Overview
- Explores key concepts in quantum theory using the simplest physical systems
- Advances quantum theory with only simple mathematics that is developed as it is needed
- Illustrates each key concept with modern examples such as gravitational wave detection, atomic clocks, magnetic resonance imaging, and the scanning tunneling microscope
- Contains a complete set of end-of-chapter exercises
Part of the book series: Undergraduate Lecture Notes in Physics (ULNP)
Access this book
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Other ways to access
Table of contents (10 chapters)
Keywords
- quantum physics textbook for undergraduates
- quantum mechanics textbook for undergraduates
- Mach-Zehnder interferometer
- NMR and magnetic resonance imaging
- Gravitational wave detection
- energy spectrum of atoms
- quantum information
- quantum computer
- quantum teleportation
- uncertainly relations
- Operational approach to quantum physics
- Quantum physics for first year students
About this book
In this undergraduate textbook, the author develops the quantum theory from first principles based on very simple experiments: a photon travelling through beam splitters to detectors, an electron moving through a Stern-Gerlach machine, and an atom emitting radiation. From the physical description of these experiments follows a natural mathematical description in terms of matrices and complex numbers. The first part of the book examines how experimental facts force us to let go of some deeply held preconceptions and develops this idea into a mathematical description of states, probabilities, observables, and time evolution using physical applications. The second part of the book explores more advanced topics, including the concept of entanglement, the process of decoherence, and extension of the quantum theory to the situation of a particle in a one-dimensional box. Here, the text makes contact with more traditional treatments of quantum mechanics. The remaining chapters delve deeply into the idea of uncertainty relations and explore what the quantum theory says about the nature of reality. The book is an ideal and accessible introduction to quantum physics, with modern examples and helpful end-of-chapter exercises.
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Pieter Kok is a Reader in Quantum Information Theory at the University of Sheffield, United Kingdom. His research interests include quantum information theory and quantum precision measurements. He studied physics at Utrecht University in the Netherlands and received his PhD in quantum teleportation from the University of Wales in 2001. He has contributed to practical architectures for quantum computing, and Heisenberg-limited quantum metrology and imaging.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: A First Introduction to Quantum Physics
Authors: Pieter Kok
Series Title: Undergraduate Lecture Notes in Physics
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92207-2
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Physics and Astronomy, Physics and Astronomy (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2018
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-92207-2Published: 26 July 2018
Series ISSN: 2192-4791
Series E-ISSN: 2192-4805
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: IX, 243
Number of Illustrations: 61 b/w illustrations, 2 illustrations in colour
Topics: Quantum Physics, Mathematical Methods in Physics, Quantum Field Theories, String Theory, Mathematical Applications in the Physical Sciences