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I'm interested in teaching myself quantum mechanics, and I'm looking for a good goal to aim for.

I've got an undergrad maths degree and a graduate degree in probability theory and stochastic processes. I've worked fairly extensively with diffusion processes, so I understand how the Fokker-Planck equation works, for example.

As far as I understand, the Fokker planck equation is related to the Schrodinger equation via something called a Wick rotation. I'm a bit hazy on the details, but I think this may have been Feynman's approach to QM.

If anyone could recommend a text for someone with my background (linear algebra, group theory, ODE and PDE, probability), but with relatively little experience in physics, that would be very helpful.

The maths shouldn't be a problem, but there's a chance I'll just get bored unless I have a specific goal. Maybe deriving the emission spectra of various atoms, or understanding quantum computing. Any other suggestions?

Qmechanic
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Simon Lyons
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  • David Griffiths Intro to Quantum Mechanics – mcodesmart Oct 03 '13 at 12:02
  • Possible duplicates: http://physics.stackexchange.com/q/33215/2451 , http://physics.stackexchange.com/q/5014/2451 and links therein. – Qmechanic Oct 03 '13 at 12:05
  • Most textbooks of quantum mechanics do not have a very specific goal (otherwise it will be a monograph). You may use Griffiths and Sakurai's modern quantum mechanics as general ones, plus some book in quantum chemistry (for solving various atoms?) and/or quantum computation. Nevertheless if the aim is only for solving hydrogen and possibly helium atoms, Griffiths should be fine... – user26143 Oct 03 '13 at 12:08
  • Since you seem very interested in probability theory, as a second book, you might want to have a look at Holevo's "Probabilistic and Statistical Aspects of Quantum Theory", which covers what it says, so not all parts of quantum mechanics, but some very essential ones. – Martin Oct 03 '13 at 23:35

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