Introductory Quantum Mechanics

I have assumed that the reader has no prior knowledge of concepts specific to computational chemistry, but has a working understanding of introductory quantum mechanics and elementary mathematics, especially linear algebra, vector, differential and integral calculus. The following features specific to chemistry are used in the present book without further introduction. Adequate descriptions may be found in a number of quantum chemistry textbooks (J. P. Lowe, Quantum Chemistry, Academic Press, 1993 1. N. Levine, Quantum Chemistry, Prentice Hall, 1992 P. W. Atkins, Molecular Quantum Mechanics, Oxford University Press, 1983). 

The technical prerequisites for following our development are modest. Essentially, introductory quantum mechanics, say, on the level of Merzbacher (1961). Of particular use is familiarity with angular momentum. Otherwise, we have tried to make the book self-contained and tools are developed as needed. Appendices provide important but strictly technical aids. 

The motion in the classical domain corresponds to a harmonic oscillator of frequency v, with the displacement from equilibrium varying sinusoidally with time. The transcription of this problem into quantum mechanics is simple and straightforward it is a standard problem in introductory quantum mechanics texts. The energy levels of the quantum system are given by... 

Data were collected from students enrolled in three different courses. Class A was a one-semester introductory quantum mechanics course intended for junior physics majors that typically enrolled about 10 students. Class B was the second-half of a two-semester physical chemistry course for chemistry majors that typically enrolls 30-40 students. The first semester of this course focuses primarily on thermodynamics the second-half spends the first two-thirds of the semester on quantum mechanics and then concludes with a discussion of statistical mechanics. Class C is offered every semester for junior-year chemical engineering majors, and was observed three times Cl, C2, and C3. Cl and C3 were offered during the fall semester, when the mainline population of chemical engineering majors take the course and had enrollments of approximately 70 students. C2 was offered in the spring semester and is frequently taken by students who have done a "co-op" or internship in industry, which requires them to be off-campus for a semester at a time. C2 had an enrollment of around 30 students. The material in Class C is quite similar to the material offered in Class B. The first three-quarters of this class covers quantum mechanics, the remaining time is spent on statistical mechanics. 

Richard L. Longini, Introductory Quantum Mechanics for the Solid State, Interscience, New York, 1970. 

As we saw in Chapter 13, a one-dimensional box is a model often used in introductory quantum mechanics. The energy A of a particle of mass m moving in a box of width a is defined by the function E ( ) where... 

Liboff, R. (2002). Introductory Quantum Mechanics, 4th edition. Addison-Wesley. 

Let us examine the electron-separation event first. Several theories to explain the transfer of charge in the photosynthetic act exist, but at a perhaps oversimplified level simple time-dependent perturbation theory found in every introductory quantum mechanics textbook (Merzbacher,... 

R. 1.. Tdboff, Introductory Quantum Mechanics, Holdcn-Day, San Francisco (1980). 

R. L. Liboff, Introductory Quantum Mechanics, Holden-Day, San Fiandsco (1980). 

In going from statics to dynamics we need new experimental tools and also theoretical machinery that allows for the dependence on time. This means that the stationary states that are usually the subject of an introductory quantum mechanics course have to be extended to non-stationary ones. Fairly often, classical dynamics is sufficient to describe the time evolution but there are a number of interesting exceptions. Non-equilibrium statistical mechanics is necessary to describe systems with many degrees of freedom and their far-from-equilibrium pattern formation. 

V. Rojansky, Introductory Quantum Mechanics, Prentice-Hall, 1942. 

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