Quantum Physics: A Fundamental Approach to Modern Physics by John Townsend | (PDF) Free Download

Description

This brilliantly innovative textbook is intended as a first introduction to quantum mechanics and its applications. Townsend’s new text shuns the historical ordering that characterizes so-called Modern Physics textbooks and applies a truly modern approach to this subject, starting instead with contemporary single-photon and single-atom interference experiments. The text progresses naturally from a thorough introduction to wave mechanics through applications of quantum mechanics to solid-state, nuclear, and particle physics, thereby including most of the topics normally presented in a Modern Physics course. Examples of topics include blackbody radiation, Bose-Einstein condensation, the band-structure of solids and the silicon revolution, the curve of binding energy and nuclear fission and fusion, and the Standard Model of particle physics. Students can see in quantum mechanics a common thread that ties these topics into a coherent picture of how the world works, a picture that gives students confidence that quantum mechanics really works, too. The book also includes a chapter-length appendix on special relativity for the benefit of students who have not had a previous exposure to this subject. Also available is an accompanying, detailed Instructor’s Solutions Manual for adopting professors.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: Review When I read this book I immediately adopted it for my sophomore Modern Physics class. This is the best introduction to quantum mechanics available. –B. Paul Padley, Rice UniversityTownsend has written an excellent book that someone needed to write for the Modern Physics textbook market. He has given it the same care that he gave to his excellent quantum mechanics book. –Jeff Dunham, Middlebury College About the Author John S. Townsend is the Susan and Bruce Worster Professor of Physics at Harvey Mudd College, the science and engineering college of the Claremont Colleges. He received his B.S. from Duke University, his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University, and was a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellow. He has been a visiting professor at Caltech, the University of Southampton in England, Duke University and Swarthmore College, and he was a Science Fellow at the Center for International Security and Arms Control at Stanford University. He loves teaching, especially quantum physics. Townsend is also the author of A Modern Approach to Quantum Mechanics.

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐This book is not quite like all the other introductory quantum physics books out there. I have been reading and trying to look for a textbook to learn Quantum physics, and this is it. Upon reading reviews of other books on amazon I came across a comment (the reviewer was talking about Richard L. Liboff’s book) that summarizes the consensus of all other quantum textbooks in the market:”Not a great text for a course, but then again…. what quantum text *is* a good book for a quantum course?”I believe that this textbook (which is relatively new in the market) is a GREAT book for a quantum course. As the title suggest, it truly does have a “fundamental approach” to the world of quantum physics, more so when compared to all other introductory quantum books.In the end, you should really give Townsend’s book a chance! This book might not surpass Liboff’s or Grifith’s when it comes to being used as a raw “reference” text, but I can say with a high degree of confidence that there is no better book to teach undergraduates what quantum is all about.I would not be surprised if it becomes the most popular introductory quantum textbook for physics undergraduates!PS: I also appreciate the price tag that the author has set. It really feels like Townsend wrote the book to teach students and for his passion on the subject, rather than for making money off undergraduates.

⭐I am teaching myself quantum mechanics and wanted to give this book a high rating as I began studying it. By the time I finished chapter 3 I had decided not to rate the book at all. Going into chapter 4, I decided that others, at least those like me who were self-studying quantum mechanics, aught to stay away from this book.As one of the reviewers stated “The exposition strives to be clear, but the details are so obscured that that it was very unsatisfying to endure.” I could not agree more. The material presented in chapters 3+ simply did not have the cohesiveness that a book such as this would require and the mathematical rigor was “thin” and very unsatisfying. To make matters worse, many of the problems were often only remotely related to the material covered in their respective chapters.I have six books on QM and this ranked the lowest. My humble suggestion for those who would like to study quantum mechanics on their own: after getting the prerequisites in math and physics out of the way, pick a GOOD solid book on Modern physics (I used Tipler’s Modern Physics) which gives you plenty of historical , context, yet is rigorous for what it is designed to do. Then for your QM text you may want to try Zettili’s Quantum Mechanics: Concepts and Application. It is not a small book, but it is one of the better ones. Good luck to you.

⭐We are using this book in my freshman intro to modern physics course and it’s great. Quite a step up in my opinion from the book we used for our classical physics courses. Although Townsend is sometimes a bit unclear when it comes to the mathematics, for the most part it isn’t so bad. In my opinion, the book does a great job of explaining the physics, although it does require you to know some basic electrodynamics and classical physics. Another thing that I would recommend is having at least a basic background in linear algebra. Although not absolutely required in a majority of the sections it definitely helps.

⭐I believe that a student could probably go from an introductory physics course (which nowadays should touch on the basics of modern physics anyways) straight to Townsend’s more advanced Quantum Mechanics book and not lose anything. For that reason, I am not sure why he wrote this text. The exposition strives to be clear, but the details are so obscured that that it was very unsatisfying to endure.But I did appreciate that it was a “modern” modern physics text—my university used the similar McIntyre book for Quantum Mechanics and I enjoyed it very much.A major difference was that in the latter bra-ket notation was introduced immediately which was delightfully more simple than the vague verbal approach.The concreteness of the linear algebraic computations immediately gave the students a sense of learning something new and of computational ability in the subject.And throughout, the mathematical justification of the physics was much more rewarding.In all, this the least interesting physic text I have used, and I wish I could have skipped the course that used it.

⭐Great textbook for the most part. Pages started to fall out after a couple of months and there are some discrepancies among different books even though they are the same version

⭐Book was in great condition. There are some worked examples that are very helpful but at some parts it’s pretty skimpy on the details, which is frustrating especially when trying to learn quantum.

⭐It is a great book, however some of the problems omit some important steps and it is extremely hard to understand next steps. You will really need a help from your prof. Other than that worth every cent.

⭐fine book

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