Publication of Volume III of Quantum Mechanics by EDP Sciences

Today, 07 September 2017, the long-awaited Volume III of Quantum Mechanics: fermions, bosons, photons, correlations and entanglement, authored by *Claude Cohen-Tannoudji (Nobel Prize in Physics), *Franck Laloë and Bernard Diu, is released in bookshops.

This work follows on from the first two volumes, Quantum Mechanics – Volumes I and II (published by Éditons Hermann, first edition in 1973). It is part of the Savoirs actuels collection (EDP Sciences), edited by Michèle Leduc.

This third volume of quantum mechanics follows the same approach as the previous volumes, with all the steps in the reasoning explained and the calculations detailed. Each chapter is followed by a series of supplements designed to apply the knowledge acquired to a number of interesting examples. The book is aimed at physicists and chemists who are already familiar with the basic principles of quantum mechanics.

The first part of the book deals with the study of sets of identical particles, the formalism of creation and annihilation operators, field operators, etc. Numerous examples are treated in the supplements, in particular mean-field methods (Hartree-Fock equations for fermions, Gross-Pitaevskii equations for bosons). Numerous examples are treated in the supplements, in particular mean-field methods (Hartree-Fock equations for fermions, Gross-Pitaevskii equations for bosons). Quantum mechanical pairing is introduced by treating fermions (‘BCS’ theory, for Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer) and bosons (‘Bogolubov’ theory) in the same general framework. The second part deals with the quantum theory of the electromagnetic field: spontaneous emission, multi-photon transitions, the dressed atom, etc., with perspectives on experimental methods such as optical pumping and the cooling and trapping of atoms by laser beams. A final chapter deals with quantum entanglement, the argument of Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen and Bell’s theorem, again stressing the importance of correlations.

Available on laboutique.edpsciences.fr

* Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, Franck Laloë and Michèle Leduc are LKB members