Quantum Mechanics

Starting from basic principles, the book systematically covers both Heisenberg and Schrödinger realizations of quantum mechanics (in this order). The material traditionally presented in quantum textbooks is illustrated with applications which are (or will become) cornerstones of future technologies. The emphasis in the matrix formulation focus the attention on the spin, the most important quantum observable, and paves the way to chapters on quantum information (including crytography, teleportation and computation), on recent tests of quantum physics and on decoherence. Additions and changes found in the second edition include; a more friendly presentation to Hilbert spaces; more practical applications e.g. scanning tunneling microscope (potential barrier); quantum dots (single-particle states in semiconductors); lasers and masers (induced emission); real experiments that have recently provided a qualitative change in the foundations of quantum physics; and an outline of the density matrix formalism as applied to a simple model of decoherence.

From reviews of the first edition:

"Daniel Bes clearly understands that accuracy, clarity and brevity … has therefore made a careful selection of the topics to make an accessible concise book on quantum mechanics for a modern introductory undergraduate course... The claims that this is a modern textbook are well justified by the inclusion of … the flow of the main ideas is not unbalanced by laborious detail." Contemporary Physics

"It is concise but covers an extraordinary range of topics, from those typically found in traditional quantum mechanics textbooks … All this is illustrated with examples that cover a wide range … provides a large amount of information per page and the selection, extension and balance of topics is adequate for an introductory course." Mathematical Reviews

• Many-body quantum systems
• Matrix realization
• Potential
• Quantum information
• Schrodinger equations
• Spin
• quantum mechanics

From the reviews:

"Daniel Bes clearly understands that accuracy, clarity and brevity … . has therefore made a careful selection of the topics to make an accessible concise book on quantum mechanics for a modern introductory undergraduate course. The book has several good features. The claims that this is a modern textbook are well justified by the inclusion of … . the flow of the main ideas is not unbalanced by laborious detail." (Professor J. E. Carroll, Contemporary Physics, Vol. 46 (4), 2005)

"This book accomplishes all the goals implied by its title: it is ‘modern’, ‘concise’ and ‘introductory’. It is concise (just two hundred pages) but covers an extraordinary range of topics, from those typically found in traditional quantum mechanics textbooks … . All this is illustrated with examples that cover a wide range … . This book provides a large amount of information per page and the selection, extension and balance of topics is adequate for an introductory course." (Adán Cabello, Mathematical Reviews, 2005)

From the reviews of the second edition:

"Lecturers who have not updated their advanced undergraduate quantum mechanics courses would do well to look at this reasonably small textbook. … I think the approach used is excellent and would certainly have liked a textbook like this when I was a student … . I strongly recommend the book, not just as a student text but also for those physicists who have not been part of the recent quantum revolution and would like to gain some knowledge of it in a reasonable painless way." (D T Pegg, Australian Physics, Vol. 44 (4), 2007)

• Phyiscs Department, CAC, CNEA, Prov. de Buenos Aires, Argentina

  Daniel R. Bes

Daniel R. Bes made his undergraduate studies at the University of Buenos Aires (1950-54) and performed the equivalent of graduate work at the Niels Bohr Institutet, Copenhagen (1956-59), under the advice of Profs. Aage Bohr and Ben Mottelson (Nobel prizes 1975). Later on Bes would become a frequent visitor to the Danish Institute. Upon his return to Argentina, since 1961 he was part in the construction of a first rate Physics Department in Buenos Aires, until this project was abruptly interrupted in 1966 due to political instabilities. Bes left for USA, where he held associate professorships at Carnegie-Mellon University (Pittsburgh, 1967-68) and associate and full professorships at the University of Minnesota (Minneapolis, 1968-71). Between 1969-74 he was Consultant to Los Alamos National Laboratory.

However, in 1971 he returned to Argentina, and since then he has carried most of his research at the Physics Department of the Comision Nacional de Energia Atomica. He also served as President of the Asociacion Fisica Argentina (1994-98), as Dean of the newly created Facultad de Ingenieria of Universidad Favaloro (1998-2003) and was cofounder/coeditor of the magazine Ciencia Hoy. He is a member of several academies, including the Third World Academy of Science (Trieste).

Bes and coworkers have pioneered treatments concerning the coexistence of collective and independent particle motion in many-body systems, including shape and pairing vibrations, the nuclear field theory and applications of the BRST symmetry. He has coauthored more than 120 publications in international journals and has been advisor of 13 doctoral thesis. Together with those of his students that have remained in Argentina (and their scientific descendents), Bes has been instrumental in developing the Argentine basic research in nuclear physics.

He has also covered problems about nuclear disarmament, the external debt of developing countries, the relation between science and development and Latinoamerican scientific structures.

Policies and ethics