The Semiclassical Way to Dynamics and Spectroscopy / / Eric J. Heller.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Princeton University Press Complete eBook-Package 2018
• VerfasserIn: Heller, Eric J.,
• Place / Publishing House: Princeton, NJ : : Princeton University Press, , [2018]; ©2018
• Year of Publication: 2018
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (472 p.) :; 213 b/w illus.

A graduate-level text that examines the semiclassical approach to quantum mechanicsPhysical systems have been traditionally described in terms of either classical or quantum mechanics. But in recent years, semiclassical methods have developed rapidly, providing deep physical insight and computational tools for quantum dynamics and spectroscopy. In this book, Eric Heller introduces and develops this subject, demonstrating its power with many examples. In the first half of the book, Heller covers relevant aspects of classical mechanics, building from them the semiclassical way through the semiclassical limit of the Feynman path integral. The second half of the book applies this approach to various kinds of spectroscopy, such as molecular spectroscopy and electron imaging and quantum dynamical systems with an emphasis on tunneling. Adopting a distinctly time-dependent viewpoint, Heller argues for semiclassical theories from experimental and theoretical vantage points valuable to research in physics and chemistry. Featuring more than two hundred figures, the book provides a geometric, phase-space, and coordinate-space pathway to greater understanding.Filled with practical examples and applications, The Semiclassical Way to Dynamics and Spectroscopy is a comprehensive presentation of the tools necessary to successfully delve into this unique area of quantum mechanics.A comprehensive approach for using classical mechanics to do quantum mechanicsMore than two hundred figures to assist intuitionEmphasis on semiclassical Green function and wave packet perspective, as well as tunneling and spectroscopyChapters include quantum mechanics of classically chaotic systems, quantum scarring, and other modern dynamical topics

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- PART I. CLASSICAL MECHANICS WITH AN EYE TO QUANTUM MECHANICS -- Chapter 1. The Lagrangian and the Action -- Chapter 2. Canonical Transformations -- Chapter 3. Time Evolution in Phase Space -- Chapter 4. Classical Resonance Theory -- PART II. QUANTUM AND SEMICLASSICAL MECHANICS -- Chapter 5. Aspects of Time-Dependent Quantum Mechanics -- Chapter 6. Stationary Phase Integration -- Chapter 7. Feynman Path Integral to Van Vleck Propagator -- Chapter 8. Stressing the VVMG Propagator -- Chapter 9. Phase Space Representations of Wavefunctions and Densities -- Chapter 10. Gaussian Wavepackets and Linear Dynamics -- Chapter 11. Gaussian Wavepacket Methods for Nonlinear Time Evolution -- Chapter 12. WKB Methods -- Chapter 13. Tunneling -- Chapter 14. Bixon-Jortner and Fano-Anderson Models -- Chapter 15. Power of Degeneracy -- PART III. APPLICATIONS TO SPECTROSCOPY -- Chapter 16. Born-Oppenheimer Approximation and Its Implications -- Chapter 17. Time-Dependent Formulations of Spectroscopy -- Chapter 18. Semiclassical Spectroscopy -- Chapter 19. Semiclassical Dynamics and One-Photon Spectroscopy -- Chapter 20. Semiclassical Dynamics and Two-Photon Spectroscopy: Raman Scattering -- PART IV. CHAOS AND QUANTUM MECHANICS -- Chapter 21. Aspects of Quantum Chaology -- Chapter 22. Quantum Scars of Classical Periodic Orbits -- Chapter 23. Random Waves and Nodal Structure of Eigenstates -- Chapter 24. Branched Flow -- Chapter 25. Decoherence -- Chapter 26. Multiple Scattering Theory -- Appendix -- Further Reading -- Bibliography -- Index