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Texting Quantum

Writer's picture: Mishkat BhattacharyaMishkat Bhattacharya

This post continues looking at the current interest in quantum physics. In an era which has declared the importance of training a 'quantum' workforce, it may be relevant to discuss the books we use to teach quantum physics.


Number


The first observation I would like to make here is with regard to the preponderance of textbooks, both at the graduate as well as undergraduate levels, in quantum physics, in comparison to smaller number available in other core physics subjects, such as classical mechanics or electromagnetism.


A quick count on Google brings up an approximate number of textbooks (I included both graduate and undergraduate) in quantum mechanics (70), classical mechanics (20) and electromagnetism (20). Clearly quantum is winning (so much so that a professor I knew once exhaled to me: "The one thing I hope never to do is to write a book on quantum mechanics", as if it was a fate worse than death). Why is this the case?


I do not know for sure, but I have a suspicion: quantum mechanics has a reputation for being a subject full of mysteries - perhaps that is why there is a demand for having it explained over and over again.


The interesting thing about this observation, if true, is that the applications of quantum mechanics - the material one needs to learn in order to become an expert at using it practically - are actually not that abstruse. The physical principles are well established (in several cases they carry over from classical particle and wave physics) and the mathematical techniques (linear algebra and differential equations for the most part) are quite standard and often used in other areas (e.g. classical mechanics and electromagnetism). And most textbooks on quantum mechanics focus on the applications and concrete examples of quantum phenomena.


What has been debated, rather, and are more abstruse to follow, are the various interpretations of quantum mechanics. But few instructional textbooks spend any time on this material; though there are specialized textbooks at the graduate level, published, for example, by Springer (full disclosure: I am a series editor for them).


A side comment on this thought: when I teach Modern Physics or Quantum Mechanics to undergraduates I find they are relatively placid when I am writing down linear algebra or differential equations on the board. But they become noticeably perky when I discuss concepts such as Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle or entanglement or teleportation. The vehemence of their interest and the incredulity in their faces in those cases almost leads me to conclude that they took the course in the expectation of undergoing a mystical experience.


Variety


Whatever the reasons for the abundance of quantum texts, one nice thing is that it has allowed for a diversity of approaches and styles.


For example, there are books by particle theorists (Gottfried, Gasiorowicz), atomic and nuclear theorists (Merzbacher), particle theorist + experimentalist combines (Das and Melissinos), optics experimentalists (McIntyre), electrical engineers (Kono), etc.


There are likewise texts of varying styles: the short accessible introduction (P. C. W. Davies), the compendium of problems (Flugge, Aruldhas), the focus on the position representation (Griffiths), the focus on the abstract state vector (Townsend), concentrated and terse (Dirac, Landau and Lifshitz), single volume but extensive (Baym, Greiner, Dick), multivolume tomes (Messiah, Cohen-Tannoudji - the three-volume series you presumably want to have along if you're stranded on a desert island). etc.


Undoubtedly, I have missed the favorites of many readers (Shankar and Sakurai, for example, not to mention the Feynman lectures). Apologies - as I said, there are a lot of them.


Finally, with the global interest in quantum physics picking up substantially, there are now texts aimed not only at the traditional audience of physicists, but also engineers, mathematicians and computer scientists. There are more general books, of course, for beginners, dummies and everyone.


Perhaps I should add here that online courses are also available, from EdX and MIT for example. A more general survey of courses is available from Coursera. Any number of courses are also available on YouTube. Clarification: none of these entities pay me and I have not vetted any of the mentioned content in detail. If you use any of them you are on your own.


Prognosis


This is what the lay of the land looks like, as far as quantum physics pedagogy is concerned, currently. I am curious to see if, with all kinds of communities (business, medicine, banking, autotomotive, etc.) connecting to quantum technologies, a new set of textbooks will come into the instructional market.








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