Quantum principles \& particles. (Q2880369)

This is an excellent book which would be useful for a variety of quantum mechanical courses. The most significant omission is a discussion of time-dependent aspects, both time-dependent perturbation theory and other methods,although scattering theory is treated fully. However this is one of the few books that combine both atomic and nuclear theory in such a transparent manner.NEWLINENEWLINEOne of the most interesting features is the use of what the author calls process ``diagrams''. These give a simple physical interpretation of the properties of quantum mechanical principles and operators. The Stern-Gerlach experiment is analyzed in this format and it is similar to Feynman's presentation of the theory. The entire book seeks and mainly succeeds to simplify the quite complicated principles and properties of quantum mechanics. It does so generally from first principles.NEWLINENEWLINEThere is an interesting short discussion on the uncertainty principle NEWLINE\[NEWLINE \Delta E \Delta t \geq h NEWLINE\]NEWLINE and it is pointed out that this is inferred rather than derived. The derivation for operators which is elegantly presented later in the book can certainly be applied to NEWLINE\[NEWLINE \Delta p \Delta x \geq \frac{h}{2} NEWLINE\]NEWLINE but \(t\) is not an operator so that the uncertainty relationship for energy and time is a different concept. This is not usually pointed out in a textbook and a more rigorous reference is given.