Preface |
About the Author |
Experimental Puzzles and Birth of a New Constant in Physics / Part I: |
From Waves to Particles / Chapter 1: |
Short Wavelength Issue in Black-Body Radiation / 1.1: |
Applications of black-body radiation / 1.1.1: |
Frequency Dependence of Photoelectricity / 1.2: |
Applications of the photoelectric effect / 1.2.1: |
Compton, Checking on Electrons' Speed / 1.3: |
Applications and illustrations of Compton scattering / 1.3.1: |
From Particles to Wave Fields / Chapter 2: |
Bohr Orbits Ground-Breaking Model / 2.1: |
Applications of atomic radiation spectra / 2.1.1: |
Louis de Broglie Introduces Particle Waves / 2.2: |
The Franck and Hertz Energy Loss Experiment / 2.3: |
Davisson and Germer Diffract Matter Particles / 2.4: |
Applications of massive particles diffraction / 2.4.1: |
From Phenomenology to an Axiomatic Formulation of Quantum Physics / Part II: |
A Heuristic Approach to Quantum Modelling / Chapter 3: |
Waves as We Know Them: Let There Be Light / 3.1: |
The medium / 3.1.1: |
The energy / 3.1.2: |
The waves / 3.1.3: |
Matter Wave: Function and Consequences / 3.2: |
A wavefunction to describe particles / 3.2.1: |
Wavefunctions as plane waves or wave packets / 3.2.2: |
A Wave Equation: The Schrödinger Equation / 3.3: |
Mean position, mean potential / 3.3.1: |
Mean momentum, mean kinetic energy / 3.3.2: |
Mean total energy / 3.3.3: |
The Schrödinger equation and its operators / 3.3.4: |
Stationary solutions to Schrödinger's equation / 3.3.5: |
General solution to Schrödinger's equation / 3.3.6: |
Stationary States in One Dimension / 3.4: |
Piecewise Constant Potentials / Chapter 4: |
Potential Jumps and Infinite Forces / 4.1: |
On Wavefunction Continuity / 4.2: |
Infinite Well / 4.3: |
Potential Step / 4.4: |
Going down / 4.4.1: |
Going up / 4.4.2: |
Finite Square Well: Bound and Unbound States / 4.5: |
An Application of Quantum Wells: Thermoluminescence and Dating / 4.6: |
Potential Barrier / 4.7: |
The Jeffreys-Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin Approximation and Non-constant Barriers / 4.8: |
Applications of the Tunnel Transmission / 4.9: |
The tunnel effect at two energy scales / 4.9.1: |
The scanning tunnelling microscope / 4.9.2: |
Quantum Postulates and Their Mathematical Artillery / Chapter 5: |
New Game, New Rules / 5.1: |
Representation of a physical state / 5.1.1: |
Physical quantities and operators / 5.1.2: |
Results of measurements / 5.1.3: |
Probability of a measurement outcome / 5.1.4: |
Collapse of the wave packet / 5.1.5: |
Time evolution of a state vector / 5.1.6: |
The Mathematical Artillery / 5.2: |
State space and kets / 5.2.1: |
Operators / 5.2.2: |
Mean values and generalized indetermination / 5.2.3: |
An Application of Measurement Postulates to Quantum Cryptography / 5.3: |
The secret correspondence between Alice and Bob / 5.3.1: |
A measurement that leaves its mark / 5.3.2: |
Sharing a quantum key / 5.3.3: |
Spy, are you there? / 5.3.4: |
Time Evolution of a State Ket / 5.4: |
General implications of the evolution postulate / 5.4.1: |
Application of a tunnelling dynamics to the MASER / 5.4.2: |
A Classical to Quantum World Fuzzy Border / Part III: |
Phase Space Classical Mechanics / Chapter 6: |
Lagrangian and "Least Action Principle" / 6.1: |
Lagrange's equations / 6.1.1: |
From Lagrange to Hamilton / 6.2: |
Constrained Trajectories / 6.3: |
From holonomic constraint / 6.3.1: |
… to Lagrange multipliers / 6.3.2: |
From Hamilton to Hamilton-Jacobi / 6.4: |
Reconnecting to Quantum Physics / 6.5: |
Quantum Criteria (Who Needs Quantum Physics?) / Chapter 7: |
Ehrenfest's Theorem / 7.1: |
Transition from Quantum to Classical Hamilton-Jacobi's Equation / 7.2: |
Particle Trajectories or Wave Interference? / 7.3: |
Large quantum numbers and Bohr's correspondence principle / 7.3.1: |
The noticeable interferences criterion / 7.3.2: |
The propagator and the multiple paths of a quantum particle / 7.3.3: |
Bibliography |
Index |
Model Hamiltonians and Approximations |
Vibrating Systems |
On the Role of Harmonic Oscillators in Physics |
The pendulum example |
A more general perspective / 1.1.2: |
The Quantum Harmonic Oscillator |
The harmonic Hamiltonian |
The creation and annihilation operators / 1.2.2: |
Eigenenergies of the Harmonic Oscillator |
Application to the recoilless emission: The principle of Mössbauer spectroscopy |
Wavefunctions for the Harmonic Oscillator / 1.4: |
Discussion and Physical Implications / 1.5: |
Applications to Vibrational Spectroscopies / 1.6: |
Pollution monitoring / 1.6.1: |
Detecting explosives / 1.6.2: |
Coherent States, Quasi-classical States / 1.7: |
Perturbations to Harmonicity / 1.8: |
The perturbation theory: A global approach / 1.8.1: |
An application of the second-order perturbation treatment: The London-van der Waals force / 1.8.2: |
Application of the perturbation theory to the anharmonic part of Lennard-Jones' potential / 1.8.3: |
Application of London-van der Waals forces to atomic force microscopy / 1.8.4: |
Rotating Systems |
The Angular Momentum Operator |
Commutations and Components Incompatibilities |
General Properties of the Angular Momentum Eigenstates and Eigenvalues |
Properties of L2 and Lz eigenvalues / 2.3.1: |
Spherical harmonics: The eigenfunctions / 2.3.2: |
Addition of angular momenta / 2.3.3: |
Applications from Carbon Monoxide to Microwave Ovens |
Spin, a New Degree of Freedom |
Stern and Gerlach's Magnetic Surprise |
The Pauli matrices |
Spinors and Pauli's equation |
Indistinguishable Particles and the Pauli Principle |
A first wave-function for several electrons |
The Pauli principle |
Application of Pauli's Principle to Stability Issues: Stars and Nuclei |
Pauli's repulsion and white dwarfs' stability |
Pauli's principle in the nucleus as a liquid drop |
Central Coulombic Potential |
The Hamiltonian of a Hydrogenic System |
Hydrogenic Energies and Wavefunctions |
Applications to Electron Spin Resonance |
Details on the Hydrogenic Radial Function |
Asymptotic boundary conditions |
Truncated series and eigenenergies |
Eigenfunctions for a hydrogenic atom / 4.4.3: |
Refined Description of the One-Electron Model |
"Fine structure" corrections / 4.5.1: |
An application of the "hyperfine" structure / 4.5.2: |
The N-electron Atom |
Optimization of a Trial Wavefunction |
JV-electron Atoms: A First Quantum Complexity |
A "mean field" approach |
When Pauli kicks in |
The Periodic Table of Elements |
Application: The Fluorescent Fingerprint |
The fluorescence process |
Traces of Archimedes under the gilding |
Statistical Treatment of Large Assemblies at the Classical Limit |
Thermodynamics in the Macroworld |
Laws of Thermodynamics |
Extrema of State Functions: Thermodynamic Potentials |
Equations of State and Maxwell's Relations |
Equation of state and phase transition |
Maxwell's relations |
Response functions / 6.3.3: |
Application to ferroelectric and magnetic systems / 6.3.4: |
Macroequilibria: Phases and Species |
Phase diagrams for pure substances / 6.4.1: |
Chemical reactions / 6.4.2: |
Isolated Systems of Particles |
A Large Isolated System: Averages and States |
Macroscopic and. microscopic states / 7.1.1: |
Gibbs' averaging and the ergodic principle / 7.1.2: |
Entropy |
Disorder, information and entropy / 7.2.1: |
Assigning probabilities / 7.2.2: |
Statistical Physics in the Microcanonical Representation |
The isolated system: Fixed U, V and N |
Connecting statistical and thermodynamic entropies |
Counting states, the ideal gas example |
Equilibrium conditions from information entropy / 7.3.4: |
Regulated Systems of Classical Particles / Chapter 8: |
Probability of Microstates / 8.1: |
Partition Functions in Action / 8.2: |
The name and the role / 8.2.1: |
Factorizing partition functions / 8.2.2: |
The partition function of a monoatomic ideal gas / 8.2.3: |
The classical approximation / 8.2.4: |
Application to paramagnetism and magnetic cooling / 8.2.5: |
Indistinguishable free particles and the Gibbs paradox / 8.2.6: |
Applications to the Prediction of Thermodynamics / 8.3: |
An important application of partition functions: Equations of state / 8.3.1: |
Application of the canonical partition function: Heat capacities of molecular ideal gases / 8.3.2: |
The chemical potential: Multiple applications of the law of mass action / 8.3.3: |
Application of the grand-canonical approach to catalysis / 8.3.4: |
Preface |
About the Author |
Experimental Puzzles and Birth of a New Constant in Physics / Part I: |