What is Sakurai: Definition and 79 Discussions

Is Modern Quantum Mechanics, 3rd Edition, by J. J. Sakurai and Jim Napolitano a good book to learn quantum mechanics from?

hello! I've been trying to read through Sakurai's Modern quantum mechanics textbook ( My goal is to finish the first 3 chapters and understand the Dirac formulation of QM specifically) but I find myself stumbling at many places. Are there any video lectures on the internet that follows this text...

The assigned textbook for my quantum mechanics class is Sakurai, but I find it too concise and struggle to solve any of the problems. I feel like I understood very little so far because of it and am looking for some alternatives/supplements. Currently I'm torn between Townsend, Ballentine, and...

Look, I am sorry for not being able to post any LaTeX. But I am stuck at a place where I feel I should not be stuck. I can not figure out how to correctly do this. I can't seem to recreate the Pauli matrices with that form using the 3 2-dimensional bases representing x, y, and z spin up/down...

Hello, I've seen some ask about math prereqs for Sakurai's Modern Quantum Mechanics, but I was wondering about the physics prereqs as well. Should classical mechanics and electrodynamics be studied beyond first-year physics courses? Also, is statistical physics needed? What are the physics...

Homework Statement Sakurai, problem 1.11 A two-state system is characterized by the Hamiltonian $$ H = H_{11} | 1 \rangle \langle 1| + H_{22} | 2 \rangle \langle 2| + H_{12} \left[ | 1 \rangle \langle 2| + | 2 \rangle \langle 1| \right] $$ where ##H_{11}##, ##H_{22}##, and ##H_{12}## are real...

I have recently received an inspection copy of the 2nd edition of Modern Quantum Mechanics by Sakurai, now co-authored by Jim Napolitano. Here goes some free publicity: I love this book! It is like the old Sakurai, simply better. I know that many here at PF recommend Sakurai for advanced...

I have taken a couple of graduate level courses in quantum mechanics and I have decided to read Sakurai's Modern Quantum Mechanics from cover to cover, partly because I liked his style and I have heard a lot of people talk highly of it. But I recently realized that the second edition of the same...

In the book of Modern Quantum physics by Sakurai I wonder how 1.6.26 can be 1.6.27.

This is regarding Sakurai Napolitano's Modern Quantum Mechanics 2nd Edition (as opposed to the revised edition). It seems that the chapter 8 on the Relativistic Quantum Mechanics is missing from all Pearson International Editions (printed in Indian subcontinent or Malaysia/Thailand [Person New...

Homework Statement Consider a particle of mass m subject to a one-dimensional potential of the following form: (1/2)k*x^2 x>0 Infinity for 0<x Find <x^2> for the ground state Homework Equations <x^2>= <Psi|x^2|Psi> The Attempt at a Solution I know the answer is 3*h/(4*m*w) but to me...

Dear friends, Can "Modern Quantum Mechanics" by Sakurai be used as a first introduction to the quantum mechanics, given that I have a professor who can guide my reading and supplementary books? I recently got an opportunity for a reading course in rigorous QM, and I thought Sakurai would be a...

Hi. I already have Sakurai and Ballentine. I am looking for another textbook at a similar level. I am considering Gottfried & Yan , "Quantum Physics" by Bellac , "Quantum Mechanics" by Auletta. Any thoughts on these textbooks or any other suitable alternatives ? I do like textbooks that have...

Homework Statement Reading Sakurai I cannot see how he gets to the end of 1.7.15 as below: Homework Equations ∫dx'|x'><x'-dx' |α> = ∫dx'|x'>{<x' |α>-Δx'∂/∂x'<x' |α>} The Attempt at a Solution I tried a Taylor expansion but cannot see how this is derived.

I'm reading section 5.2 "Time-Independent Perturbation Theory: The Degenerate Case" of the book "Modern Quantum Mechanics" by Sakurai and Napolitano and I have trouble with some parts of the calculations. At firsts he explains that there is a g-dimensional subspace(which he calls D) of...

Hello everyone, First of all, I am a third year undergraduate student. I have just finished studying (on my own) Sakurai' s "Modern Quantum Mechanics" (and I have done almost all exercises). I have taken courses in Complex Analysis (contour integration, residues etc) and in PDE (unfortunately...

What I'm going to need to learn from this book? I'm going to need read something before?

Homework Statement Homework Equations This is a passage from Modern Quantum Mechanics by Sakurai ( page 26~27) The Attempt at a Solution I wonder how i can get 1.4.8 , 1.4.9 equations . and what do they mean?

Homework Statement Sakurai Modern Quantum Mechanics Revised Edition. Page 81. density matrix p = 3/4 [1 0; 0 0] + 1/4 [1/2 1/2; 1/2 1/2]. We leave it as an exercise to the reader the task of showing this ensemble can be decomposed in ways other than 3.4.24Homework Equations 3.4.24 w( sz +...

Hi Guys, I am taking a quantum mechanics course next semester that follows Sakurai's book. I was wondering if there was some mathematics I should study over break in preparation for this course. I have taken so far: Calc 1-3 ODEs PDEs Linear Algebra An elementary course in group theory Ill...

What math should a person know to THOROUGHLY understand everything in this textbook (J. J Sakurai. Modern Quantum Mechanics)? (For refrence) cal2 cal3 diffeq1(ode) diffeq2(pde) linealg vectorcalc realanal1 realanal2

Homework Statement I am currently working on a seemingly straightforward eigenvalue problem appearing as problem 1.8 in Sakurai's Modern QM. He asks us to find an eigenket \vert\vec S\cdot\hat n;+\rangle with \vec S\cdot\hat n\vert\vec S\cdot\hat n;+\rangle = \frac\hbar 2\vert\vec S\cdot\hat...

Hello science buddies, This is my first post in this forum. Ok let me get to the point directly, currently I self-study graduate level quantum theory and the main book I'm using is Sakurai's. But I think for self studying it's better to also have a look at lecture notes, first because it's much...

What math should a person know to THOROUGHLY understand everything in this textbook(J. J Sakurai. Modern Quantum Mechanics)? (For refrence) cal2 cal3 diffeq1(ode) diffeq2(pde) linealg vectorcalc realanal1 realanal2

So I'm trying to work my way through Sakurai's quantum in prep for grad school, and I'm so tied up by one of his steps in a theorem that I can't help but think the logic is flawed. It's theorem 1.1 on page 17 of the second edition. The theorem is as follows: The eigenvalues of a Hermitian...

Hello all, I am beginning a course in QM with Sakurai's 2nd Edition book on QM. In one of our problems, he defines a matrix as the sum of a scalar and a dot product... This seems like nonsense to me, but he uses the same notation in the next problem, so I am guessing this is some unorthodox...

Hi, So, I am working through section 5.2 of Sakurai's book which is "Time Independent Perturbation Theory: The Degenerate Case", and I see a few equations I'm having some trouble reconciling with probably because of notation. These are equations 5.2.3, 5.2.4, 5.2.5 and 5.2.7. First, we...

In Sakurai (Quantum Mechanics) (See attached). What is meant by "which is what we expect by substitution of ∇' "? Do they mean that I have to substitute it above and I should get equation (2.6.30)? Because I tried but couldn't simplify further. Thanks in advance.

hello guys Suppose an electron is in the spin state alpha=(a,b). if s_y is measured, what is the probability of result h/2 ? s_y eigenvector for +h/2 is |y+>=1/sqrt(2) (1,i)) so the probabilty is (<y+|alpha>)^2 . but in the solution i attached , the solution is different ! I'm confused ...

Hello! I am studying the Sakurai book on Quantum mechanics and I am doing a problem. I have the solutions to the problems to help me understand the material better but I do not understand this solution. Homework Statement SEE "Sakurai Problem 1" in attachments K is the propagator...

From "Modern Quantum Mechanics, revised edition" by J.J. Sakurai, page 196. Equation (3.6.4), 1-i \left( \frac{\delta \phi}{\hbar} \right) L_z = 1 - i \left( \frac{\delta \phi}{\hbar} \right) (x p_y - y p_x ) Making this act on an arbitrary position eigenket \mid x', y', z' \rangle...

From "Modern Quantum Mechanics, revised edition" by J. J. Sakurai, page 181. Equation (3.4.27), at some time t_0, the density operator is given by \rho(t_0) = \sum_i w_i \mid \alpha^{(i)} \rangle \langle \alpha^{(i)} \mid Equation (3.4.28), at a later time, the state ket changes from \mid...

From page 91 of "Modern Quantum Mechanics, revised edition", by J. J. Sakurai. Some operators used below are, a = \sqrt{\frac{m \omega}{2 \hbar}} \left(x + \frac{ip}{m \omega} \right)\\ a^{\dagger} = \sqrt{\frac{m \omega}{2 \hbar}} \left(x - \frac{ip}{m \omega} \right)\\ N = a^{\dagger}...

From page 54 of 'Modern Quantum Mechanics, revised edition" by J. J. Sakurai. Obtaining equation (1.7.15), \begin{eqnarray} \left(1- \frac{ip\Delta x'}{\hbar} \right) \mid \alpha \rangle & = & \int dx' \mathcal{T} ( \Delta x' ) \mid x' \rangle \langle x' \mid \alpha \rangle \\ & = & \int...

From "Modern Quantum Mechanics, revised edition" by J.J. Sakurai, page 56. In equation (1.7.31) it is given, \begin{eqnarray} \delta(x' - x'') & = & | N |^2 \int dp' \exp \left[ \frac{ip'(x'-x'')}{\hbar} \right] \\ & = & 2 \pi \hbar | N |^2 \delta(x' - x'' ) \end{eqnarray} How does the...

From page 46 of "Modern Quantum Mechanics, revised edition", by J.J. Sakurai. In equation (1.6.24), \left[\mathbf{x}, \mathcal{T}(d\mathbf{x'}) \right] = d \mathbf{x'} \mid \mathbf{x'} + d \mathbf{x'} \rangle \approx d \mathbf{x'} \mid \mathbf{x'} \rangle It is written: "where the error...

From 'Modern Quantum Mechanics, revised edition' by J.J. Sakurai, In page 44 the translation (spacial displacement) operator \mathcal{T}(d \boldsymbol{x'}) is introduced. \mathcal{T}(d \boldsymbol{x'}) \mid \boldsymbol{x'} \rangle = \mid \boldsymbol{x'} + d \boldsymbol{x'} \rangle It is...

Homework Statement From page 34 of 'Modern Quantum Mechanics' by J.J. Sakurai, The book considers 2 cases of sequential Sern-Gerlach like selective measurements. First case: There are 3 filters. The first (A) filter selects \mid a' \rangle and rejects all others, second (B) filter...

In page 26 of 'Modern Quantum Mechanics (Revised edition)' by J.J. Sakurai, equation (1.4.9), they find the S_x + ket, \mid S_x;+ \rangle = \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}} \mid + \rangle + \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}} e^{i \delta_1} \mid - \rangle with \delta_1 real. What is this \delta_1? Furthermore, equation...

Author: J. J. Sakurai (Author), Jim J. Napolitano (Author) Title: Modern Quantum Mechanics Amazon Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0805382917/?tag=pfamazon01-20 Prerequisities: Contents: Contents 1. Fundamental Concepts 1.1 The Stern-Gerlach Experiment 1.2 kets, Bras, and...

On page 240 in Sakurai's book "Modern Quantum Mechanics" (Revised edition) you can find a proof of the Wigner-Eckart theorem. I don't understand how you can deduce equation (3.10.36) from equation (3.10.35). I also don't understand why this proportionality factor is independent of m, q and m'...

Hi, I was wondering if anyone has had a chance to check out Sakurai/Napolitano's 2nd edition of Modern Quantum mechanics. Better or worse than the revised first? Thanks!

In Sakurai's Modern Quantum Mechanics, he develops the Dirac notation of bras and kets. In one part, he states (page 17): <B|X|A> = (<A|X^|B>)* = <A|X^|B>* where X^ denotes the Hermitian adjoint (the conjugate transpose) of the operator X. My question is, since a bra is the conjugate...

Hi, At one point in Chapter 1 of Sakurai he is deriving the momentum operator in the position basis - I just don't see how he makes some of the mathematical leaps (at least leaps for me) between the following expressions \int dx' |x' + \Delta x'> < x' | \alpha > = \int dx' | x' > < x' -...

The required textbook for my grad level quantum course is Sakurai's quantum book, 2nd edition. However, there seem to be several versions of the 2nd edition text, ranging from $25 to $155. Is the newest version of the 2nd edition book significantly different/better from other versions that...

Hi, I was reading Sakurai's "Invariance Principles and Elementary particles". In first chapter, second paragraph (page 3), there is a line "The analogous dimensionless constant that characterizes the gravitational repulsion between two protons is ...". Any body likes to comment on this, why...

I'm a junior undergraduate who has yet to take quantum mechanics, although I did have a brief introduction to basic wave mechanics (square well, harmonic oscillator, tunneling, the hydrogen atom, etc.) in "modern physics" course. I've also watched and taken notes from the Quantum Mechanics...

I am working out of Sakurai and he says the integral with respect to p` of exp(ip`(x`-x``)/h-bar) is 2-Pi-h-bar times the dirac delta function of (x`-x``). (Sorry, I am not sure how to make actual integrals). I was wondering why this is true? For example, if x` = x``, isn't the integral...

In Modern Quantum Mechanics (2nd ed.) by J.J. Sakurai, in section 4.4 on 'The Time-Reversal Discrete Symmetry' he derives the time-reversal operator, \Theta, for the spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ case as (pg.: 277, eq. (4.4.65)): \Theta = \eta e^{\frac{-i \pi S_{y}}{\hbar}}K = -i \eta \left(...