Table of Contents

PRELIMINARY CONCEPTS
Origins
Collapse of Determinism
Matter Waves
Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle
When is a Wave a Particle?
Schrodinger's Wave Equation

WAVE MECHANICS I
Time-Independent Schrodinger Equation
The Infinite Square-Well Potential
Degeneracy and Parity
Finite Square Well
Bouncing Ball

ONE-DIMENSIONAL DELTA WELLS
The Single One-Dimensional Delta Well
The One-Dimensional Triple Delta Well

WAVE MECHANICS 2
Simple Harmonic Oscillator
Hydrogen Atom
Free Particles
Scattering from a Potential Step
Tunnelling
Many-Particle Wave Functions

SCATTERING IN THREE DIMENSIONS
Partial Wave Analysis
Attractive Spherical Well in the Limit of Low Energy S-Wave Scattering
Repulsive Spherical Obstacle

THE FORMAL RULES OF QUANTUM MECHANICS
Wave Superposition in Vector Language
Operators
Momentum and Position Eigenstates
Compatible Observables and Commutation Relations
Symmetry and Conservation Laws
Summary

ANGULAR MOMENTUM
Operators and Commutators
Eigenfunctions and Eigenvalues
Matrix Formulation
Intrisic Spin
Spin Eigenvectors
Illustrating the Rules of Quantum Mechanics
Magnetic Moment
Spin Wave Functions

PARTICLE IN A CENTRAL POTENTIAL
Separation of Radial and Anular Variables
Radial Square Well
Hydrogen Atom

SOME ATOMIC PHYSICS
Addition of Angular Momenta
Addition of Orbital and Spin Angular Momenta
Spin-Orbit Coupling
A Further Relativistic Effect
Effect on a One-Electron Atom of an Externally Applied Magnetic Field: Zeeman Effect

APPROXIMATION METHODS
Perturbation Theory
Applications of Perturbation Theory
The Variational Method
TRANSITIONS
Time-Dependent Perturbation Theory
Harmonic Perturbation
Energy-Time Uncertainty Relation and Fermi's Golden Rule
Emission and Absorption of Electromagnetic Radiation by Atoms
Spontaneious emission of Radiation

APPENDICES
The One-Dimensional Infinite Array of Delta Wells
Spherical Harmonics
The Dirac Delta Function
Useful Quantities
Useful Integrals
Exercises
Answers to Exercises

About the Author

Macquarie University, Australia University of Sussex, UK

Reviews

"...a very useful, readable, and relatively inexpensive technical introduction to the subject."
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-Professor J.A. Wheeler, University of Texas at Austin