Books for relativity and quantum mechanics

[zeldovic]

I have been looking online for books on introductory level quantum mechanics and General relativity that provide a mathematical introduction to these theories. Most of the books I have read until now provide a laymans introduction to these things.

Since I'm only pursuing this as a hobby and most of the recommendations I have received have been on the Internet, I have not come across many really technical books. I would really appreciate some recommendations for this.

Thanks.

 

[atyy]

Bram Gaasbeek's quantum mechanics seem quite good to me, and I recommend them except for the last chapter on interpretation. Nowadays, another route to introductory quantum mechanics is via quantum computation, for which Preskill's notes are excellent.

http://arxiv.org/abs/1007.4184
Bram Gaasbeek, An Introductory Course on Quantum Mechanics

http://www.theory.caltech.edu/people/preskill/ph229/#lecture
John Preskill, Quantum Computation

http://physics.ucsd.edu/~mcgreevy/w14/lecture-notes.html
John McGreevy, Quantum Mechanics Lecture Notes

For general relativity, here are some notes I found helpful.

http://www.blau.itp.unibe.ch/GRLecturenotes.html
Matthias Blau, Lecture Notes on General Relativity

http://preposterousuniverse.com/grnotes/
Sean Carroll, Lecture Notes on General Relativity

https://sites.google.com/site/winitzki/index/topics-in-general-relativity
Sergei Winitzki, Topics in General Relativity

 

[George Jones]

What background (acquired via formal or informal study) do you have in physics and mathematics?

The answer to this question will help folks figure out what to recommend.

 

[zeldovic]

Bram Gaasbeek's quantum mechanics seem quite good to me, and I recommend them except for the last chapter on interpretation. Nowadays, another route to introductory quantum mechanics is via quantum computation, for which Preskill's notes are excellent.

http://arxiv.org/abs/1007.4184
Bram Gaasbeek, An Introductory Course on Quantum Mechanics

http://www.theory.caltech.edu/people/preskill/ph229/#lecture
John Preskill, Quantum Computation

http://physics.ucsd.edu/~mcgreevy/w14/lecture-notes.html
John McGreevy, Quantum Mechanics Lecture Notes

For general relativity, here are some notes I found helpful.

http://www.blau.itp.unibe.ch/GRLecturenotes.html
Matthias Blau, Lecture Notes on General Relativity

http://preposterousuniverse.com/grnotes/
Sean Carroll, Lecture Notes on General Relativity

https://sites.google.com/site/winitzki/index/topics-in-general-relativity
Sergei Winitzki, Topics in General Relativity

Thank you. I merely glanced over the Table of Contents on some of these, they look pretty good. Will read them in detail soon. :)

What background (acquired via formal or informal study) do you have in physics and mathematics?

The answer to this question will help folks figure out what to recommend.

As far as math goes, I have a decent engineering level understanding of it(calculus, series, probability etc). I also have a good understanding of the theories behind Relativity and Quantum mechanics. It is not like reading about curvatures or quantum entanglements would confuse me, but I have never really been able to find resources on the mathematics behind it. That is what I am looking for. I hope that gives you some ideas.

 

[vanhees71]

Blau's notes on GR are excellent. Particularly I liked the following citation from the introduction:

To be precise, by special relativity I mean the covariant formulation in terms of the
Minkowski metric and Lorentz tensors etc.; special relativity is (regardless of what
you may have been taught) not fundamentally a theory about people changing trains
erratically, running into barns with poles, or doing strange things to their twins; rather,
it is a theory of a fundamental symmetry principle of physics, namely that the laws of
physics are invariant under Lorentz transformations and that they should therefore also
be formulated in a way which makes this symmetry manifest.

 

[A AM ARYA]

I have been looking online for books on introductory level quantum mechanics and General relativity that provide a mathematical introduction to these theories. Most of the books I have read until now provide a laymans introduction to these things.

Since I'm only pursuing this as a hobby and most of the recommendations I have received have been on the Internet, I have not come across many really technical books. I would really appreciate some recommendations for this.

Thanks.

Would you please give me the list of books thatt gave you layman's intro to relativity?After reading The Dancing WuLi Masters & Q.E.D:The strange theory of light and matter,I need a book on relativity with nontechnical aspect...