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Density Matrix Theory and Applications

  • Book
  • © 1996

Overview

Authors:
  1. Karl Blum

    1. University of Münster, Münster, Germany

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Part of the book series: Physics of Atoms and Molecules (PAMO)

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Table of contents (8 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xv
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  2. Basic Concepts

    • Karl Blum
    Pages 1-37

  3. General Density Matrix Theory

    • Karl Blum
    Pages 39-65

  4. Coupled Systems

    • Karl Blum
    Pages 67-89

  5. Irreducible Components of the Density Matrix

    • Karl Blum
    Pages 91-142

  6. Radiation from Polarized Atoms. Quantum Beats

    • Karl Blum
    Pages 143-160

  7. Some Applications

    • Karl Blum
    Pages 161-188

  8. The Role of Orientation and Alignment in Molecular Processes

    • Karl Blum
    Pages 189-260

  9. Quantum Theory of Relaxation

    • Karl Blum
    Pages 261-302

  10. Back Matter

    Pages 303-327
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Keywords

About this book

Quantum mechanics has been mostly concerned with those states of systems that are represented by state vectors. In many cases, however, the system of interest is incompletely determined; for example, it may have no more than a certain probability of being in the precisely defined dynamical state characterized by a state vector. Because of this incomplete knowledge, a need for statistical averaging arises in the same sense as in classical physics. The density matrix was introduced by J. von Neumann in 1927 to describe statistical concepts in quantum mechanics. The main virtue of the density matrix is its analytical power in the construction of general formulas and in the proof of general theorems. The evaluation of averages and probabilities of the physical quantities characterizing a given system is extremely cumbersome without the use of density matrix techniques. The representation of quantum mechanical states by density matrices enables the maximum information available on the system to be expressed in a compact manner and hence avoids the introduction of unnecessary variables. The use of density matrix methods also has the advan­ tage of providing a uniform treatment of all quantum mechanical states, whether they are completely or incompletely known. Until recently the use of the density matrix method has been mainly restricted to statistical physics. In recent years, however, the application of the density matrix has been gaining more and more importance in many other fields of physics.

Reviews

from a review of the First Edition:
`[The author's] clear pedagogic style makes this a very useful reference work for readers who want to learn density matrix theory. ... Highly recommended, particularly for graduate school physics libraries.'
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Authors and Affiliations

  • University of Münster, Münster, Germany

    Karl Blum

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Density Matrix Theory and Applications

  • Authors: Karl Blum

  • Series Title: Physics of Atoms and Molecules

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-4931-1

  • Publisher: Springer New York, NY

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

  • Copyright Information: Springer Science+Business Media New York 1996

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-1-4419-3257-0Published: 06 December 2010

  • eBook ISBN: 978-1-4757-4931-1Published: 29 June 2013

  • Edition Number: 2

  • Number of Pages: XV, 327

  • Number of Illustrations: 1 b/w illustrations

  • Topics: Atomic, Molecular, Optical and Plasma Physics, Quantum Physics

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