Den Geist zu verstehen, ist ein uraltes menschliches Bedürfnis – erfahren wir doch mehr über uns und die „human conditions“. Seitdem die Parallele spätestens seit Henry Stapp zwischen den großen Theorien – der Quanten-, System- und Informationstheorie – und zentralen Eigenschaften des Geistes immer offenkundiger wurde, zeigt sich allmählich Licht am Ende des langen Tunnels: das wissenschaftliche interdisziplinäre Verständnis des Geistigen rückt in greifbare Nähe. Hinzu kommen hochaktuelle und vielversprechende Ansätze in der Künstlichen Intelligenz auf Basis der sog. Quantenbiologie als sog. Quantum Intelligence. Frei nach dem Motto von Richard Feynman „Was ich nicht bauen kann, das verstehe ich auch nicht“; wird die Brücke zwischen technologischen und theoretischen Erkenntnissen geschlagen, um dem „Geheimnis Geist“ einen entscheidenden Schritt näher zu rücken.
This new, third volume of Cohen-Tannoudji's groundbreaking textbook covers advanced topics of quantum mechanics such as uncorrelated and correlated identical particles, the quantum theory of the electromagnetic field, absorption, emission and scattering of photons by atoms, and quantum entanglement. Written in a didactically unrivalled manner, the textbook explains the fundamental concepts in seven chapters which are elaborated in accompanying complements that provide more detailed discussions, examples and applications. * Completing the success story: the third and final volume of the quantum mechanics textbook written by 1997 Nobel laureate Claude Cohen-Tannoudji and his colleagues Bernard Diu and Franck Laloë * As easily comprehensible as possible: all steps of the physical background and its mathematical representation are spelled out explicitly * Comprehensive: in addition to the fundamentals themselves, the books comes with a wealth of elaborately explained examples and applications Claude Cohen-Tannoudji was a researcher at the Kastler-Brossel laboratory of the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris where he also studied and received his PhD in 1962. In 1973 he became Professor of atomic and molecular physics at the Collège des France. His main research interests were optical pumping, quantum optics and atom-photon interactions. In 1997, Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, together with Steven Chu and William D. Phillips, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his research on laser cooling and trapping of neutral atoms. Bernard Diu was Professor at the Denis Diderot University (Paris VII). He was engaged in research at the Laboratory of Theoretical Physics and High Energy where his focus was on strong interactions physics and statistical mechanics. Franck Laloë was a researcher at the Kastler-Brossel laboratory of the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris. His first assignment was with the University of Paris VI before he was appointed to the CNRS, the French National Research Center. His research was focused on optical pumping, statistical mechanics of quantum gases, musical acoustics and the foundations of quantum mechanics.
This textbook introduces the reader to quantum theory and quantum chemistry. The textbook is meant for 2 nd – 3 rd year bachelor students of chemistry or physics, but also for students of related disciplines like materials science, pharmacy, and bioinformatics. At first, quantum theory is introduced, starting with experimental results that made it inevitable to go beyond classical physics. Subsequently, the Schrödinger equation is discussed in some detail. Some few examples for which the Schrödinger equation can be solved exactly are treated with special emphasis on relating the results to real systems and interpreting the mathematical results in terms of experimental observations. Ultimately, approximate methods are presented that are used when applying quantum theory in the field of quantum chemistry for the study of real systems like atoms, molecules, and crystals. Both the foundations for the different methods and a broader range of examples of their applications are presented. The textbook assumes no prior knowledge in quantum theory. Moreover, special emphasis is put on interpreting the mathematical results and less on an exact mathematical derivations of those. Finally, each chapter closes with a number of questions and exercises that help in focusing on the main results of the chapter. Many of the exercises include answers.