Quantum Mechanics For Mathematicians

The present work is the first volume of a substantially enlarged version of the mimeographed notes of a course of lectures first given by me in the Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta, India, during 1964-65. When it was suggested that these lectures be developed into a book, I readily agreed and took the opportunity to extend the scope of the material covered. No background in physics is in principle necessary for understand­ ing the essential ideas in this work. However, a high degree of mathematical maturity is certainly indispensable.

Jerry Marsden, one of the world’s pre-eminent mechanicians and applied mathematicians, celebrated his 60th birthday in August 2002. The event was marked by a workshop on “Geometry, Mechanics, and Dynamics”at the Fields Institute for Research in the Mathematical Sciences, of which he wasthefoundingDirector. Ratherthanmerelyproduceaconventionalp- ceedings, with relatively brief accounts of research and technical advances presented at the meeting, we wished to acknowledge Jerry’s in?uence as a teacher, a propagator of new ideas, and a mentor of young talent. Con- quently, starting in 1999, we sought to collect articles that might be used as entry points by students interested in ?elds that have been shaped by Jerry’s work.

This book is addressed to one problem and to three audiences. The problem is the mathematical structure of modem physics: statistical physics, quantum mechanics, and quantum fields. The unity of mathemati­ cal structure for problems of diverse origin in physics should be no surprise. For classical physics it is provided, for example, by a common mathematical formalism based on the wave equation and Laplace's equation. The unity transcends mathematical structure and encompasses basic phenomena as well. Thus particle physicists, nuclear physicists, and con­ densed matter physicists have considered similar scientific problems from complementary points of view. The mathematical structure presented here can be described in various terms: partial differential equations in an infinite number of independent variables, linear operators on infinite dimensional spaces, or probability theory and analysis over function spaces. This mathematical structure of quantization is a generalization of the theory of partial differential equa­ tions, very much as the latter generalizes the theory of ordinary differential equations. Our central theme is the quantization of a nonlinear partial differential equation and the physics of systems with an infinite number of degrees of freedom. Mathematicians, theoretical physicists, and specialists in mathematical physics are the three audiences to which the book is addressed. Each of the three parts is written with a different scientific perspective.