Table Of ContentClassics in Mathematics
Siegfried FlUgge Practical Quantum Mechanics
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Siegfried Fliigge was born on March 16,1912 in
Dresden. He studied physics in Dresden, Frank
furt, and Gottingen, where he completed his
doctorate in 1933 under the supervision of Max
Born. After holding positions at the universities of
Frankfurt and Leipzig, he worked in Berlin as a
theorist-in-residence with Otto Hahn and Lise
Meitner. Here he witnessed the historical moment
of nuclear fission and took an active part in its
interpretation.
In 1944 Fliigge became professor in Konigsberg.
He taught in Gottingen from 1945 to 1947 when he
accepted a chair in theoretical physics in Marburg.
Finally, in 1961, he followed a call to Freiburg
where he taught until his retirement in 1977-He
died in December 1997.
Fliigge worked primarily in theoretical nuclear
physics, but he also published widely in quantum
physics, astrophysics, and other areas. His numer
ous textbooks served as standard references to
generations of students. He also single-handedly
edited the monumental Encyclopedia of Physics.
Siegfried Flugge
Practical
Quantum Mechanics
Reprint of the 1994 Edition
Springer
Originally published as Vol. 177 and 178 of the
Grundlehren der mathematischen Wissenschaften
Mathematics Subject Classification (1991): Primary 81-01, 81-02, 81A06,
81AlO, 81A63, 81A69, 81A75, 81A81; Secondary 34E20, 35JI0
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Fliigge, Siegfried.
(Recherunethoden der Quantentheorie. Eng1ish]
Practical quantum mechanics I Siegfried Fliigge. --2nd print 1994
p. em. --(Classics in mathematics)
Includes index.
ISBN 3540650350 (soft: alk. paper)
1. Quantum theory. 2. Mathematical physics. I. Title. II. Series.
QC174. 12. F5813 1999
530.12--ddal
Photograph of Siegfried Flfigge by kind permission of Gertrud Farber
ISSN 1431-0821
ISBN-13: 978-3-540-65035-5 e-ISBN-13: 978-3-642-61995-3
DOl: 10.1007/978-3-642-61995-3
This work is subject to copyright All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is
concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting,
reproduction on microfilm or in any other way, and storage in data banks. Duplication of this publication or
parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the German Copyright Law of September 9,1965, in its
current version, and permission for use must always be obtained from Springer-Verlag. Violations are liable
for prosecution under the German Copyright Law.
C Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 1999
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks etc. in this publication does not imply,
even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and
regulations and therefore free for general use.
SPIN 10684602 4113143-543210 - Printed on acid-free paper
Siegfried Flugge
Practical
Quantum Mechanics
With 78 Figures
Springer-Verlag
Berlin Heidelberg New York
London Paris Tokyo
Hong Kong Barcelona
Budapest
Prof. Dr. Siegfried Flugge
Fakultat fiir Physik der Universitat Freiburg i. Br.
The first English edition of this book has been
published in two volumes as:
Die Grundlehren der mathematischen Wissenschaften,
Band 177 and 178
AMS Subject Classification (1970)
Primary 81-01, 81-02, 81 A 06,81 A 10, 81 A 63,81 A 69,81 A 75,81 A 81
Secondary 34 E 20, 35 J 10
Second Printing 1994
ISBN 3-540-07050-8 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg New York
ISBN 0-387-07050-8 Springer-Verlag New York Heidelberg Berlin
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 70-140508
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or
part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting,
reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilm or in
any other way, and storage in data banks. Duplication of this publication or
parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the German Copyright
Law of September 9, 1965, in its current version, and permission for use must
always be obtained from Springer-Verlag. Violations are liable for prosecution
under the German Copyright Law.
© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 1971
Printed in Germany
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such
names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and there
fore free for general use.
SPIN: 10470346 4113140 -5 4 3 2 1 0 - Printed on acid-free paper
Preface
This work was first published in 1947 in German under the title "Re
chenmethoden der Quantentheorie". It was meant to serve a double
purpose: to help both, the student when first confronted with quantum
mechanics and the experimental scientist, who has never before used it
as a tool, to learn how to apply the general theory to practical problems
of atomic physics. Since that early date, many excellent books have been
written introducing into the general framework of the theory and thus
indispensable to a deeper understanding. It seems, however, that
the more practical side has been somewhat neglected, except, of course,
for the flood of special monographs going into broad detail on rather
restricted topics. In other words, an all-round introduction to the
practical use of quantum mechanics seems, so far, not to exist and may
still be helpful.
It was in the hope of filling this gap that the author has fallen in
with the publishers' wish to bring the earlier German editions up to
date and to make the work more useful to the worldwide community
of science students and scientists by writing the new edition in English.
From the beginning there could be no doubt that the work had to be
much enlarged. New approximation methods and other developments,
especially in the field of scattering, had to be added. It seemed necessary
to include relativistic quantum mechanics and to offer, at least, a glimpse
of radiation theory as an example of wave field quantization. The
choice of the problems, included in the old days in a somewhat happy
go-lucky way, had now to be carefully reconsidered.
Thus a total of about twice as many problems as in the last German
edition has resulted. Not one of the original problems has been simply
translated; not more than about fifty have only undergone reshaping
from the earlier text; the bulk, however, is going to be presented here
for the first time. Nevertheless, the general character has remained the
same, with perhaps a slight tendency to arrive at even more applicable
results and numerical values at the end of each problem.
The more elementary problems, such as square-well potentials, have
not been omitted but somewhat abridged. The general introduction to
the German edition, some twenty o'dd pages surveying the basic equa-
VI Preface
tions and their meaning, has been discarded. Any student using the
problems will be sufficiently well acquainted with the general framework
to justify that omission. On the other hand, the extensive use of special
functions made throughout the work seemed to make a mathematical
appendix useful in which such formulae as occur in the problems have
been collected and, in part, derived.
With considerable hesitation but giving way to the publishers'
practical arguments the author has consented to having this edition
divided into two separate volumes, hoping that no serious damage has
thus been done to the intrinsic structure and continuity of the work.
To facilitate its use, the complete index for both parts has been printed
twice and will appear at the end of each volume. The numbers, there
fore, refer to the problems in question, not to pages.
Hinterzarten, March 1971
The Author
Preface to the Paperback Edition
More than three years have elapsed, since this work appeared as a
two-volume cloth edition. Author and publisher have been much
gratified to learn how well it was received by scientists in many coun
tries and how useful it proved to students of physics. To serve as a
regular supplement to text books, however, it was hampered by its
necessarily high price. Hence, the author has gratefully accepted the
publisher's suggestion of a much less expensive one-volume Springer
Study Edition; the more so, since it has always been -his wish, as al
ready expressed in the former edition's preface, to see the total work
re-united in one volume. To save every conceivable additional cost, no
corrections or alterations have been made; an errata sheet listing
trivial errors, however, has been prepared, see p. XVI. Furthermore,
the original pagination has been kept unchanged which, we trust,
should cause very little inconvenience.
Author and publisher very much hope that a more widespread
distribution of the book will thereby result and that it will meet espe
cially the needs of the student.
Hinterzarten, September 1974
The Author
