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Rating: 
Summary: Introductory and limited
Review: This book was the basis of a "Quantum Mechanics II" course I took as a junior several years ago. Essentially, this book is an introduction to atomic physics. With a minimum of mathematics, it applies Hamiltonian-based quantum mechanics to study a variety of simple problems in atomic physics.
It covers the one-electron atom very well, solving Schroedinger's equation in the usual way (separation of variables into radial and angular components). Great pains are taken to be as detailed as possible which is nice for those with little or no experience in mathematical physics. It gives a brief stink on the variational technique as a method of calculating the upperbound of the ground state energy. The discussion is not particularly deep. There is a clear, example-oriented treatment of Rayleigh-Schroedinger perturbation theory (both degenerate and non-degenerate, time-dependent and time-independent). I don't think much emphasis or discussion is given to the limitations of the perturbation theory, specifically, when and why the perturbation expansion breaks down. Still, there is enough material for the student to gain a good appreciation of the method. There is not a word in this book on the WKB method. Perhaps it sees little use in atomic physics or perhaps because this method is more mathematically sophisticated than many other things and almost without fail involves the evaluation of many unfamiliar and fearsome integrals. There is also not a word on the Dirac delta function. The remaining chapters cover spin but almost entirely in the context of atomic physics and gives a introduction to many-electron atoms. The treatment of spin is reasonable but limited; focus is on the spin-orbit interaction and the Pauli Exclusion principle. There are many other important topics, such as spin dynamics in the presense of magnetic fields, NMR, and so on. Overall, what is contained in this book is well-written and worth it's price, but it lacks a lot of material important to a large scale understanding of quantum physics. Liboff is a good choice in this respect.
Rating:
Summary: Introductory and limited
Review: This book was the basis of a "Quantum Mechanics II" course I took as a junior several years ago. Essentially, this book is an introduction to atomic physics. With a minimum of mathematics, it applies Hamiltonian-based quantum mechanics to study a variety of simple problems in atomic physics.
It covers the one-electron atom very well, solving Schroedinger's equation in the usual way (separation of variables into radial and angular components). Great pains are taken to be as detailed as possible which is nice for those with little or no experience in mathematical physics. It gives a brief stink on the variational technique as a method of calculating the upperbound of the ground state energy. The discussion is not particularly deep. There is a clear, example-oriented treatment of Rayleigh-Schroedinger perturbation theory (both degenerate and non-degenerate, time-dependent and time-independent). I don't think much emphasis or discussion is given to the limitations of the perturbation theory, specifically, when and why the perturbation expansion breaks down. Still, there is enough material for the student to gain a good appreciation of the method. There is not a word in this book on the WKB method. Perhaps it sees little use in atomic physics or perhaps because this method is more mathematically sophisticated than many other things and almost without fail involves the evaluation of many unfamiliar and fearsome integrals. There is also not a word on the Dirac delta function. The remaining chapters cover spin but almost entirely in the context of atomic physics and gives a introduction to many-electron atoms. The treatment of spin is reasonable but limited; focus is on the spin-orbit interaction and the Pauli Exclusion principle. There are many other important topics, such as spin dynamics in the presense of magnetic fields, NMR, and so on. Overall, what is contained in this book is well-written and worth it's price, but it lacks a lot of material important to a large scale understanding of quantum physics. Liboff is a good choice in this respect.
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