Help please, need advice on what to study to understand

[rwooduk]

the calculations given in a specific paper.

I'm attempting to understand Eberleins calculations in her paper "sonoluminescence as quantum vacuum radiation".

Would someone who is familiar with quantum mechanics have a quick look at the paper and tell me a good place to start?

Ive only done Quantum Mechanics 1 at Uni and I'm a little lost.

Or if someone could explain these terms from her abstract:

"... is calculated in the Hamilton formalism" ---- what is the Hamilton formalism?

"... governed by the transition matrix element of the radiation pressure." ---- what is a transition matrix element? and how can it relate to a physical quantity such as radiation pressure?Any input at this point would really be appreciated,

thanks

Paper:

http://journals.aps.org/prl/pdf/10.1103/PhysRevLett.76.3842

 

[Demystifier]

Perhaps you migh start with studying
Quantum Mechanics The Theoretical Minimum
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0465036678/?tag=pfamazon01-20

 

[DrClaude]

I'm attempting to understand Eberleins calculations in her paper "sonoluminescence as quantum vacuum radiation".

Would someone who is familiar with quantum mechanics have a quick look at the paper and tell me a good place to start?

The theory used in the PRL comes from a previous publication of hers: http://journals.aps.org/pra/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevA.53.2772

You have to start there if you want to understand anything from the PRL (there is too little information in it, as with most letters).

As for the level of QM, it looks like advanced undergraduate, and a book such as Sakurai's Modern Quantum Mechanics should suffice. The bigger challenge is that you have to have a very good knowledge of Quantum Optics also. The classic textbook is Loudon's The Quantum Theory of Light, but I also like the book by Fox.

"... is calculated in the Hamilton formalism" ---- what is the Hamilton formalism?

You misquoted that, it's "Hamiltonian," and you should already know what that is

"... governed by the transition matrix element of the radiation pressure." ---- what is a transition matrix element? and how can it relate to a physical quantity such as radiation pressure?

As I said: Quantum Optics!