The Quantum Cookbook


Book Description

Quantum mechanics is an extraordinarily successful scientific theory. But it is also completely mad. Although the theory quite obviously works, it leaves us chasing ghosts and phantoms; particles that are waves and waves that are particles; cats that are at once both alive and dead; lots of seemingly spooky goings-on; and a desperate desire to lie down quietly in a darkened room. The Quantum Cookbook explains why this is. It provides a unique bridge between popular exposition and formal textbook presentation, written for curious readers with some background in physics and sufficient mathematical capability. It aims not to teach readers how to do quantum mechanics but rather helps them to understand how to think about quantum mechanics. Each derivation is presented as a 'recipe' with listed ingredients, including standard results from the mathematician's toolkit, set out in a series of easy-to-follow steps. The recipes have been written sympathetically, for readers who - like the author - will often struggle to follow the logic of a derivation which misses out steps that are 'obvious', or which use techniques that readers are assumed to know.




The Quantum Cookbook


Book Description

The book combines popular and textbook presentation. It aims not to teach readers how to do quantum mechanics but rather helps them understand how to think about quantum mechanics. The real source of confusion in quantum mechanics does not originate in the mathematics, but in our understanding of what a scientific theory is supposed to represent.




An Introduction to Hilbert Space and Quantum Logic


Book Description

Historically, nonclassical physics developed in three stages. First came a collection of ad hoc assumptions and then a cookbook of equations known as "quantum mechanics". The equations and their philosophical underpinnings were then collected into a model based on the mathematics of Hilbert space. From the Hilbert space model came the abstaction of "quantum logics". This book explores all three stages, but not in historical order. Instead, in an effort to illustrate how physics and abstract mathematics influence each other we hop back and forth between a purely mathematical development of Hilbert space, and a physically motivated definition of a logic, partially linking the two throughout, and then bringing them together at the deepest level in the last two chapters. This book should be accessible to undergraduate and beginning graduate students in both mathematics and physics. The only strict prerequisites are calculus and linear algebra, but the level of mathematical sophistication assumes at least one or two intermediate courses, for example in mathematical analysis or advanced calculus. No background in physics is assumed.




Mathematics of Classical and Quantum Physics


Book Description

Graduate-level text offers unified treatment of mathematics applicable to many branches of physics. Theory of vector spaces, analytic function theory, theory of integral equations, group theory, and more. Many problems. Bibliography.




The Quantum Story


Book Description

The twentieth century was defined by physics. From the minds of the world's leading physicists there flowed a river of ideas that would transport mankind to the pinnacle of wonderment and to the very depths of human despair. This was a century that began with the certainties of absolute knowledge and ended with the knowledge of absolute uncertainty. It was a century in which physicists developed weapons with the capacity to destroy our reality, whilst at the same time denying us the possibility that we can ever properly comprehend it. Almost everything we think we know about the nature of our world comes from one theory of physics. This theory was discovered and refined in the first thirty years of the twentieth century and went on to become quite simply the most successful theory of physics ever devised. Its concepts underpin much of the twenty-first century technology that we have learned to take for granted. But its success has come at a price, for it has at the same time completely undermined our ability to make sense of the world at the level of its most fundamental constituents. Rejecting the fundamental elements of uncertainty and chance implied by quantum theory, Albert Einstein once famously declared that 'God does not play dice'. Niels Bohr claimed that anybody who is not shocked by the theory has not understood it. The charismatic American physicist Richard Feynman went further: he claimed that nobody understands it. This is quantum theory, and this book tells its story. Jim Baggott presents a celebration of this wonderful yet wholly disconcerting theory, with a history told in forty episodes — significant moments of truth or turning points in the theory's development. From its birth in the porcelain furnaces used to study black body radiation in 1900, to the promise of stimulating new quantum phenomena to be revealed by CERN's Large Hadron Collider over a hundred years later, this is the extraordinary story of the quantum world. Oxford Landmark Science books are 'must-read' classics of modern science writing which have crystallized big ideas, and shaped the way we think.




Quantum Reality


Book Description

Quantum mechanics is an extraordinarily successful scientific theory. It is also completely mad. Although the theory quite obviously works, it leaves us chasing ghosts and phantoms; particles that are waves and waves that are particles; cats that are at once both alive and dead; and lots of seemingly spooky goings-on. But if we're prepared to be a little more specific about what we mean when we talk about 'reality' and a little more circumspect in the way we think a scientific theory might represent such a reality, then all the mystery goes away. This shows that the choice we face is actually a philosophical one. Here, Jim Baggott provides a quick but comprehensive introduction to quantum mechanics for the general reader, and explains what makes this theory so very different from the rest. He also explores the processes involved in developing scientific theories and explains how these lead to different philosophical positions, essential if we are to understand the nature of the great debate between Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein. Moving forwards, Baggott then provides a comprehensive guide to attempts to determine what the theory actually means, from the Copenhagen interpretation to many worlds and the multiverse. Richard Feynman once declared that 'nobody understands quantum mechanics'. This book will tell you why.




Handbook of Computational Quantum Chemistry


Book Description

This comprehensive text provides upper-level undergraduates and graduate students with an accessible introduction to the implementation of quantum ideas in molecular modeling, exploring practical applications alongside theoretical explanations. Topics include the Hartree-Fock method; matrix SCF equations; implementation of the closed-shell case; introduction to molecular integrals; and much more. 1998 edition.




An Object-Oriented Python Cookbook in Quantum Information Theory and Quantum Computing


Book Description

This first-of-a-kind textbook provides computational tools in state-of-the-art OOPs Python that are fundamental to quantum information, quantum computing, linear algebra and one-dimensional spin half condensed matter systems. Over 104 subroutines are included, and the codes are aided by mathematical comments to enhance clarity. Suitable for beginner and advanced readers alike, students and researchers will find this textbook to be a helpful guide and a compendium which they can readily use. Features Includes over 104 codes in OOPs Python, all of which can be used either as a standalone program or integrated with any other main program without any issues. Every parameter in the input, output and execution has been provided while keeping both beginner and advanced users in mind. The output of every program is explained thoroughly with detailed examples. Detailed mathematical commenting is done alongside the code which enhances clarity about the flow and working of the code.




The Physics of Quantum Mechanics


Book Description

This title gives students a good understanding of how quantum mechanics describes the material world. The text stresses the continuity between the quantum world and the classical world, which is merely an approximation to the quantum world.




Fallout: The Vault Dweller's Official Cookbook


Book Description

Craft your own glass of Nuka-Cola, a bowl of BlamCo Mac & Cheese, and more with the recipes in Fallout: The Official Cookbook. Based on the irradiated delicacies of the world of Bethesda Entertainment’s Fallout, this Vault-Tec–approved cookbook provides fans of the award-winning series with recipes inspired by their favorite Fallout foods. Whip up tasty versions of the Mirelurk egg omelette, throw some deathclaw meat on the grill, and re-create BlamCo Mac & Cheese with Fallout: The Official Cookbook.