Related papers: Quantum Mechanics, The Stability of Matter and Qua…
A survey of the stability of matter problem is given, starting with the stability of the hydrogen atom. The stablity of bulk matter with Coulomb potentials, with or without relativistic mechanics, and with or without magnetic fields is…
Quantum mechanics---the theory describing the fundamental workings of nature---is famously counterintuitive: it predicts that a particle can be in two places at the same time, and that two remote particles can be inextricably and…
The study of quantum mechanical few-body systems is a century old pursuit relevant to countless subfields of physics. While the two-body problem is generally considered to be well-understood theoretically and numerically, venturing to three…
We study the quantum mechanical many-body problem of $N \geq 1$ non-relativistic electrons with spin interacting with their self-generated classical electromagnetic field and $K \geq 0$ static nuclei. We model the dynamics of the electrons…
Quantum mechanics, one of the most successful theories in the history of science, was created to account for physical systems not describable by classical physics. Though it is consistent with all experiments conducted thus far, many of its…
This paper explores the historical development of the theory of quantum mechanics between 1900 and 1927 by chronological examination of the foundational papers and ideas. Beginning with Planck's introduction of energy quantisation in…
We consider non-relativistic systems in quantum mechanics interacting through the Coulomb potential, and discuss the existence of bound states which are stable against spontaneous dissociation into smaller atoms or ions. We review the…
The ontology emerging from quantum field theory and the results following from Bell's theorems allowed the development of an intuitive picture of the microscopic world described by quantum mechanics, that is, we can say that we understand…
Quantum matter, the research field studying phases of matter whose properties are intrinsically quantum mechanical, draws from areas as diverse as hard condensed matter physics, materials science, statistical mechanics, quantum information,…
A century after the advent of Quantum Mechanics and General Relativity, both theories enjoy incredible empirical success, constituting the cornerstones of modern physics. Yet, paradoxically, they suffer from deep-rooted, so-far intractable,…
Closed quantum many-body systems out of equilibrium pose several long-standing problems in physics. Recent years have seen a tremendous progress in approaching these questions, not least due to experiments with cold atoms and trapped ions…
After the development of a self-consistent quantum formalism nearly a century ago, there ensued a quest to understand the often counterintuitive predictions of the theory. These endeavors invariably begin with the assumption of the "truth"…
In Coulomb 3-body problems, configurations of close proximity of the particles are classically unstable. In confined systems they might however exist as excited quantum states. Quantum control of such states by time changing electromagnetic…
Relations between Hamiltonian mechanics and quantum mechanics are studied. It is stressed that classical mechanics possesses all the specific features of quantum theory: operators, complex variables, probabilities (in case of ergodic…
Central to our understanding of quantum many particle physics are two ideas due to Landau. The first is the notion of the electron as a well-defined quasiparticle excitation in the many body state. The second is that of the order parameter…
On the base of years of experience of working on the problem of the physical foundation of quantum mechanics the author offers principles of solving it. Under certain pressure of mathematical formalism there has raised a hypothesis of…
On 14 December 1900 Max Planck first formulated the idea of energy quanta related to a new universal constant now known as Planck's constant. Despite the following progress of thus initiated "quantum mechanics", the physical origin of both…
Why does such a successful theory like Quantum Mechanics have so many mysteries? The history of this theory is replete with dubious interpretations and controversies, and yet a knowledge of its predictions, however, contributed to the…
This essay is an attempted to address, from a modern perspective, the motion of a particle. Quantum mechanically, motion consists of a series of localizations due to repeated interactions that, taken close to the limit of the continuum,…
Probabilistic description of results of measurements and its consequences for understanding quantum mechanics are discussed. It is shown that the basic mathematical structure of quantum mechanics like the probability amplitude, Born rule,…