What are the recommended books for learning the basics of quantum mechanics?

[altaf123]

good afternoon i want to learn the following topics in the lucid way:
eigen value,eigen function and related problems of particle in a box, harmonic oscillator,tunneling through barrier,wave function in cordinate and momentum representation,commutators

 

[Fredrik]

Are you asking for a book recommendation? I hope so. I'll let someone else answer, since I studied those things in a book I didn't like. (Gasiorowicz).

 

[Sonderval]

My favorite book for these basics is Morrison "Under standing quantum Physics - a User's manual".

 

[Jorriss]

So you pretty much want to learn the first semester of a QM courses!

I recommend Zettili's Quantum Mechanics text.

 

[jtbell]

How much physics and math have you studied already?

 

[bhobba]

How much physics and math have you studied already?

Exactly.

IMHO THE book to get is Ballentine - Quantum Mechanics - A Modern Approach.

However it is graduate level meaning at a minimum your mathematics needs to be up the scratch and preferably, but not totally required if your math is up to scratch, a previous exposure to QM.

As a prelude a lot of people have suggested Griffiths - Introduction To Quantum Mechanics. I have that book - its OK but way overpriced. I think David McMahon's - Quantum Mechanics Demystified is just as good and a lot cheaper. But eventually you should move onto Griffiths because of the careful axiomatic approach he adopts as well the 'correct' development of Schrodinger's equation etc via symmetries.

Thanks
Bill

 

[vanhees71]

My favorites are:

P.A.M. Dirac, The Principles of Quantum Mechanics
J. J. Sakurai, Modern Quantum Mechanics (>=2nd edition as a starter),
L. Ballentine, Quantum Mechanics, a modern development (to learn about the interpretations),
S. Weinberg, Lectures on Quantum Mechanics (for a lot of details, missed in other books)

Last but not least there is also the marvelous book by Schwinger, which however is not written in the common language of the physics community, but it's a gem from a master on the subject:

J. Schwinger, Quantum Mechanics, Symbolism of Atomic Measurements

For path integrals:

Feynman, Hibbs, Path Integrals
Kleinert, Path Integrals

 

[NegativeDept]

Exactly.
IMHO THE book to get is Ballentine - Quantum Mechanics - A Modern Approach.

However it is graduate level meaning at a minimum your mathematics needs to be up the scratch and preferably, but not totally required if your math is up to scratch, a previous exposure to QM.

As a prelude a lot of people have suggested Griffiths - Introduction To Quantum Mechanics. I have that book - its OK but way overpriced. I think David McMahon's - Quantum Mechanics Demystified is just as good and a lot cheaper. But eventually you should move onto Griffiths because of the careful axiomatic approach he adopts as well the 'correct' development of Schrodinger's equation etc via symmetries.

I'm a big fan of Griffiths, which my advisor half-mockingly calls "the dead cat book." It's very popular, though not unanimously so, with undergrad and grad students as an introductory book.

I think Ballentine is absolutely horrible as an introduction. However, I also think it's a great book for people who have spent a lot of time with QM and are tired of the "shut up and calculate" attitude. Even those who disagree with Ballentine often agree that he phrases important topics in a precise and useful way.