Contents

• The Motivation for Quantum Mechanics
  • The Ultraviolet Catastrophe
  • The Photoelectric Effect
  • Quantization of Electronic Angular Momentum
  • Wave-Particle Duality
  
  
• The Schrödinger Equation
  • The Time-Independent Schrödinger Equation
  • The Time-Dependent Schrödinger Equation
  
  
• Mathematical Background
  • Operators
  • Commutators in Quantum Mechanics
  • Linear Vector Spaces in Quantum Mechanics
  
  
• Postulates of Quantum Mechanics
• Some Analytically Soluble Problems
  • The Particle in a Box
  • The Harmonic Oscillator
  • The Rigid Rotor
  • The Hydrogen Atom
  
  
• Approximate Methods
  • Perturbation Theory
  • The Variational Method
  
  
• Molecular Quantum Mechanics
  • The Molecular Hamiltonian
  • The Born-Oppenheimer Approximation
  • Separation of the Nuclear Hamiltonian
  
  
• Solving the Electronic Eigenvalue Problem
  • The Nature of Many-Electron Wavefunctions
  • Matrix Mechanics
  
  
• Bibliography