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Lecture Notes
Quantum Theory
byProf. Maximilian KreuzerInstitute for Theoretical PhysicsVienna University of Technologycovering the contents of 
132.056 Quantentheorie I
and
132.062 Quantentheorie II
Edition 07/08 — Version December 29, 2007
 
Links
The current version of the notes, as well as information on lectures and exams, is available at
http://hep.itp.tuwien.ac.at/~kreuzer/QT.html
Reports of typos and errors and suggestions for improvements are appreciated, e.g. by e-mail to
 maximilian.kreuzer@tuwien.ac.at
(if possible after cross-checking with the current version).
Preface
The structure of these lecture notes is mainly motivated by the curricula of the bachelor’sand master’s programs of the faculty of physics at the Vienna University of Technology, whichrequires a division of quantum mechanics into two parts. The first part
 
Quantum Theory I: chapters 1 – 7
should make available the prerequisites for the subsequent lecture on atomic physics and hasto be covered in 45 units of 45 minutes each. After historic recollections in the introductionthe principles of quantum theory are first illustrated for one-dimensional examples in chapter 2and then presented in the proper formalism in chapter 3. In chapters 4 and 5 we solve theSchr¨odinger equation for the spherically symmetric hydrogen atom and treat the quantizationand the addition of general angular momenta, respectively. Chapter 6 introduces approximationtechniques and chapter 7 initiates relativistic quantum mechanics and derives the Pauli equationand the fine structure corrections in the non-relativistic limit of the Dirac equation.The systematic discussion of symmetries as well as identical particles and many particletheory had to be postponed to part 2,
 
Quantum Theory II: chapters 8 – 11.
In chapter 8 we start with 3-dimensional scattering theory. Transformations, symmetries andconservation laws are discussed in chapter 9 and applied to non-relativistic and relativisticcontexts. In chapter 10 we discuss many particle systems. The Hartree–Fock approximationis used as a motivation for the introduction of the occupation number representation and thequantization of the radiation field. These three chapters are largely independent so that theirorder could be permuted with little modifications. In the last chapter we discuss semiclassicalmethods and the path integral.
Acknowledgements
A first draft of these lecture notes was created by Katharina Dobes (chap. 1,6,10), WolfgangDungel (chap. 3,11), Florian Hinterschuster (chap. 4,5,9) and Daniel Winklehner (2,7,8,9) asa project work. While the text was then largely rewritten by the lecturer, the draft providedmany valuable ideas for the structure and the presentation of the contents.My acknowledgements also go to my colleagues at the Institute for Theoretical Physics forsharing their knowledge and ideas, with special thanks to Harald Grosse (Vienna University),Anton Rebhan and Karl Svozil, whose expertise was of great help, and to the late WolfgangKummer, from whom I learned quantum mechanics (and quantum field theory) in the firstplace. In addition to input from many of the books in the references I took advantage of the excellent lecture notes of Profs. Burgd¨orfer, Hafner and Kummer. Often as a first andsometimes as a last resort I used Wikipedia and Google. Last but not least, many thanks tothe students who are helping to improve these lecture notes by reporting errors and typos.
 
I
Contents
1 Introduction 1
1.1 Historical notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.2 Limitations of classical physics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41.2.1 Blackbody radiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41.2.2 The photoelectric effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61.2.3 Bohr’s theory of the structure of atoms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71.2.4 The Compton effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101.2.5 Interference phenomena . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2 Wave Mechanics and the Schr¨odinger equation 14
2.1 The Schr¨odinger equation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142.1.1 Probability density and probability current density . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162.1.2 Axioms of quantum theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172.1.3 Spreading of free wave packets and uncertainty relation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182.2 The time-independent Schr¨odinger equation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212.2.1 One-dimensional square potentials and continuity conditions . . . . . . . . . . 232.2.2 Bound states and the potential well . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252.2.3 Scattering and the tunneling effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272.2.4 Transfer matrix and scattering matrix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302.3 The harmonic oscillator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
3 Formalism and interpretation 37
3.1 Linear algebra and Dirac notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383.2 Operator calculus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413.3 Operators and Hilbert spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503.3.1 Inequalities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513.3.2 Position and momentum representations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 523.3.3 Convergence, norms and spectra of Hilbert space operators . . . . . . . . . . . 543.3.4 Self-adjoint operators and spectral representation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 573.4 Schr¨odinger, Heisenberg and interaction picture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
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