Understanding Quantum Physics: A User’s Manual

PREFACE xv

Part I

What\'s It All About?: A Qualitative Introduction 1
1 INTRODUCTORY: WHY QUANTUM PHYSICS? 1
1.1 The Classical Point of View 3
1.2 Through the Looking Glass: The Quantum Point of View 6
1.3 Final Thoughts: What\'s It All About? 12
Annotated Selected Readings 13
Exercises and Problems 14

2 INTO THE MICROWORLD: DUALITY AND THE DOUBLE SLIT 18
2.1 Waves versus Particles 20
*2.2 On The Nature of Light 21
*2.3 Understanding Diffraction the Classical Way 26
*2.4 Understanding Interference 28
2.5 Double Trouble 31
2.6 It All Started with de Broglie 36
2.7 The Controversial Concept of Complimentarity 40 
2.8 Final Thoughts: A Few Words About Words 42
Annotated Selected Readings 42
Exercises and Problems 44


Part II

Starting from Scratch 51
3 FIRST POSTULATES: THE STATE FUNCTION AND ITS INTERPRETATION 51
3.1 Patterns of Propagating Possibility: Probability Waves 52
3.2 Systems and States Thereof 57
*3.3 Probabilities: A Review 61
3.4 The Gospel According to Born 68
3.5 How to Normalize a State Function 73
3.6 Great Expectations (and Uncertainties) 79
3.7 Final Thoughts: What the State Function Isn\'t 85
Annotated Selected Readings 87
Exercises and Problems 89

4 AN ILLUSTRATIVE INTERLUDE: WAVE PACKETS IN ONE DIMENSION 97
4.1 On the Nature of the Free-Particle State Function 99
4.2 Wave Packet Construction for Fun and Profit 106
4.3 The Amplitude Function 111
*4.4 Fourier Analysis (A Mathematical Detour) 116
4.5 An Extended Example: The Gaussian Wave Packet Unmasked 123
4.6 Uncertainty Regained 128
4.7 (Not Quite) All About Momentum 130
4.8 Final Thoughts: A Wealth of Representations 135
Annotated Selected Readings 137
Exercises and Problems 138

5 OBSERVABLES IN QUANTUM PHYSICS: A PRAGMATIST\'S APPROACH 143
5.1 Observables for Macroscopic Systems 145 
5.2 The Trouble with Momentum 147
5.3 And Now For Something Completely Different: The Momentum Operator 150
5.4 The Operator Postulate 156
5.5 The Mathematics of Operators: An Introduction 159
5.6 Generalizing Our Expectations (and Uncertainties) 166
5.7 Operators and the Correspondence Principle 169
5.8 Final Thoughts: Operators in Momentum Space 173
Annotated Selected Readings 174
Exercises and Problems 175

A QUANTUM EQUATION OF MOTION: THE SCHRODINGER EQUATION AT LAST 180
6.1 What We Talk About When We Talk About Motion 183
6.2 Satisfying Examples 189
6.3 A Personality Profile of the TDSE 193
6.4 Superposition Derived 197
6.5 Is Probability Conserved? 200
*6.6 The Free-Particle Wave Packet Revisited 205
*6.7 The Life and Times of a Gaussian Wave Packet 208
6.8 Probability Fluid and Its Flow 214
6.9 Probability Flow in the Laboratory 221
6.10 Final Thoughts: Quantum Causality 226
Annotated Selected Readings 228
Exercises and Problems 229

7 SIMPLIFYING MATTERS: THE TIME-INDEPENDENT SCHRODINGER EQUATION 236
7.1 In Search of Separable Wave Functions 238
7.2 Time and Energy 241
7.3 A Profile of the TISE 243
7.4 A Particle in an Escape-Proof Box 249
7.5 A Closer Look at Stationarity 258
*7.6 Superpositions of Stationary States 263 
7.7 Final Thoughts: Do Stationary States Really Exist? 269
Exercises and Problems 270


Part III

Examples, Examples, Examples 273
8 STATES OF A PARTICLE IN ONE DIMENSION I: MAINLY PIECEWISE-CONSTANT POTENTIALS 273
8.1 What Do One-Dimensional Piecewise-Constant Potentials Have to Do with the Real World? 275
8.2 A Duplicity of States: Bound versus Unbound States 279
*8.3 Particles in Collision: An Introduction to Quantum Scattering 284
8.4 Solving the TISE for a Piecewise-Constant Potential 291
8.5 The Interpretation of Continuum-State Eigenfunctions 304
8.6 Tunnelling for Fun and Profit 311
8.7 Bound States of the Finite Square Well 319
8.8 The Finite Square Well: The Answers 327
8.9 Final Thoughts—and an Application 337
Annotated Selected Readings 340
Exercises and Problems 340

9 STATES OF A PARTICLE IN ONE DIMENSION II: MAINLY CONTINUOUS POTENTIALS 353
9.1 Regions, Regions Everywhere 355
9.2 Curvature Is the Key 358
9.3 The Stationary States of an Arbitrary Potential 364
*9.4 Mathematical Properties of Bound-State Eigenfunctions 370
9.5 The Harmonic Oscillator Made Simple 374
*9.6 An Application: The Vibrations of a Diatomic Molecule 380
9.7 The Quantum Simple Harmonic Oscillator—Solved! 384
9.8 The SHO—The Answers 396
9.9 The SHO—The Physics 399
*9.10 The Incredible Sloshing Oscillator 410
*9.11 Final Thoughts—and an Application of the Linear Potential 413
Exercises and Problems 420


Part IV

Tools of The Trade: More Formalism 436
10 OPERATORS IN QUANTUM MECHANICS I: THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING HERMITIAN 436
10.1 Operators in Review: A Capsule Summary of Chapter 5 437
10.2 More Mathematics of Quantum-Mechanical Operators 440
10.3 Operators with Freedom of Choice: Hermiticity 446
10.4 Fun with Adjoints 455
10.5 All About Eigenvalue Equations 458
10.6 Consequences of Hermiticity I: Real Eigenvalues and Orthonormal Eigenfunctions 464
10.7 Consequences of Hermiticity II: Completeness and Closure 468
10.8 Final Thoughts—and a Final Example: The Parity Operator 475
Annotated Selected Readings 481
Exercises and Problems 482

11 OPERATORS IN QUANTUM MECHANICS II: TO COMMUTE OR NOT TO COMMUTE 487
11.1 Simultaneous Eigenstates and the Commutator 488
11.2 Evaluating Commutators: The Right Way, the Wrong Way, and the Easy Way 496
11.3 Operator Manipulations and Matrix Representations 501
11.4 Commutators and Uncertainty Principles 505
11.5 Constants of the Motion in Classical and Quantum Physics 511
11.6 Conservation Laws in Quantum Physics 514
11.7 Physical Laws and the Correspondence Principle 519
* 11.8 The Strangest \"Uncertainty Relation\" of Them All 524
* 11.9 Final Thoughts: Conservation \"Laws,\" Dogma, and the Fall of Parity 530
Exercises and Problems 532

12 EIGENFUNCTION EXPANSIONS: HOW TO SOLVE ANY PROBLEM IN QUANTUM MECHANICS 536
12.1 The Fundamental Problem of Quantum Physics 538
12.2 The Generalized Born Interpretation 540
12.3 All That Heaven Allows: Possible Outcomes of Measurement 546
*12.4 The Many Uses of Eigenfunction Expansions: Two Examples 550
*12.5 Coping with the Continuum 555
12.6 The Artful Dodge: Solving the TDSE the Easy Way 561
*12.7 The Amazing Expanding Square Well (An Example) 567
* 12.8 Momentum Redux: The Case of the Continuum Continued 576
12.9 Final Thoughts: Constants of the Motion Reconsidered 580
Exercises and Problems 583

13 ALTERED STATES: THE GREAT MEASUREMENT MYSTERY 589
13.1 The Role of Measurement in Quantum Physics 591
13.2 The Effect of a Measurement on a State Function 593
13.3 The Evolution of a State After Collapse 598
*13.4 Multiple Measurements of Compatible Observables I 600
* 13.5 Multiple Measurements II: An Example 606
* 13.6 Dueling Observables: Multiple Measurements of Incompatible Observables 611
13.7 Final Thoughts: Mysteries Abound 617
Annotated Selected Readings 619
Exercises and Problems 620
APPENDIXES 622

A SI Units (The International System of Units) 623
В Fundamental Constants in SI (and CGS) Units 626
С Order-of-Magnitude Estimates 628
D Conversion Tables 629
E Prefix Dictionary 632
F A User\'s Guide to Atomic Units 633
G The Greek Alphabet 636
H Handy Trigonometric Identities 637
I Integrals You should Know 643
J Integrals Involving the Gaussian Function 648
К Review of Complex Numbers 650
L The Dirac Delta Function 652

Bibliography to the Appendixes 655
BIBLIOGRAPHY 656
INDEX 660