind and shows how each of us affects the "reality" we experience. Suddenly the human mind becomes the shaper of the universe and each of us is "god". This is both reassuring and disturbing at once, but Wolfe guides the reader through it, showing that we and we alone control our destiny.

The book only gets four stars because at some points, Wolfe moves beyond the realm of science and introduces a strong religious trend into the story. While he weaves it in well, it still seems out of place, and would have been stronger had he not taken this route. However, the book is still very strong and informative. Definitely a good starting place for a novice of quantum theory.

Quantum mechanics 101
Just when you find out the 'weirdness' of quantum mechanics (QM), things start to get entangled and in the realm of human consciousness, philosophy and what not. I had started reading QM with Nick Herbert's book 'Quantum Reality' and in the middle of the book I realized that I need a little subtler treatment of the subject matter and hence ending up reading this book, 'Taking the Quantum Leap'. I have to the say that Fread has done an outstanding job at explaining the wave-particle duality with reference to all the famous experiments and their interpretations. He then moves on to the famous Bohr vs. Einstien debate EPR. Much of the book is devoted to exploring the point of views of these two schools of thought.. complementarists vs. the continuists. There are chapters on the theory of Parallel Universes etc.

My dismay begings, and thats why I gave the book 3 stars rather than a 4! is when towards the end of the book, the whole QM is tunred into a hodge podge of philosophies of human consciousness, fate and free will. To my surprise it seems that the author has made up his mind that whatever the state of QM is today, IS indeed the complete description of the physical world. At least I got that impression. In my opinion, this is only 2001 and who knows what discoveries are waiting to be happen in next several hundred years regarding our current understanding of the physical world.

As Einstien once said something to this effect to one of his friends, 'do you really think the moon is there because someone is there to see it!' and yet QM has proven to be successful in proving thores of physical phenomena.

Yet indeed I'm still bothered by QM as I was before reading this book but know a lot more about the various schools of thoughts. Could the Schrodinger's cat be alive and dead at the same time in parallel universes?!?

All in all, an excellent reading for starters in QM. ... Read more

Book Description

Designed as a learning tool for those with limited background in quantum mechanics, this book provides comprehensive coverage of angular momentum in quantum mechanics and its applications to chemistry and physics. Based on class-tested material, this presentation offers clear explanations of theory while giving equal attention to solving real problems. Theoretical considerations are made concrete and accessible through extensive examples and applications at the end of each chapter. Problem sets, designed as both individual and group exercises, are treated as an integral part of the text in order to stimulate student interest and clarify the abstract principles discussed. Examples are drawn primarily from atomic and molecular phenomena, and include many intermediate steps (often left out of other texts) to ensure complete mastery of the material, and to lay the groundwork for understanding photon and particle collision phenomena, and more advanced studies. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

This is a must-have for p-chem. graduate students !
I have read this book with a great joy. The author of this book is a leading authority in the field of reaction dynamics, and has played a key role in applyingp the vector correlation in physical chemistry problems. The best part of this book probably is the example/problem set part where the reader is asked to use the knowledge obtained from the chapter to solve the "real" problem (mostly on spectroscopy and the gas phase reaction dynamics). I highly recommend this book.

Angular momentum for dummies...
There are, of course, several other books that derive and explain the details and myriad equations involved in our understanding of angular momentum (e.g. Edmonds, Judd). However, none of them explain the mathematics and physical results in "simple English" as well as Zare's. The problem sets and applications are particularly helpful and relevant to a wide variety of common experimental techniques and data analyses. I also strongly recommend purchasing the companion solutions manual. The only derogatory comment that I can make is that there are much better programs available for calculating the 3, 6, and 9J symbols than those found in the appendix. I doubt this comes as a surprise to anyone.

A well-written book focussed on experimental applications
This is a well-written and very interesting book with (perhaps) an unfortunate title. My first reaction was "A book devoted to angular momentum? Who would read such a thing?"

Ignore the title and look at the sub-title: "Understanding Spatial Aspects in Chemistry and Physics." This book covers everything from polarized fluorescence spectroscopy to molecular beam scattering to molecular reorientation in liquids. All of these topics have one thing in common -- they are spatially anisotropic, and Zare leads the reader through a tutorial on their analysis.

There are other books on this topic. (The monographs by Rose and by Brink and Satchler come to mind.) To my taste, they are dry and boring.

Zare's book is different. Although he presents the material with the same rigor, he also includes 16 "applications" (i.e. problem sets) that showcase some of the most elegant physical chemistry/chemical physics problems of the century. For example, their are applications dealing with scattering, polarized fluorescence, Zeeman quantum beats, correlation functions in spectroscopy, and the spectroscopy of diatomic molecules. These applications usually cover real molecular problems -- not watered down analogues. Zare's discussion of spherical tensor operators deserves special note for its clarity.

This book should be approachable to anyone with at least one semester of graduate quantum chemistry or physics under their belt.

A masterful account on the theory of angular momentum.
The theory of angular momentum is important in many fields of chemistry and physics.This book is a magnificently sadistic way to waste time and go crazy. I recommended to every introspective scientist that has no personal life and enjoys wasting time with the arcane. ... Read more

Book Description

Density functional theory (DFT) is by now a well-established method for tackling the quantum mechanics of many-body systems. Originally applied to compute properties of atoms and simple molecules, DFT has quickly become a work horse for more complex applications in the chemical and materials sciences. The present set of lectures, spanning the whole range from basic principles to relativistic and time-dependent extensions of the theory, is the ideal introduction for graduate students or nonspecialist researchers wishing to familiarize themselves with both the basic and most advanced techniques in this field. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Mostly theory, few applications
Springer - Verlag has lately been publishing books related to materials simulation.One of their recent products is this short book on density functional theory, today's workhorse of atomic-scale solid-state simulations.

For someone who wants to know DFT, its origins, principles, and future, this is probably the best, and most condensed work currently out.There is minimal discussion of other techniques, and one chapter (the last) on implementing a DFT code.Everything is else is pure theory, but kept at an understandable level.The major publications in the field are cited and their importance to DFT's development are explained.The math is extensive, and the prospective reader should have taken at least one quantum course before reading this book.

Separate chapters are devoted to the three areas of DFT that are presently rarely seen in commercial codes: relativistic DFT, time-dependent DFT, and orbital-dependent functionals.This serves to show the reader probable advances in the field.

Unlike Martin's work on Electronic Structure, or Finnis' work on Interatomic Forces, this book concerns itself with DFT and its implementation, and not the use of DFT to obtain any properties.I would suggest buying this book as a complement to the two previously mentioned. ... Read more

Book Description

This book attempts to provide an overview of quantum entropy theory from the early days of quantum mechanics to recent developments. The mathematical formalism is based on operator theory and functional analysis. The goal is a comprehensive account of the different entropy concepts, their interrelations and use. Examples from the ideas discussed are entropy of a quantum state, relative entropy, mutual entropy, entropy of a coarse graining and dynamical entropy. Numerous fundamental properties of quantum information measurement are developed, including the von Neumann entropy of a statistical operator and its limiting normalized version, the entropy rate. The use of quantum entropy quantities is made in perturbation theory, central limit theorems, thermodynamics of spin systems, entropic uncertainty relations, and optical communication. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

The next physics revolution will come out of this work
I've been studying relativity for 7 years now, and specifically this work for 5.Definately will revolutionize the way physics is done in the 21st century.

anyone out there doing active research please contact me:chorn@home.com

The next physics revolution will come out of this work
I've been studying relativity for 7 years now, and specifically this work for 5.Definately will revolutionize the way physics is done in the 21st century.

anyone out there doing active research please contact me:chorn@home.com

A brilliant sequel to GRM
Starting with a detailed comparison of the original intentions of Bohr and Einstein in their development of Quantum Mechanics and General Relativity, Sachs shows that the goals of General Relativity are more insightful and subsume those of Quantum Mechanics. Where General Relativity is the forest, Quantum Mechanics is the trees.

By introducing the spinor variables of General Relativity that Sachs derived in his earlier work of General Relativity and Matter, he shows that the low energy form of his General Relativistic equations in the quaternionic basis are very simply Dirac's equations with interaction. To be clear, Quantum Mechanics is nothing more than a very useful, low energy approximation for a complete but more complex treatment under General Relativity in a quaternionic basis.

Then to ring up numerous "firsts" in Physics, it can be shown that there is force symmetry in matter and antimatter and that electrical charge is quantized. Not to be outdone, the next chapter finishes with an amazing derivation of Pauli's Exclusion Principle from first principles.

The broader view of this new Physics will lead the reader into a new order in Physics that breaks with current teaching. The annihilation of particle and antiparticle is shown instead to be a strong coupling of these fermions in a stable dipole unit. The Compton Effect, Blackbody radiation and the anomalous magnetic moment of the electron find new and refreshingly simple explanations. The world is ruled only by fermions. The "delayed action at a distance"of Feynman and Wheeler is restored to currency.The "advanced" solutions take their place beside the "retarded" solutions in a single, complete space-time.

The complete derivation of the full General Relativistic equations is detailed. This is followed by proof that the symmetric tensor part is nothing less than Einstein's original theory of General Relativity and, that the antisymmetric tensor part is Maxwell's equations.

Sach's following sections on elementary particle physics in this new paradigm should send earth tremors through CERN and FERMILAB. Lifetimes and masses of a number of "elementary particles" are discussed in great detail with fascinating new perspective. The muon is demonstrated to be a doublet excited state of the electron with a prediction of its mass and lifetime in accord with experiment. ... Read more

Book Description

Advanced Visual Quantum Mechanics is a systematic effort to investigate and to teach quantum mechanics with the aid of computer-generated animations. Although it is self-contained, this book is part of a two-volume set on Visual Quantum Mechanics. The first book appeared in 2000, and earned the European Academic Software Award in 2001 for oustanding innovation in its field. While topics in book one mainly concerned quantum mechanics in one- and two-dimensions, book two sets out to present three-dimensional systems, the hydrogen atom, particles with spin, and relativistic particles. It also contains a basic course on quantum information theory, introducing topics like quantum teleportation, the EPR paradox, and quantum computers. Together the two volumes constitute a complete course in quantum mechanics that places an emphasis on ideas and concepts, with a fair to moderate amount of mathematical rigor. The reader is expected to be familiar with calculus and elementary linear algebra. Any further mathematical concepts will be illustrated in the text.

The CD-ROM includes a large number of Quick-Time movies presented in a multimedia-like environment. The movies illustrate and add color to the text, and allow the reader to view time-dependent examples with a level of interactivity. The point-and-click interface is no more difficult than using the internet.This book has a home page (http://vqm.uni-graz.at) that includes more supplementary material, additional animations and visualizations, Mathematica^® notebooks, and further information."

Book Description

Reviews (9)

A Good Thorough Book
The book is thorough and covers all the topics in Quantum mechanics.The chapters follow just the way Q.M developed over the years.The reader would find it even more interesting if he/she has some background in Classical Mechanics because Messiah often refers to Hamilton-Jacobi equation, Action and Hamiltonian in general.

The book also develops Bra-Ket algebra in a very easy way, something I have not seen any other book.Messiah's way of treating scattering problems is quite different from that of the others. He doesn't make use of Green's Function but uses the wave-packet approach.

This books gets 3 stars because it's quite verbose. Messiah often gets stuck in explaining things over and over again(therefore the size of the book!). The drawback is that there are few problems per chapter and are quite difficult. This does not help the student gain confidence in the subject. The book assumes you are familiar with Electrodynamics.

As an introduction this is a very good book
For years I have come back again and again to the section on
field quantization and radiation theory.
I bought this at the same time I bought Weinberg's Cosmology.
I had many of the same unitary problems I had with that book.
If someone would just publish in simple cgs or mks units?
The U(1) electromagnetic gauge equations and the coverage of Maxwell and Dirac theory
are exceptional. I was a poor student who had to sell
his books back each semester to afford the next one.
I bought this book as a long term reference and
it has delivered not theorems but accessibility and understandability.

Don't be afraid of the Size
The book is huge, but that's why it includes more complete information about QM. It's easier to understand than some very popular standard and small textbooks. Both physics and math are balanced and self-contained. If you want books of the same quality and better presentation, maybe only Prof. Ta-You Wu's two books about QM would be.

Anyway, if you need only one book about QM, this is the best. It's a complete course for senior or graduate students. And it's cheaper.

Still suitable as a reference/historical introduction
Published in 1958, this book is still used as a reference in graduate classes in quantum mechanics. One property of older books on quantum theory that is missing in more modern treatments is the inclusion of the history behind the subject. A discussion of the historical origins of a physical theory is of great importance in the learning and the appreciation of the subject. The first chapter of the first volume of this work does that very well, for the author gives a detailed discussion of the issues and experiments that were arising in classical physics in the early years of the 20th century that gave birth to quantum theory. This is followed in chapter two by an introduction (with history) to matter waves and the Schroedinger equation. Both of these chapters are very effective in developing the physical intution behind the quantum theory, beset as it is with problems of interpretation and mathematical inconsistencies.

To develop this intuition further, the author discusses one-dimensional quantum systems in the next chapter. His remarks that these kinds of problems serve to develop the student's understanding and he also refers to the fact that several problems can be reduced to ones that resemble the one-dimensional Schroedinger equation. With the advent of exactly solved many-particle systems in one-dimension that were discovered after this book was published, the consideration of one-dimensional problems such as are included in this chapter is of even more importance. Most of the "standard problems" are discussed here, such as the potential step, the square well potential, and the square potential barrier. The author also does not hesitate to discuss the mathematical properties of the one-dimensional Schroedinger equation.

Chapter 4 is an overview of the statistical interpretation of quantum mechanics. The most interesting (and controversial) part of this chapter is the statistical interpretation of the Heisenberg uncertainly relations. The root-mean-square deviations are defined precisely, but the author does not want to take a stand on the consequences that this move can entail, namely that the product of the root-mean-square deviations of position and momentum must be greater than Planck's constant is a statistical statement only. It does not say what could happen in principle to individual measurements of the position and momentum.

The next four chapter discuss both the rigorous mathematical formalism behind quantum mechanics and its physical interpretation. The author's approach is pretty standard, but at times he feels the need to relax mathematical rigor, such as in the treatment of the Dirac delta "function". A proper treatment of this would entail bringing in some heavy guns from functional analysis, and the author is evidently hesitant to do this in a book at this level. His treatment of pure states and mixtures, namely that of quantum statistical mechanics is too short and could be excluded without detracting from the main points in these chapters. A connection with the classical is given via a discussion of Ehrenfest's theorem. Becuase chaos in classical mechanics was not known at the time of writing, the discussion here is now very out of date. Proving a version of Ehrenfest's theorem for such systems has to this date eluded researchers and has prohibited a sound formulation of "quantum chaos". The author does discuss the WKB approximation and shows how it can be used to study tunneling through a potential barrier. Path integral methods, known at the time of writing, but not very popular then, are not considered. And, in this treatment of the tensor product, he does not deal with the issue of entanglement of states, the latter being of enormous importance in current attempts to realize "quantum computation".

The last three chapters of volume 1 cover exact solution methods for the Schroedinger equation, such as the scattering of a central potential, the harmonic oscillator, and Coulomb scattering. Such problems are now dealt with much more efficiently with symbolic computer languages such as Mathematica and Maple. The properties of the special functions that arise in these solutions are easily understood with the use of these packages.

Volume 2 begins with a consideration of angular momentum in qunatum mechanics. The considerations of symmetry and conservation principles in this discussion are very important from a modern standpoint, permeating as they do in high energy physics and the goals of unification. The author does discuss briefly the issue of time reversibility in quantum mechanics. This issue has occupied the minds of hundreds of theorists, in attempting to elucidate the connection between statistical mechanics, with its "arrow of time", and quantum mechanics, which is invariant under time-reversal.

Perturbation methods are discussed extensively in this volume. But here again, from a modern standpoint these methods can be treated best by the use of symbolic programming languages. In addition, since the use of a computer in physics was somewhat limited at the time this book was written, there is no inclusion of numerical methods. Any textbook on quantum mechanics at this level in the 21st century should include a very detailed introduction to numerical methods so as to prepare the student early on to techniques that will be used more and more in the decades ahead. The use of the computer, with dramatically enhanced computational power, will be the tool that will bring about more fundamental discoveries in the quantum realm in this century, particularly in quantum many-body physics and condensed matter.

The last two chapters consider relativistic quantum mechanics and quantum field theory. Although the discussion is completely out-dated now, because of the current emphasis on functional methods, rather than canonical quantization as is done here, the discussion might be helpful as to gain insight as to why the canonical approach fell into disfavor.

Handy reference
Messiah is one of those books you can't learn QM from - it's simply too dull and nitpicky, and goes into too much detail. But the same features that make it a poor book to study QM out of make it a very useful reference, and as such I heartly give it the 5 stars it deserves.

Messiah covers just about everything an ordinary physicist should know about basic, non-relativistic quantum mechanics, including quite a nice introduction to field quantization and relativistic wave equations. No Berry phase here, but you can find just about any other topic, treated in great detail. No assertment goes unjustified. No stone is left unturned. Messiah also has a good sense of mathematical responsibility, and includes discussions of many questions avoided in other books, e.g., how can the delta function be rigorously defined? It also has a lot of nifty little bonuses no found in other books, such as the bosonic harmonic oscillator, and perturbation expansion using complex integration of Green's function. Very interesting material hard to find elsewhere.

The only major problem I have with this book is that it does not treat identical particles using fock space. This is a personal quibble, though. Messiah's treatment of identical particles using permutation operators is thorough and didactic.

The book includes useful appendices about the definitions and properties of the special functions he uses (spherical harmonics, bessel functions, and the dreaded confluent-hypergeometric-whatever-function no one likes). Other appendices summarize all the information you'll ever need to remember about Clebsch-Gordan coefficients, and another includes a very good refreshment on group theory needed for QM.

This ultra-low-priced heavy-weight all-in-one Dover edition is like a gift from above. I've used and read many other texts - Baym, Sakurai, Shankar, Dirac, Merzbacher (my apologies if I've misspelled his name), Ballentine, Cohen-Tannoudji - but it's Messiah's text I first turn to for a responsible treatment of any subject I feel unsure about. It's almost like that old cliche, "the pages are falling out of my edition ... " ... Read more

Book Description

In this text the authors develop a propagator theory of Dirac particles, photons, and Klein-Gordon mesons and per- form a series of calculations designed to illustrate various useful techniques and concepts in electromagnetic, weak, and strong interactions. these include defining and implementing the renormalization program and evaluating effects of radia- tive corrections, such as the Lamb shift, in low-order calculations. The necessary background for the book is pro- vided by a course in nonrelativistic quantum mechanics at the general level of Schiff's text, QUANTUM MECHANICS. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Confused Student
A bit old-fashioned, but that seems to be one of its strengths.I feel like no one book does a very good job of describing quantum field theory, but some books do a good job of describing some parts of the subject.And this book does a good job describing propagator methods, or Green's functions, which in other texts seem pulled out of the author's butt.

The classic book on QED.
This book is in many way a very good book.Despite being written 35 years ago, it is still sometimes used in classes.It is perhaps a little terse, but overall is a good introduction to the subject ... Read more

Book Description

This completely revised and corrected