Lectures on Quantum Mechanics

Gordon Baym0805306676, 9780805306675

These lecture notes comprise a three-semester graduate course in quantum mechanics at the University of Illinois. The notes, presented here in slightly revised form, constitute a self-contained course in quantum mechanics from first principles to elementary and relativistic one-particle mechanics. Prerequisite to reading these notes is some familiarity with elementary quantum mechanics, at least at the undergraduate level. Preferably the reader should already have met the uncertainty principle and the concept of a wave function. Prerequisites also include sufficient acquaintance with complex cariables to be able to do simple contour integrals and to understand words such as “poles” and “branch cuts.” An elementary knowledge of Fourier transforms and series is necessary. Assumes an awareness of classical electrodynamics.