Quantum Theory Of Finite Systems

This book provides a comprehensive and pedagogical account of the various methods used in the quantum theory of finite systems, including molecular, atomic, nuclear, and particle phenomena. Covering both background material and advanced topics and including nearly 200 problems, Quantum Theory of Finite Systems has been designed to serve primarily as a text and will also prove useful as a reference in research. The first of the book's four parts introduces the basic mathematical apparatus: second quantization, canonical transformations, Wick theorems and the resulting diagram expansions, and oscillator models. The second part presents mean field approximations and the recently developed path integral methods for the quantization of collective modes. Part three develops perturbation theory in terms of both time-dependent Feynman diagrams and time-independent Goldstone diagrams. A fourth part discusses variational methods based on correlated wavefunctions, including spin correlations. The approximation schemes are formulated for fermions and bosons at eigher zero or non-zero temperature. Although the formalism developed applies to both finite and infinite systems, the book stresses those aspects of the theory that are specific to the description of finite systems. Thus special attention is given to mean field approximations, the ensuing broken symmetries, and the associated collective motions such as rotations. Conversely, some specific features of systems with infinite numbers of degrees of freedom (such as the thermodynamic limit, critical phenomena, and the elimination of ultraviolet divergencies) are deliberately omitted. Jean-Paul Blaizot and Georges Ripka are associated with the Centre d'Etudes Nucleaires de Saclay.

Self-contained treatment of nonrelativistic many-particle systems discusses both formalism and applications in terms of ground-state (zero-temperature) formalism, finite-temperature formalism, canonical transformations, and applications to physical systems. 1971 edition.

This book delves into finite mathematics and its application in physics, particularly quantum theory. It is shown that quantum theory based on finite mathematics is more general than standard quantum theory, whilst finite mathematics is itself more general than standard mathematics.As a consequence, the mathematics describing nature at the most fundamental level involves only a finite number of numbers while the notions of limit, infinite/infinitesimal and continuity are needed only in calculations that describe nature approximately. It is also shown that the concepts of particle and antiparticle are likewise approximate notions, valid only in special situations, and that the electric charge and baryon- and lepton quantum numbers can be only approximately conserved.

This systematic approach to the quantum theory of collective phenomena is based principally on the model of infinite systems. Suitable for advanced undergraduates and graduate students of physics and chemistry, the three-part treatment begins with an exposition of the generalized form of quantum theory of both finite and infinite systems. Part II consists of a general formulation of statistical thermodynamics, and the final part provides a treatment of the phenomena of phase transitions, metastability, and the generation of ordered structures far from equilibrium. "An excellent and competent introduction to the field … [and] … a source of information for the expert."—Physics Today "This a book of major importance…. I trust that this book will be used as a basis for the teaching of a balanced, modern and rigorous course on statistical mechanics in all universities."—Bulletin of the London Mathematical Society "This is one of the best introductions to the subject, and it is strongly recommended to anyone interested in collective phenomena."—Physics Bulletin "The book may be recommended for students as a well-balanced introduction to this rich subject and it can serve as a useful handbook for the expert."—Journal of Statistical Physics

This book investigates two possibilities for describing classical-mechanical physical systems along with their Hamiltonian dynamics in the framework of quantum mechanics.The first possibility consists in exploiting the geometrical properties of the set of quantum pure states of "microsystems" and of the Lie groups characterizing the specific classical system. The second approach is to consider quantal systems of a large number of interacting subsystems – i.e. macrosystems, so as to study the quantum mechanics of an infinite number of degrees of freedom and to look for the behaviour of their collective variables. The final chapter contains some solvable models of “quantum measurement" describing dynamical transitions from "microsystems" to "macrosystems".

This book studies the foundations of quantum theory through its relationship to classical physics. This idea goes back to the Copenhagen Interpretation (in the original version due to Bohr and Heisenberg), which the author relates to the mathematical formalism of operator algebras originally created by von Neumann. The book therefore includes comprehensive appendices on functional analysis and C*-algebras, as well as a briefer one on logic, category theory, and topos theory. Matters of foundational as well as mathematical interest that are covered in detail include symmetry (and its "spontaneous" breaking), the measurement problem, the Kochen-Specker, Free Will, and Bell Theorems, the Kadison-Singer conjecture, quantization, indistinguishable particles, the quantum theory of large systems, and quantum logic, the latter in connection with the topos approach to quantum theory. This book is Open Access under a CC BY licence.