This book presents a comprehensive course of quantum mechanics for undergraduate and graduate students. After a brief outline of the innovative ideas that lead up to the quantum theory, the book reviews properties of the Schrödinger equation, the quantization phenomena and the physical meaning of wave functions. The book discusses, in a direct and intelligible style, topics of the standard quantum formalism like the dynamical operators and their expected values, the Heisenberg and matrix representation, the approximate methods, the Dirac notation, harmonic oscillator, angular momentum and hydrogen atom, the spin-field and spin-orbit interactions, identical particles and Bose-Einstein condensation etc. Special emphasis is devoted to study the tunneling phenomena, transmission coefficients, phase coherence, energy levels splitting and related phenomena, of interest for quantum devices and heterostructures. The discussion of these problems and the WKB approximation is done using the transfer matrix method, introduced at a tutorial level. This book is a textbook for upper undergraduate physics and electronic engineering students.

Autorentext

Professor Pedro Pereyra P. works at the Department of Basic Sciences of the Autonomous Metropolitan University (campus Azcapotzalco, Mexico). Prof. Pereyra has taught in the order of 200 courses at undergraduate level with a great variety of subjects ranging from Mathematics and elementary Physics to advanced and specialized topics of current interest in Physics. His teaching experience has resulted in course notes and two textbooks. He co-authored and has been sole author of more that 60 research articles of theoretical and experimental physics in high impact journals and has served also as Referee of these journals. He has contributed in various areas of physics, among these, in the Theory of Nuclear Reactions, Theory of Two-Quantum Level Systems, High Temperature Superconductivity, Theory of Finite Periodic Systems and in the elusive and fundamental theme of "Tunneling Time".

Inhalt

From the contents: The origin of the quantum concepts.- Problems.- Diffraction, duality and the Schroedinger equations.- Illustrative problems.- Problems.- Properties of the stationary Schroedinger equation.- Illustrative problems.- Problems.- Tunneling effect and other quantum phenomena.- Problems.- Quantum coherence and energy bands.- Problems.- The WKB approximation.- Problems.- Operators and dynamical variables.- Problems.- The harmonic oscillator.- Problems.- Angular momentum and central potentials.