Identifying an old quantum mechanics textbook

[julian]

Hello everyone,

I'm trying to recall the title and author of a quantum mechanics textbook I read many years ago, likely a couple of decades or more. My local library had what I thought was a very good quantum mechanics book, which I worked through during the summer holidays after completing my A-levels and before starting university. The library at some point sold it off, possibly because it wasn’t borrowed often.

I don’t remember much of the book, but I do recall a detailed solution for the hydrogen atom. What really stood out to me was that the final chapter covered the Dirac equation, which seems a bit unusual for an introductory textbook (I went through that chapter as well). I’m hoping to track down the book for nostalgic reasons, and this detail might help in identifying it.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

@julian

 

[pines-demon]

Hello everyone,

I'm trying to recall the title and author of a quantum mechanics textbook I read many years ago, likely a couple of decades or more. My local library had what I thought was a very good quantum mechanics book, which I worked through during the summer holidays after completing my A-levels and before starting university. The library at some point sold it off, possibly because it wasn’t borrowed often.

I don’t remember much of the book, but I do recall a detailed solution for the hydrogen atom. What really stood out to me was that the final chapter covered the Dirac equation, which seems a bit unusual for an introductory textbook (I went through that chapter as well). I’m hoping to track down the book for nostalgic reasons, and this detail might help in identifying it.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

@julian

What books have you discarded?

 

[berkeman]

The library at some point sold it off, possibly because it wasn’t borrowed often.

Maybe a long shot, but have you tried contacting that library to see if they kept lists of books they had various years, and maybe lists of books they got rid of?

 

[julian]

What books have you discarded?

I’ve considered The Principles of Quantum Mechanics by Dirac, but I don’t think that was the book.

 

[julian]

Maybe a long shot, but have you tried contacting that library to see if they kept lists of books they had various years, and maybe lists of books they got rid of?

I could try that.

 

[berkeman]

Maybe an even longer shot, but I wonder if they would still have records of the books you checked out from them that far back...

 

[pines-demon]

I’ve considered The Principles of Quantum Mechanics by Dirac, but I don’t think that was the book.

Maybe Shankar's Principles of Quantum Mechanics ? Has a similar name and Dirac equation is the last topic.

Edit: Sakurai's Modern Quantum Mechanics might also fit the bill.

 

[Frabjous]

There are a lot of threads at PF that list QM books. If you think you might recognize the author, you should look through them.

 

[Vanadium 50]

Will you recognize the book from the author? If not, I don't see how this will work. "Is it Farfoofnij?" "Maybe".

If so, you probably want to start with a list of QM books and see if you recognize any (or at a minimum can eliminate the majority). Amazon might be a good start then.

 

[julian]

Maybe Shankar's Principles of Quantum Mechanics ? Has a similar name and Dirac equation is the last topic.

Edit: Sakurai's Modern Quantum Mechanics might also fit the bill.

Thanks very much for these suggestions! I’ve looked at samples on Amazon, and both books seem to cover path integrals. However, I don’t remember coming across path integrals until I read Schulman’s Techniques and Applications of Path Integration during my first year at university.

Both books also introduce the bra-ket notation. I recall first learning about bras and kets from the third volume of the Feynman Lectures on Physics, but I can’t quite remember if that was during my summer holidays or my first year at university. I could be wrong about the bra-ket part though - maybe the book did introduce bra-kets.

 

[julian]

There are a lot of threads at PF that list QM books. If you think you might recognize the author, you should look through them.

Thank you for the suggestion! I'll go through the list by checking out samples on Amazon to see which ones might match. I will probably recognize from the contents page though. By the way I estimate the book should have been published 1992 or before.

 

[julian]

Will you recognize the book from the author? If not, I don't see how this will work. "Is it Farfoofnij?" "Maybe".

If so, you probably want to start with a list of QM books and see if you recognize any (or at a minimum can eliminate the majority). Amazon might be a good start then.

I'm not likely to recognize the book by the author's name, but I’ll probably recognize it from the contents page. I'll go through the list and check the samples on Amazon.

 

[julian]

Maybe an even longer shot, but I wonder if they would still have records of the books you checked out from them that far back...

I'll actually be near this library later today, so I'll stop by and inquire.

 

[julian]

Unfortunately, I forgot they close in the afternoon on a Saturday. I'll have to phone them Monday.

 

[Demystifier]

L.I. Schiff, Quantum Mechanics?

 

[julian]

I called my town library, and they said they don’t have a record of their catalogue from 30 years ago due to having introduced a new system.

 

[julian]

L.I. Schiff, Quantum Mechanics?

You can download Schiff for free here: https://www.bwpest2018.org/titles/sch68.html. Schiff's Quantum Mechanics introduces second quantization, but I don't recall the book I'm looking for mentioning it. I remember my book referring to the Frobenius method when solving the hydrogen wavefunction, whereas Schiff doesn't mention Frobenius. EDIT: I remember my book actually calling it "Frobenius". Schiff doesn't call it Frobenius.

Gordon Baym's Lectures on Quantum Mechanics includes a chapter on the Dirac equation. Although it also contains chapters on Cooper pairs and second quantization, I don't recall the book I'm looking for having those chapters.

The 2nd edition of Quantum Mechanics by Bransden and Joachain, published in 2000, includes a chapter on the Dirac equation. However, the preface of the 1st edition (published in 1989) states that they made no attempt to cover relativistic quantum mechanics.

 

[julian]

I just realized that the university where I completed my degree and PhD has an online catalogue with an extensive list of books on quantum mechanics. I’ll work my way through them, assuming I can preview their contents on Amazon.

I have an external library membership at this university, though I visit only very occasionally. Next time I go, if I haven’t been able to explore all the books online, I’ll check them out in person.

 

[berkeman]

You can download Schiff for free here: https://www.bwpest2018.org/titles/sch68.html.

Schiff was published by Bow Wow Press?

 

[haushofer]

Schiff was published by Bow Wow Press?

Little Bow Wow. Once a child rapper, now a world renowned physicist.

 

[julian]

Schiff was published by Bow Wow Press?

Not originally :)

If you go to Amazon and click on Quantum Mechanics Hardcover – 1 July 2024 by Leonard I. Schiff Amazon says:

"Freeman Dyson, Steven Weinberg, Michael E. Peskin, . . . , many physicists mentioned their experience of learning quantum mechanics from schiff. Now the bible of the subject is back with the new typesetting and corrections. The free PDF file available on the publisher's website www.bwpest2018.org"

​

 

[TSny]

The book Quantum Mechanics by P.J.E. Peebles has the following characteristics:

1. It was published in 1992.
2. It solves the Schrodinger equation for the hydrogen atom using the Frobenius method.
3. The last chapter is titled "Dirac Theory of the Electron".
4. It introduces and makes use of bra-ket notation.

You can look at the table of contents and sample some of the pages at Amazon.

 

[julian]

Hi @TSny I was just about to log out, so I’ll have to check it tomorrow. After rereading post #17, I realize I wasn’t clear: I said "I remember my book referring to the Frobenius method when solving the hydrogen wavefunction". I should clarify, I remember the book actually calling it "Frobenius".

 

[Vanadium 50]

Schiff was published by Bow Wow Press?

Avast me hearties! Shiver me timbers!

This site has a very high risk rating on Scamalytics and appears to share its IP address with a Japanese betting site. Holy Pachinko, Batman!

You couldn't pay me to click on that link, much less download anything from there. More viruses than at the free clinic.

 

[berkeman]

If you go to Amazon and click on Quantum Mechanics Hardcover – 1 July 2024 by Leonard I. Schiff Amazon says:

That did not work for me. Can you give me a direct link to that quote on Amazon's website so I can double-check it? Thanks.

 

[jedishrfu]

Here's the amazon link:

https://www.amazon.com/Quantum-Mechanics-Leonard-I-Schiff/dp/1950217116?tag=pfamazon01-20

The AMAZON description says a free PDF is available at the site bwpest2018.org. On the bwpest2018.org site, it says the Schiff family has permitted them to make his book available.

I checked out the bwpest2018 site, which is trying to support the publication of free books by PhD-level authors. They have an author submission form that requires the author to have a PhD, a tenured position at a college or university, and a list of published papers.

 

[Vanadium 50]

it says the Schiff family has permitted them to make his book available.

The Schiff family does not hold the copyright. McGraw Hill does. They can't grant permission any more than I can.

 

[renormalize]

The Schiff family does not hold the copyright. McGraw Hill does. They can't grant permission any more than I can.

@Vanadium 50, that's not true. Per the US Copyright Office, Schiff's wife Frances renewed the copyright in 1996 and is listed as the current claimant:

 

[Vanadium 50]

I was wrong then. (But that's not what my copy of Sciff says)

 

[julian]

The book Quantum Mechanics by P.J.E. Peebles has the following characteristics:

1. It was published in 1992.
2. It solves the Schrodinger equation for the hydrogen atom using the Frobenius method.
3. The last chapter is titled "Dirac Theory of the Electron".
4. It introduces and makes use of bra-ket notation.

You can look at the table of contents and sample some of the pages at Amazon.

It occurred to me that you can use Google Books to preview portions of the text inside the book:

https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Quantum_Mechanics.html?id=hTaw4Ht4Vi8C&redir_esc=y

I remember my book explicitly referring to the series solution method as "Frobenius". However, when I searched for "Frobenius" in Peebles, no results came up. I also searched for "Dirac equation" to read a bit of the final chapter and found the statement: "Now we want the energy operator H to agree with (52.7), so it must satisfy H^2=p^2+m^2." So he requires the (spinor) wavefunction satisfies the Klein-Gordon equation, though Peebles doesn't explicitly name it as such. I remember my book, they explicitly called it the "Klein-Gordon equation." I searched through Peebles and couldn’t find the name "Klein-Gordon equation," so he must refer to it in another way.

Thanks very much for the suggestion! I liked that final chapter of Peebles was the Dirac equation.

 

[Lord Jestocost]

In the paper “Schrödinger's original quantum-mechanical solution for hydrogen” (Eur. J. Phys. 42 035405, 2021), Anna Galler, Jeremy Canfield and James K. Freericks remark: “The 1929 textbook Quantum Mechanics by Condon and Morse presents the Frobenius method for solving the hydrogen atom……”

 

[julian]

In the paper “Schrödinger's original quantum-mechanical solution for hydrogen” (Eur. J. Phys. 42 035405, 2021), Anna Galler, Jeremy Canfield and James K. Freericks remark: “The 1929 textbook Quantum Mechanics by Condon and Morse presents the Frobenius method for solving the hydrogen atom……”

There wasn't much information about it on Amazon, so I did a quick Google search for "Quantum Mechanics by Condon and Morse" and found an online copy here:

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.$b568098&seq=9.

Coincidentally, it's another McGraw Hill publication. HathiTrust, where I found the copy, notes on their "About" page that they operate lawfully:

https://www.hathitrust.org/about/.

Although the final chapter isn't on the Dirac equation.

I looked up the date of publication of Dirac's equation and it was only published in 1928. There's a reference to Dirac's recent work on page 215:

It's intriguing to look at a book that references the Dirac equation so soon after its publication because the equation was groundbreaking in its time, having a profound impact on our understanding of quantum mechanics and particle physics. The fact that the authors mention Dirac's work in this 1929 book, just a year after the equation was published in 1928, shows how quickly and significantly it influenced the field.

 

[Demystifier]

In the paper “Schrödinger's original quantum-mechanical solution for hydrogen” (Eur. J. Phys. 42 035405, 2021), Anna Galler, Jeremy Canfield and James K. Freericks remark: “The 1929 textbook Quantum Mechanics by Condon and Morse presents the Frobenius method for solving the hydrogen atom……”

This appears to be the oldest QM textbook, older than Dirac (1930) and Heisenberg (1930).

 

[pines-demon]

This appears to be the oldest QM textbook, older than Dirac (1930) and Heisenberg (1930).

Were there some previous textbook on old quantum mechanics?

 

[Demystifier]

Were there some previous textbook on old quantum mechanics?

Not to my knowledge.

Tomonaga wrote a book on old QM, but in 1962:
S.-I. Tomonaga, Quantum Mechanics Volume 1 Old Quantum Theory (1962)

Sommerfeld, who was a pioneer in old QM, wrote many great books, including a book called "Wave Mechanics" (1936) which is what we call quantum mechanics today. But to my knowledge, he never wrote a book on old QM.