Quantum mechanics is widely recognized as the basic law which governs all of nature, including all materials and devices. It has always been essential to the understanding of material properties, and as devices become smaller it is also essential for studying their behavior. Nevertheless, only a small fraction of graduate engineers and materials scientists take a course giving a systematic presentation of the subject. The courses for physics students tend to focus on the fundamentals and formal background, rather than on application, and do not fill the need. This invaluable text has been designed to fill the very apparent gap.The book covers those parts of quantum theory which may be necessary for a modern engineer. It focuses on the approximations and concepts which allow estimates of the entire range of properties of nuclei, atoms, molecules, and solids, as well as the behavior of lasers and other quantum-optic devices. It may well prove useful also to graduate students in physics, whose courses on quantum theory tend not to include any of these applications. The material has been the basis of a course taught to graduate engineering students for the past four years at Stanford University.Topics Discussed: Foundations; Simple Systems; Hamiltonian Mechanics; Atoms and Nuclei; Molecules; Crystals; Transitions; Tunneling; Transition Rates; Statistical Mechanics; Transport; Noise; Energy Bands; Electron Dynamics in Solids; Vibrations in Solids; Creation and Annihilation Operators; Phonons; Photons and Lasers; Coherent States; Coulomb Effects; Cooperative Phenomena; Magnetism; Shake-off Excitations; Exercise Problems.

For upper-level undergraduates and graduate students: an introduction to the fundamentals of quantum mechanics, emphasizing aspects essential to an understanding of solid-state theory. Numerous problems (and selected answers), projects, exercises.

This text presents a rigorous mathematical account of the principles of quantum mechanics, in particular as applied to chemistry and chemical physics. Applications are used as illustrations of the basic theory. The first two chapters serve as an introduction to quantum theory, although it is assumed that the reader has been exposed to elementary quantum mechanics as part of an undergraduate physical chemistry or atomic physics course. Following a discussion of wave motion leading to Schrödinger's wave mechanics, the postulates of quantum mechanics are presented along with essential mathematical concepts and techniques. The postulates are rigorously applied to the harmonic oscillator, angular momentum, the hydrogen atom, the variation method, perturbation theory, and nuclear motion. Modern theoretical concepts such as hermitian operators, Hilbert space, Dirac notation, and ladder operators are introduced and used throughout. This text is appropriate for beginning graduate students in chemistry, chemical physics, molecular physics and materials science.

Ideas of Quantum Chemistry shows how quantum mechanics is applied to chemistry to give it a theoretical foundation. The structure of the book (a TREE-form) emphasizes the logical relationships between various topics, facts and methods. It shows the reader which parts of the text are needed for understanding specific aspects of the subject matter. Interspersed throughout the text are short biographies of key scientists and their contributions to the development of the field.Ideas of Quantum Chemistry has both textbook and reference work aspects. Like a textbook, the material is organized into digestable sections with each chapter following the same structure. It answers frequently asked questions and highlights the most important conclusions and the essential mathematical formulae in the text. In its reference aspects, it has a broader range than traditional quantum chemistry books and reviews virtually all of the pertinent literature. It is useful both for beginners as well as specialists in advanced topics of quantum chemistry. The book is supplemented by an appendix on the Internet.* Presents the widest range of quantum chemical problems covered in one book * Unique structure allows material to be tailored to the specific needs of the reader * Informal language facilitates the understanding of difficult topics

This volume constitutes the proceedings of the Nobel Laureate Symposium on Applied Quantum Chemistry held during the International Chemical Congress of Pacific Basin Societies, 16-21 December 1984, in Honolulu, Hawaii. The Symposium was held in honour of the five Nobel Laureates who have contributed so extensively to the development of Applied Quantum Chemistry. K. Fukui, G. Herzberg, R. Hoffmann, W.N. Lipscomb and R.S. Mulliken. Professors Fukui, Hoffmann and Lipscomb attended and presented plenary lectures to the Symposium. Their lectures and the other invited papers and invited poster presentations brought into focus the current state of Applied Quantum Chemistry and showed the importance of the interaction between quantum theory and experiment. We are indebted to the Subdivision of Theoretical Chemistry and the Division of Physical Chemistry of the American Chemical Society, the Division of Physical Chemistry of the Chemical Institute of Canada, Energy Conversion Devices, Inc., the IBM Corporation, and the Congress for their financial support which helped to make the Symposium possible. We would like to thank Dr. Philip Payne for making some of the local arrangements, and Mrs. Betty McIntosh for her assistance in arranging the Symposium and in the preparation of these proceedings for publication.

This graduate-level text develops the aspects of group theory most relevant to physics and chemistry (such as the theory of representations) and illustrates their applications to quantum mechanics. The first five chapters focus chiefly on the introduction of methods, illustrated by physical examples, and the final three chapters offer a systematic treatment of the quantum theory of atoms, molecules, and solids. The formal theory of finite groups and their representation is developed in Chapters 1 through 4 and illustrated by examples from the crystallographic point groups basic to solid-state and molecular theory. Chapter 5 is devoted to the theory of systems with full rotational symmetry, Chapter 6 to the systematic presentation of atomic structure, and Chapter 7 to molecular quantum mechanics. Chapter 8, which deals with solid-state physics, treats electronic energy band theory and magnetic crystal symmetry. A compact and worthwhile compilation of the scattered material on standard methods, this volume presumes a basic understanding of quantum theory.

Classic undergraduate text explores wave functions for the hydrogen atom, perturbation theory, the Pauli exclusion principle, and the structure of simple and complex molecules. Numerous tables and figures.

"Quantum Theory for Chemical Applications (QTCA) Quantum theory, or more specifically, quantum mechanics is endlessly fascinating, curious & strange, and often considered to be difficult to learn. It is true that quantum mechanics is a mathematical theory. Its scope, its predictions, the wisdom we gain from its results, all these become fully clear only in the context of the relevant equations and calculations. But the study of quantum mechanics is definitely worth the effort, and - as I like to tell my students- it is not rocket science"--

The evolution of a discipline at the intersection of physics, chemistry, and mathematics. Quantum chemistry—a discipline that is not quite physics, not quite chemistry, and not quite applied mathematics—emerged as a field of study in the 1920s. It was referred to by such terms as mathematical chemistry, subatomic theoretical chemistry, molecular quantum mechanics, and chemical physics until the community agreed on the designation of quantum chemistry. In Neither Physics Nor Chemistry, Kostas Gavroglu and Ana Simões examine the evolution of quantum chemistry into an autonomous discipline, tracing its development from the publication of early papers in the 1920s to the dramatic changes brought about by the use of computers in the 1970s. The authors focus on the culture that emerged from the creative synthesis of the various traditions of chemistry, physics, and mathematics. They examine the concepts, practices, languages, and institutions of this new culture as well as the people who established it, from such pioneers as Walter Heitler and Fritz London, Linus Pauling, and Robert Sanderson Mulliken, to later figures including Charles Alfred Coulson, Raymond Daudel, and Per-Olov Löwdin. Throughout, the authors emphasize six themes: epistemic aspects and the dilemmas caused by multiple approaches; social issues, including academic politics, the impact of textbooks, and the forging of alliances; the contingencies that arose at every stage of the developments in quantum chemistry; the changes in the field when computers were available to perform the extraordinarily cumbersome calculations required; issues in the philosophy of science; and different styles of reasoning.