Quantum Mechanics - Tapa dura

This subject is developed for readers with a fairly good knowledge of classical mechanics, electrodynamics and theory of relativity. The mathematics of linear vector spaces and matrices required is included as text and appendices. All principles and techniques are explained with illustrative applications. Unlike most books on the subject, no detailed account of the historical development of quantum mechanics is included. Instead, the emphasis is on the basic principles, the calculational techniques and the inner consistency and beauty of the theory. For this, a Hilbert space formulation of the basic principles and the equations of motion are adopted at the outset. The treatment of linear vector spaces, matrices, angular momentum, relativistic wave equations, quantum field theory and the interpretational problem, is given in a more detailed way than in most books on quantum mechanics. Topics covered include Clebsch-Gordon and Racah coefficients, 9-j symbols and spherical tensors, the Klein-Gordon and the Weyl equations, Feynman's path-integral formalism, Feynman diagrams, Normal Products and Wick's Theorem, the EPR paradox, Hidden-variables theories and Bell's inequality. A number of problems are included with a view to supplementing the text. The present edition includes boundary value problems, representation theory, Fermi-Gas Model of the nuclei, Imaginary-mass Klein-Gordon equation, covariant and contravariant vectors, explanations of the EPR paradox and Einstein's concept of locality versus determinism.

V K Thankappan is an Ex-Professor of Physics from the University of Calicut, Kerala, India. After obtaining the B Sc (Hons.) degree in Physics from the Kerala University in 1958 with a first class and the first rank, he joined the Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, where he did research in Nuclear Physics for his Ph D degree, he did Post-doctoral research successively at the University of California, Davis, the Indiana University, Bloomington, and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai. He joined the Physics Faculty of the Kurukshetra University in 1967 and left in 1976 to join the Faculty of the University of Calicut, from where he retired in 1994. After retirement, he worked at the Physics Department of the Cochin University of Science and Technology on a book-writing project. His contributions in the field of research include works on the Core-Excitation (Thankappan-True) Model of odd-mass nuclei, the Feynman postulates in quantum mechanics, Imaginary-mass Klein-Gordon equation and the EPR Paradox. He is a Life Member of the Indian Association of Physics Teachers.