In this thesis, quantum estimation theory is applied to investigate uncertainty relations between error and disturbance in quantum measurement. The author argues that the best solution for clarifying the attainable bound of the error and disturbance is to invoke the estimation process from the measurement outcomes such as signals from a photodetector in a quantum optical system. The error and disturbance in terms of the Fisher information content have been successfully formulated and provide the upper bound of the accuracy of the estimation. Moreover, the attainable bound of the error and disturbance in quantum measurement has been derived. The obtained bound is determined for the first time by the quantum fluctuations and correlation functions of the observables, which characterize the non-classical fluctuation of the observables. The result provides the upper bound of our knowledge obtained by quantum measurements. The method developed in this thesis will be applied to a broad class of problems related to quantum measurement to build a next-generation clock standard and to successfully detect gravitational waves.

This thesis is a contribution at the intersection of a number of active fields in theoretical and experimental condensed matter, particularly those concerned with disordered systems, integrable models, lattice gauge theories, and non-equilibrium quantum dynamics. It contributes an important new facet to our understanding of relaxation in isolated quantum systems by conclusively demonstrating localization without disorder for the first time, answering a long-standing question in this field. This is achieved by introducing a family of models - intimately related to paradigmatic condensed matter models - and studying their non-equilibrium dynamics through a combination of exact analytical mappings and an array of numerical techniques. This thesis also makes contributions relevant to the theory of quantum chaotic behaviour by calculating novel, and often intractable, entanglement measures and out-of-time-ordered correlators. A concrete and feasible proposal is also made for the experimental realization and dynamical study of the family of models, based on currently available technologies.

This book gives an introduction to quantum mechanics with the matrix method. Heisenberg's matrix mechanics is described in detail. The fundamental equations are derived by algebraic methods using matrix calculus. Only a brief description of Schroedinger's wave mechanics is given (in most books exclusively treated), to show their equivalence to Heisenberg's matrix method. In the first part the historical development of Quantum theory by Planck, Bohr and Sommerfeld is sketched, followed by the ideas and methods of Heisenberg, Born and Jordan. Then Pauli's spin and exclusion principles are treated. Pauli's exclusion principle leads to the structure of atoms. Finally, Diracs relativistic quantum mechanics is shortly presented. Matrices and matrix equations are today easy to handle when implementing numerical algorithms using standard software as MAPLE and Mathematica.

This book reflects on the significant and highly original scientific contributions of Hans Primas. A professor of chemistry at ETH Zurich from 1962 to 1995, Primas continued his research activities until his death in 2014. Over these 50 years and more, he worked on the foundations of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, contributed to a number of significant issues in theoretical chemistry, helped to clarify central topics in quantum theory and the philosophy of physics, suggested innovative ways of addressing interlevel relations in the philosophy of science, and introduced cutting-edge approaches in the flourishing young field of scientific studies of consciousness. His work in these areas of research and its continuing impact is described by noted experts, colleagues, and collaborators of Primas. All authors contextualize their contributions to facilitate the mutual dialog between these fields.

Our understanding of nature, and in particular of physics and the laws governing it, has changed radically since the days of the ancient Greek natural philosophers. This book explains how and why these changes occurred, through landmark experiments as well as theories that - for their time - were revolutionary. The presentation covers Mechanics, Optics, Electromagnetism, Thermodynamics, Relativity Theory, Atomic Physics and Quantum Physics. The book places emphasis on ideas and on a qualitative presentation, rather than on mathematics and equations. Thus, although primarily addressed to those who are studying or have studied science, it can also be read by non-specialists. The author concludes with a discussion of the evolution and organization of universities, from ancient times until today, and of the organization and dissemination of knowledge through scientific publications and conferences.

This thesis focuses on the study and characterization of entanglement and nonlocal correlations constrained under symmetries. It includes original results as well as detailed methods and explanations for a number of different threads of research: positive partial transpose (PPT) entanglement in the symmetric states; a novel, experimentally friendly method to detect nonlocal correlations in many-body systems; the non-equivalence between entanglement and nonlocality; and elemental monogamies of correlations. Entanglement and nonlocal correlations constitute two fundamental resources for quantum information processing, as they allow novel tasks that are otherwise impossible in a classical scenario. However, their elusive characterization is still a central problem in quantum information theory. The main reason why such a fundamental issue remains a formidable challenge lies in the exponential growth in complexity of the Hilbert space as well as the space of multipartite correlations. Physical systems of interest, on the other hand, display symmetries that can be exploited to reduce this complexity, opening the possibility that some of these questions become tractable for such systems.

"Advances in One-Dimensional Wave Mechanics" provides a comprehensive description of the motion of microscopic particles in one-dimensional, arbitrary-shaped potentials based on the analogy between Quantum Mechanics and Electromagnetism. Utilizing a deeper understanding of the wave nature of matter, this book introduces the concept of the scattered sub-waves and a series of new analytical results using the Analytical Transfer Matrix (ATM) method. This work will be useful for graduate students majoring in physics, mainly in basic quantum theory, as well as for academic researchers exploring electromagnetism, particle physics, and wave mechanics and for experts in the field of optical waveguide and integrated optics.

Prof. Zhuangqi Cao is a Professor of Physics at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China.

Dr. Cheng Yin is a teacher at Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Power Transmission and Distribution Equipment Technology, Hohai University, China.

This thesis considers the non-equilibrium and energy transfer processes involved in the evolution of astrophysical gases and plasmas. Momentum-energy transfer in collisions of atoms, molecules and ions governs the evolution of interacting astrophysical gas and plasmas. These collisions require an accurate quantum mechanical description and the work presented here develops a unified kinetic and quantum-mechanical model for this consideration. The multi-scale computational approach implemented here takes into account non-thermal distributions of atomic particles and clarifies their role in the evolution of interstellar gas and planetary atmospheres. As shown, the physical parameters of non-thermal distributions strongly depend on the differential cross sections of atomic, molecular and ion collisions. Readers will find a detailed description of the energy relaxation of energetic atoms, produced in the interstellar gas by the solar and stellar wind plasmas. Computation of the non-thermal diffuse background of energetic helium atoms in the heliosphere is also included for evaluation of the contributions from local and cosmic sources and analysis of related satellite observations. Work involving modeling of energetic particle precipitation into planetary atmospheres and formation of the planetary and exoplanetary escape fluxes has been performed with very accurate cross sections, describing momentum-energy transfer processes with high precision. Results of the Monte Carlo simulations, carried out for the Mars atmosphere at different solar conditions, can be used for analysis of observational data for Mars atmospheric escape and investigation into the history of Martian water.

This monograph covers the concept of cartesian tensors with the needs and interests of physicists, chemists and other physical scientists in mind. After introducing elementary tensor operations and rotations, spherical tensors, combinations of tensors are introduced, also covering Clebsch-Gordan coefficients. After this, readers from the physical sciences will find generalizations of the results to spinors and applications to quantum mechanics.

The advent of new experimental techniques has made possible a new generation of more precise experimental tests of fundamental quantum mechanicsl. This workshop addressed the confrontation of new and proposed experimental tests of quantum mechanics with standard and nonstandard quantum theory. The broad, cross-disciplinary view of the subject brought together eminent theorists and experimentalists from diverse fields.

This thesis presents innovative contributions to the CMS experiment in the new trigger system for the restart of the LHC collisions in Run II, as well as original analysis methods and important results that led to official publications of the Collaboration. The author's novel reconstruction algorithms, deployed on the Field-Programmable Gate Arrays of the new CMS trigger architecture, have brought a gain of over a factor 2 in efficiency for the identification of tau leptons, with a very significant impact on important H boson measurements, such as its decays to tau lepton pairs and the search for H boson pair production. He also describes a novel analysis of HH bb tautau, a high priority physics topic in a difficult channel. The original strategy, optimisation of event categories, and the control of the background have made the result one of the most sensitive concerning the self-coupling of the Higgs boson among all possible channels at the LHC.

Extensions to the No-Core Shell Model presents three extensions to the No-Core Shell Model (NCSM) that allow for calculations of heavier nuclei, specifically for the p-shell nuclei. The Importance-Truncated NCSM (IT-NCSM) formulated on arguments of multi-configurational perturbation theory selects a small set of basis states from the initially large basis space in which the Hamiltonian is diagonalized. Previous IT-NCSM calculations have proven reliable, however, there has been no thorough investigation of the inherent error in the truncated IT-NCSM calculations. This thesis provides a detailed study of IT-NCSM calculations and compares them to full NCSM calculations to judge the accuracy of IT-NCSM in heavier nuclei. When IT-NCSM calculations are performed, one often needs to extrapolate the ground-state energy from the finite basis (or model) spaces to the full NCSM model space. In this thesis a careful investigation of the extrapolation procedures was performed. On a related note, extrapolations in the NCSM are commonplace, but up to recently did not have the ultraviolet (UV) or infrared (IR) physics under control. This work additionally presents a method that maps the NCSM parameters into an effective-field theory inspired framework, in which the UV and IR physics are treated appropriately. The NCSM is well-suited to describe bound-state properties of nuclei, but is not well-adapted to describe loosely bound systems, such as the exotic nuclei near the neutron drip line. With the inclusion of the Resonating Group Method (RGM), the NCSM / RGM can provide a first-principles description of exotic nuclei and the first extension of the NCSM.

This book presents the mathematical background underlying security modeling in the context of next-generation cryptography. By introducing new mathematical results in order to strengthen information security, while simultaneously presenting fresh insights and developing the respective areas of mathematics, it is the first-ever book to focus on areas that have not yet been fully exploited for cryptographic applications such as representation theory and mathematical physics, among others. Recent advances in cryptanalysis, brought about in particular by quantum computation and physical attacks on cryptographic devices, such as side-channel analysis or power analysis, have revealed the growing security risks for state-of-the-art cryptographic schemes. To address these risks, high-performance, next-generation cryptosystems must be studied, which requires the further development of the mathematical background of modern cryptography. More specifically, in order to avoid the security risks posed by adversaries with advanced attack capabilities, cryptosystems must be upgraded, which in turn relies on a wide range of mathematical theories. This book is suitable for use in an advanced graduate course in mathematical cryptography, while also offering a valuable reference guide for experts.

This comprehensive volume gives a balanced and systematic treatment of both the interpretation and the mathematical-conceptual foundations of quantum mechanics. It is written in a pedagogical style and addresses many thorny problems of fundamental physics. The first aspect concerns Interpretation. The author raises the central problems: formalism, measurement, non-locality, and causality. The main positions on these subjects are presented and critically analysed. The aim is to show that the main schools can converge on a core interpretation. The second aspect concerns Foundations. Here it is shown that the whole theory can be grounded on information theory. The distinction between information and signal leads us to integrating quantum mechanics and relativity. Category theory is presented and its significance for quantum information shown; the logic and epistemological bases of the theory are assessed. Of relevance to all physicists and philosophers with an interest in quantum theory and its foundations, this book is destined to become a classic work.

This second edition of an extremely well-received book presents more than 250 nonrelativistic quantum mechanics problems of varying difficulty with the aim of providing students didactic material of proven value, allowing them to test their comprehension and mastery of each subject. The coverage is extremely broad, from themes related to the crisis of classical physics through achievements within the framework of modern atomic physics to lively debated, intriguing aspects relating to, for example, the EPR paradox, the Aharonov-Bohm effect, and quantum teleportation. Compared with the first edition, a variety of improvements have been made and additional topics of interest included, especially focusing on elementary potential scattering. The problems themselves range from standard and straightforward ones to those that are complex but can be considered essential because they address questions of outstanding importance or aspects typically overlooked in primers. The book offers students both an excellent tool for independent learning and a ready-reference guide they can return to later in their careers.

This present edition of the book follows the generally pedagogic style of Quantum Mechanics. The scope ranges from relativistic quantum mechanics to an introduction to quantum field theory with quantum electrodynamics as the basic example and ends with an exposition of important issues related to the standard model. The book presents the subject in basic and easy-to-grasp notions which will enhance the purpose of this book as a useful textbook in the area of relativistic quantum mechanics and quantum electrodynamics.

This thesis addresses the intriguing topic of the quantum tunnelling of many-body systems such as Bose-Einstein condensates. Despite the enormous amount of work on the tunneling of a single particle through a barrier, we know very little about how a system made of several or of many particles tunnels through a barrier to open space. The present work uses numerically exact solutions of the time-dependent many-boson Schroedinger equation to explore the rich physics of the tunneling to open space process in ultracold bosonic particles that are initially prepared as a Bose-Einstein condensate and subsequently allowed to tunnel through a barrier to open space. The many-body process is built up from concurrently occurring single particle processes that are characterized by different momenta. These momenta correspond to the chemical potentials of systems with decreasing particle number. The many-boson process exhibits exciting collective phenomena: the escaping particles fragment and lose their coherence with the source and among each other, whilst correlations build up within the system. The detailed understanding of the many-body process is used to devise and test a scheme to control the final state, momentum distributions and even the correlation dynamics of the tunneling process.

This book describes the endeavour to relate the particle spectrum with representations of operational electroweak spacetime, in analogy to the atomic spectrum as characterizing representations of hyperbolic space. The spectrum of hyperbolic position space explains the properties of the nonrelativistic atoms; the spectrum of electroweak spacetime is hoped to explain those of the basic interactions and elementary particles. In this book, the theory of operational symmetries is developed from the numbers, from Plato's and Kepler's symmetries over the simple Lie groups to their applications in nonrelativistic, special relativistic and general relativistic quantum theories with the atomic spectrum for hyperbolic position and, in first attempts, the particle spectrum for electroweak spacetime. The standard model of elementary particles and interactions is characterized by a symmetry group. In general, as initiated by Weyl and stressed by Heisenberg, quantum theory can be built as a theory of operation groups and their unitary representations. In such a framework, time, position and spacetime is modeled by equivalence classes of symmetry groups. For a unification on this road, the quest is not for a final theory with a basic equation for basic particles, but for the basic operation group and its representations.

Quantum Systems in Chemistry and Physics: Progress in Methods and Applications is a collection of 33 selected papers from the scientific contributions presented at the 16th International Workshop on Quantum Systems in Chemistry and Physics (QSCP-XVI), held at Ishikawa Prefecture Museum of Art in Kanazawa, Japan, from September 11th to 17th, 2011. The volume discusses the state of the art, new trends, and the future of methods in mol- ecular quantum mechanics and their applications to a wide range of problems in physics, chemistry, and biology. The breadth and depth of the scientific topics discussed during QSCP-XVI appears in the classification of the contributions in six parts: I. Fundamental Theory II. Molecular Processes III. Molecular Structure IV. Molecular Properties V. Condensed Matter VI. Biosystems. Quantum Systems in Chemistry and Physics: Progress in Methods and Applications is written for advanced graduate students as well as for professionals in theoretical chemi- cal physics and physical chemistry. The book covers current scientific topics in mole- cular, nano, material, and bio sciences and provides insights into methodological deve- lopments and applications of quantum theory in physics, chemistry, and biology that have become feasible at the end of 2011.

This thesis deals with topological orders from two different perspectives: from a condensed matter point of view, where topological orders are considered as breakthrough phases of matter; and from the emerging realm of quantum computation, where topological quantum codes are considered the most appealing platform against decoherence. The thesis reports remarkable studies from both sides. It thoroughly investigates a topological order called the double semion model, a counterpart of the Kitaev model but exhibiting richer quasiparticles as excitations. A new model for symmetry enriched topological order is constructed, which adds an onsite global symmetry to the double semion model. Using this topological phase, a new example of topological code is developed, the semion code, which is non-CSS, additive, non-Pauli and within the stabiliser formalism. Furthermore, the thesis analyses the Rashba spin-orbit coupling within topological insulators, turning the helical edge states into generic edges modes with potential application in spinstronics. New types of topological superconductors are proposed and the novel properties of the correspondingly created Majorana fermions are investigated. These Majorana fermions have inherent properties enabling braiding and the performance of logical gates as fundamental blocks for a universsal quantum computator.

The purpose of this book is to thoroughly prepare the reader for research in string theory at an intermediate level. As such it is not a compendium of results but intended as textbook in the sense that most of the material is organized in a pedagogical and self-contained fashion.
Beyond the basics, a number of more advanced topics are introduced, such as conformal field theory, superstrings and string dualities - the text does not cover applications to black hole physics and cosmology, nor strings theory at finite temperatures.
End-of-chapter references have been added to guide the reader wishing to pursue further studies or to start research in well-defined topics covered by this book."

In this book the author presents two important findings revealed by high-precision magnetic penetration depth measurements in iron-based superconductors which exhibit high-transition temperature superconductivity up to 55 K: one is the fact that the superconducting gap structure in iron-based superconductors depends on a detailed electronic structure of individual materials, and the other is the first strong evidence for the presence of a quantum critical point (QCP) beneath the superconducting dome of iron-based superconductors. The magnetic penetration depth is a powerful probe to elucidate the superconducting gap structure which is intimately related to the pairing mechanism of superconductivity. The author discusses the possible gap structure of individual iron-based superconductors by comparing the gap structure obtained from the penetration depth measurements with theoretical predictions, indicating that the non-universal superconducting gap structure in iron-pnictides can be interpreted in the framework of A1g symmetry. This result imposes a strong constraint on the pairing mechanism of iron-based superconductors. The author also shows clear evidence for the quantum criticality inside the superconducting dome from the absolute zero-temperature penetration depth measurements as a function of chemical composition. A sharp peak of the penetration depth at a certain composition demonstrates pronounced quantum fluctuations associated with the QCP, which separates two distinct superconducting phases. This gives the first convincing signature of a second-order quantum phase transition deep inside the superconducting dome, which may address a key question on the general phase diagram of unconventional superconductivity in the vicinity of a QCP.

"The standard work in the fundamental principles of quantum mechanics, indispensable both to the advanced student and to the mature research worker, who will always find it a fresh source of knowledge and stimulation." --Nature "This is the classic text on quantum mechanics. No graduate student of quantum theory should leave it unread"--W.C Schieve, University of Texas

This book is a wide-ranging survey of the physics of out-of-equilibrium systems of correlated electrons, ranging from the theoretical, to the numerical, computational and experimental aspects. It starts from basic approaches to non-equilibrium physics, such as the mean-field approach, then proceeds to more advanced methods, such as dynamical mean-field theory and master equation approaches. Lastly, it offers a comprehensive overview of the latest advances in experimental investigations of complex quantum materials by means of ultrafast spectroscopy.

This book presents a detailed and pedagogical exposition of the effective Lagrangian techniques and their applications to high-energy physics. It covers the main theoretical ideas and describes comprehensively how to use them in different fields, such as chiral perturbation theory and the symmetry breaking sector of the standard model and even low-energy quantum gravity. The book is written in the language of modern quantum field theory. Some of the theoretical topics treated are: decoupling, the Goldstone theorem, the non-linear sigma model, anomalies, the Wess--Zumino--Witten term, and the equivalence theorem.