Operator Methods in Quantum Mechanics

The purpose of this volume is two-fold; to provide an introduction to the use of operator methods in quantum mechanics and to serve as a reference work on this topic. As such it should be suitable for use as a complement to senior and graduate courses in quantum mechanics. Although this is primarily a book on applications of operator methods, the presentation is made self-contained by including an introductory chapter on the formalism on quantum mechanics and by giving some background material at various points in the text. Although there has been much research on operator methods to solve quantum mechanical problems many of these results have remained scattered in the literature and therefore somewhat inaccessible to the non-specialist until now.

'van Fraasen introduces each topic with care and attention to detail ... Quantum Mechanics is a thought-provoking and largely well-written monograph expressing the author's philosophical view of quantum mechanics. The work is complemented by an extensive bibliography containing important contributions by numerous authors.' Dr S.M. Barnett, University of Strathclyde, Contemporary Physics, Volume 34, Number 2, March/April 1993 'this book will certainly become a valuable and informative reference on the use of operator methods in one-body (and two-body) quantum mechanics ... It will also provide a useful source of supplementary reading for students whose main exposure to quantum mechanics has been via the most elementary and naive approach due to Schroedinger.' Professor R.F. Bishop, UMIST, Contemporary Physics, Volume 33, Number 3, 1992 'van Fraassen's exploration of the interpretation of the models used by quantum mechanics is just as relevant to realists (if not more so) ... Few technicalities are left unexplained; all the needed group theory, measure theory, and so on, is introduced along the way with van Fraassen's characteristic clarity ... I must confess to finding Quantum Mechanics the best I have read yet. I can see myself wandering through its pages again and again.' Times Higher Education Supplement