Foundations of Quantum Mechanics

Description

In this second volume on the Foundations of Quantum Mechanics we shall show how it is possible, using the methodology presented in Volume I, to deduce some of the most important applications of quantum mechanics. These deductions are concerned with the structures of the microsystems rather than the technical details of the construction of preparation and registration devices. Accordingly. the only new axioms (relative to Volume I) which are introduced are concerned with the relationship between ensemble operators W, effect operators F, and certain construction principles of the preparation and registration devices. The applications described here are concerned with the measurement of atomic and molecular structure and of collision experiments. An additional and essential step towards a theoretical description of the preparation and registration procedures is carried out in Chapter XVII. Here we demonstrate how microscopic collision processes (that is, processes which can be described by quantum mechanics) can be used to obtain novel preparation and registration procedures if we take for granted the knowledge of only a few macroscopic preparation and registration procedures. By clever use of collision processes we are often able to obtain very precise results for the operators Wand F which describe the total procedures from a very imprecise knowledge of the macroscopic parts of the preparation and regis­ tration processes. In this regard experimental physicists have done brilliant work. In this sense Chapter XVII represents a general theoretical foundation for the procedures used by experimental physicists. Front Matter....Pages i-xvi Representation of Hilbert Spaces by Function Spaces....Pages 1-39 Equations of Motion....Pages 40-60 The Spectrum of One-Electron Systems....Pages 61-103 Spectrum of Two-Electron Systems....Pages 104-116 Selection Rules and the Intensity of Spectral Lines....Pages 117-123 Spectra of Many-Electron Systems....Pages 124-176 Molecular Spectra and the Chemical Bond....Pages 177-214 Scattering Theory....Pages 215-302 The Measurement Process and the Preparation Process....Pages 303-354 Quantum Mechanics, Macrophysics and Physical World Views....Pages 355-374 Back Matter....Pages 375-416