Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Twenty-First Century Quantum Mechanics: Hilbert Space to Quantum Computers

Mathematical Methods and Conceptual Foundations

  • Textbook
  • © 2017

Overview

Authors:
  1. Guido Fano

    1. Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università di Bologna, Bologna, Italy

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

  2. S M Blinder

    1. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

  • Explains the still evolving concepts of quantum mechanics in terms accessible to nonspecialists
  • Discusses the conceptual problems associated with measurement, superposition, and decoherence in quantum systems
  • Examines in detail the progress toward quantum computers
  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Part of the book series: UNITEXT for Physics (UNITEXTPH)

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this book

Log in via an institution
eBook USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 69.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

Licence this eBook for your library

Institutional subscriptions

Table of contents (6 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xvi
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Twentieth-Century Quantum Mechanics

    • Guido Fano, S. M. Blinder
    Pages 1-41

  3. Mathematical Methods in Quantum Mechanics

    • Guido Fano, S. M. Blinder
    Pages 43-84

  4. The Schrödinger Equation

    • Guido Fano, S. M. Blinder
    Pages 85-120

  5. New Adventures: Isotropic Vectors, Rotations, Spinors, and Groups

    • Guido Fano, S. M. Blinder
    Pages 121-151

  6. Quantum Entanglement and Bell’s Theorem

    • Guido Fano, S. M. Blinder
    Pages 153-193

  7. Digital and Quantum Computers

    • Guido Fano, S. M. Blinder
    Pages 195-262

  8. Back Matter

    Pages 263-271
    Download chapter PDF
Back to top

Keywords

About this book

This book is designed to make accessible to nonspecialists the still evolving concepts of quantum mechanics and the terminology in which these are expressed. The opening chapters summarize elementary concepts of twentieth century quantum mechanics and describe the mathematical methods employed in the field, with clear explanation of, for example, Hilbert space, complex variables, complex vector spaces and Dirac notation, and the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. After detailed discussion of the Schrödinger equation, subsequent chapters focus on isotropic vectors, used to construct spinors, and on conceptual problems associated with measurement, superposition, and decoherence in quantum systems. Here, due attention is paid to Bell’s inequality and the possible existence of hidden variables. Finally, progression toward quantum computation is examined in detail: if quantum computers can be made practicable, enormous enhancements in computing power, artificial intelligence, and secure communication will result. This book will be of interest to a wide readership seeking to understand modern quantum mechanics and its potential applications.

Reviews

“I agree with the authors that this is the excellent introductory book for non-specialists to quantum theory, though I would recommend it to all curious researchers whose perception of the world that surrounds us raises the questions of what, why and how is out there?” (Eugene Kryachko, zbMATH 1377.81005, 2018)

Authors and Affiliations

  • Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università di Bologna, Bologna, Italy

    Guido Fano

  • University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA

    S M Blinder

About the authors

Guido Fano graduated magna cum laude in Physics at the University of Rome in 1955 and earned university degrees in Theoretical Physics and Mathematical Methods of Physics. He taught at several universities, including Naples, Ferrara, Bologna, and Marseille, and progressed from being an assistant lecturer to senior lecturer and, finally, Professor of Mathematical Methods of Physics. Professor Fano is a specialist in the quantum many-body problem, with particular emphasis on the mathematical aspects. He is the author of about 60 publications in international journals as well as several textbooks. He is responsible for some particularly significant results concerning the existence problem for the time-dependent Hartree-Fock equations, the use of non-orthogonal orbitals in Quantum Chemistry, and the asymptotic behavior of the Taylor expansion coefficients of some sequences of polynomials.

  Seymour M. Blinder is Professor Emeritus of Chemistry and Physics at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA. He completed his PhD at Harvard University in 1958, under the supervision of Profs. W.E. Moffitt and J.H. Van Vleck (Nobel Prize in Physics, 1977). Professor Blinder has published more than 200 publications in both Theoretical Chemistry and Mathematical Physics. He was the first to derive a closed-form expression for the Feynman path-integral propagator for the Coulomb problem (the hydrogen atom). He is the author of several books and monographs. Professor Blinder is currently a telecommuting Senior Scientist for Wolfram Research (the developers of Mathematica and other scientific software).

Bibliographic Information

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Back to top

Search

Navigation