''Introduction to Quantum Mechanics'', often called ''Griffiths'', is an introductory textbook on

quantum mechanics Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics that provides a description of the physical properties of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles. It is the foundation of all quantum physics including quantum chemistry, q ...

David J. Griffiths David Jeffrey Griffiths (born December 5, 1942) is an American physicist and educator. He worked at Reed College from 1978 through 2009, becoming the Howard Vollum Professor of Science before his retirement. Biography Griffiths is a graduate o ...

. The book is considered a standard undergraduate textbook in the subject. Originally published by

Pearson Education Pearson Education is a British-owned education publishing and assessment service to schools and corporations, as well for students directly. Pearson owns educational media brands including Addison–Wesley, Peachpit, Prentice Hall, eColleg ...

in 1995 with a second edition in 2005,

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer. Cambr ...

(CUP) reprinted the second edition in 2017. In 2018, CUP released a third edition of the book with Darrell F. Schroeter as co-author; this edition is known as ''Griffiths and Schroeter''.

Content (3rd edition)

* Part I: Theory ** Chapter 1: The

Wave Function A wave function in quantum physics is a mathematical description of the quantum state of an isolated quantum system. The wave function is a complex-valued probability amplitude, and the probabilities for the possible results of measurements m ...

** Chapter 2: Time-independent

Schrödinger Equation The Schrödinger equation is a linear partial differential equation that governs the wave function of a quantum-mechanical system. It is a key result in quantum mechanics, and its discovery was a significant landmark in the development of th ...

** Chapter 3:

Formalism Formalism may refer to: * Form (disambiguation) * Formal (disambiguation) * Legal formalism, legal positivist view that the substantive justice of a law is a question for the legislature rather than the judiciary * Formalism (linguistics) * Scien ...

** Chapter 4: Quantum Mechanics in Three Dimensions ** Chapter 5: Identical Particles ** Chapter 6: Symmetries and Conservation Laws * Part II: Applications ** Chapter 7: Time-independent

Perturbation Theory In mathematics and applied mathematics, perturbation theory comprises methods for finding an approximate solution to a problem, by starting from the exact solution of a related, simpler problem. A critical feature of the technique is a middl ...

** Chapter 8: The Variational Principle ** Chapter 9: The

WKB Approximation In mathematical physics, the WKB approximation or WKB method is a method for finding approximate solutions to linear differential equations with spatially varying coefficients. It is typically used for a semiclassical calculation in quantum mecha ...

** Chapter 10: Scattering ** Chapter 11: Quantum Dynamics ** Chapter 12: Afterword * Appendix:

Linear Algebra Linear algebra is the branch of mathematics concerning linear equations such as: :a_1x_1+\cdots +a_nx_n=b, linear maps such as: :(x_1, \ldots, x_n) \mapsto a_1x_1+\cdots +a_nx_n, and their representations in vector spaces and through matric ...

* Index

Reception

The book was reviewed by

John R. Taylor John Robert Taylor is British-born emeritus professor of physics at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He received his B.A. in mathematics at Cambridge University, and his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1963 with thesis ...

, among others. It has also been recommended in other, more advanced, textbooks on the subject. According to physicists Yoni Kahn of

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the n ...

and Adam Anderson of the

Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), located just outside Batavia, Illinois, near Chicago, is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory specializing in high-energy particle physics. Since 2007, Fermilab has been operat ...

, Griffiths' ''Quantum Mechanics'' covers all materials needed for questions on quantum mechanics and atomic physics in the Physics

Graduate Record Examinations The Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) is a standardized test that is an admissions requirement for many graduate schools in the United States and Canada and a few other countries. The GRE is owned and administered by Educational Testing Servi ...

(Physics GRE).

Publication history

* * * *

References

{{reflist Physics textbooks Quantum mechanics 1995 non-fiction books 2005 non-fiction books 2018 non-fiction books Prentice Hall books Cambridge University Press books Undergraduate education

Content (3rd edition)

Reception

Publication history

See also

References