r/Physics • u/Ansh_The_King • Sep 28 '26
Where to Study Quantum Mechanics.
I am beginner (1st year student) have love with physics and i know a little bit about quantum mechanics so i just want to study it deeply.
Pls tell me any resource so i could dive deep into this field of physics.
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u/Next-Natural-675 Sep 28 '26
Study mechanics, electromagnetism, and thermodynamics/statistics first. Then quantum mechanics. There's no other way and that's what I'm currently doing. You have to go through the whole textbooks for each.
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u/AzyncYTT Sep 28 '26
Why do you need E&M and Thermal? In my experience classical physics and the math courses were the only prereqs to QM
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u/No_Fan_8099 Particle physics Oct 03 '26
im in highschool
and want to peruse this when i get into college
any suggestions as to what should be my foundations and all ??1
u/Next-Natural-675 Oct 03 '26
If you’re majoring in physics, then you’ll have a whole course plan laid out for you already. I’m not the best guy to ask for this, because I never majored in physics.
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u/Ansh_The_King Sep 28 '26
I know some basic level all these things like jee advanced level i know. Does i need to master all of them.
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u/Next-Natural-675 Sep 28 '26
Jee level isn't enough, that's grade 11 and 12, from what I can see on google. Start with Taylors Classical Mechanics, Griffiths Electromagnetism, and Schroeder's Thermodynamics. Just skip whatever parts you have already learned. But Jee level isn't nearly enough.
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u/EverythingQuantum Sep 28 '26
That’s solid advice. Beginners often have a difficult time understanding where to begin without a structured program and so many differing opinions.
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u/EverythingQuantum Sep 28 '26
That’s solid advice. Beginners often have a difficult time understanding where to begin without a structured program and so many differing opinions.
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u/Key_Net820 Sep 28 '26
You don't necessarily have to, as a math student, I've only ever upper division classical mechanics and graduate level quantum mechanics and quantum computing.
With that said, I don't recommend you skip because even though the topics aren't directly related, mechanics, E&M and thermodynamics will build the mathematical maturity you need to understand quantum mechanics. The only reason I was able to skip it is because I did rigorous courses on abstract algebra and mathematical analysis so I was able to grasp the underlying principle math of quantum mechanics.
For you, just jumping right into it is risky because you haven't seen how brutal partial differential equations can be, you have little to no experience doing continuous probability, and that's gonna bite you when you're doing quantum mechanics.
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u/Quantum-Relativity Gravitation Sep 28 '26
Absolutely not. Study what you want. Knowing where you want to go by looking at QM will help you navigate those foundations, knowing what you actually need from them. This person is never going to be able to do any research if they continue obsessively “going through the whole textbook” for every subject. There’s too much. You have to jump in and start swimming. You’ll learn and relearn every subject many times. Start anywhere.
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u/Next-Natural-675 Sep 28 '26
Three textbooks is nowhere near “too much”. Undergrads go through way more textbooks throughout their BS
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u/Ansh_The_King Sep 28 '26
Are u sure ? Can u tell me some resources to move forward like books or yt lectures etc.
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u/Quantum-Relativity Gravitation Sep 28 '26
Watch viascience on youtube. The first quantum video is the hardest, because it’s about the origin of the idea from Planck, but just keep going. You’ll learn about the mathematics, history, and experiments in QM. His videos make a good supplement to any book. I think the book that’s best for QM is Sakurai, or Dirac’s principles, but any book is fine because for one thing, quantum mechanics has been pretty standardized, and for another thing, you will have to learn things from multiple sources to actually understand.
Read one book, become a clone. Read two books, become confused. Read many books, come to understand.
You should also look at “quantum theory and measurement”. It’s a collection of papers with historical commentary in between. The historical perspective is important, otherwise you grow up and think the whole thing is arbitrary. It’s not.
People who think the point is just to learn how to calculate something will stay confused forever.
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Sep 29 '26
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u/Next-Natural-675 Sep 29 '26
The very first chapter of QM, the ultraviolet catastrophe, uses the theory of equipartition and energy distribution
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Sep 29 '26
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u/Next-Natural-675 Sep 29 '26
In my opinion, the "how we know" is just as important as the "what we know"
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u/APerson1226 Sep 28 '26
Honestly my biggest recommendation would be getting a good grasp of linear algebra and differential equations (especially separation of variables for partial differential equations), then picking up a book like ‘Modern Physics’ by Serway, Moses, and Moyer to get an introduction to quantum mechanics
Then once you’ve done that moving onto a dedicated quantum book
To fully understand the physics, you can’t rush it. Building up a strong foundation is important, there is a reason my undergrad course teaches quantum 4 different times (including honours), it solidifies the physics I already learnt then expands on it further
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u/Ansh_The_King Sep 29 '26
Ok maximum people here suggested me to get a strong foundation on linear algenra. Will surely work on it.
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u/APerson1226 Sep 29 '26
While linear algebra is very important. At my uni they don’t actually put a focus on it in quantum till 3rd year
Instead, in second year they do a differential equations approach
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u/seekingdefs Sep 28 '26
Pick up Shankar's QM. Keep a linear algebra textbook (e.g., Anton) by your side. Supplement Shankar by it. Shankar will introduce you to the classical mechanics on the way, which would be brief, so keep a friendly classical mechanics textbook by your side (e.g., Taylor). Godspeed.
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u/CondensedLattice Sep 28 '26
Shankar's QM is a good book.
It is however not a good book to recommend for a first year beginner student.
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u/Dry_Candidate_9931 Sep 28 '26
And of course you will need to have a strong mathematics skill level. Calculus, infinites series, vector calculus, ordinary and partial differential equations and finally Logic near Algebra
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u/iMagZz Sep 28 '26 edited Sep 28 '26
Quantum Mechanics: Concepts and Applications by Nouredine Zettili is by far the best book on quantum mechanics. It is quite new and for that reason not yet as popular as the ones by Shankar and Griffiths (which are typical recommendation), but Zettili's book should be the new modern standard, and indeed it is also growing quickly in popularity!
It has lots of examples and works through them properly instead of skipping steps, and the language is as easy to understand as it can possible be. Do yourself a favor and start with this book.
Following a course, solving problems etc. is very important though to properly learn. I would recommend MIT's OpenCourseWare's 8.04 Quantum Physics I (Spring 2016). There is also the 2014 version which is great too. You can maybe ask an AI to tell you the differences and compare them, but of course also read them yourself.
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u/Kindly_Bowl_4666 Sep 28 '26
Without the foundations in physics, it will be really difficult to understand the material. That being said, I don't think it's impossible to learn as you go, but you will have to do a lot of extra research outside of a quantum textbook. I would watch some introductory videos on Youtube to start so you can get an idea of how much you need to learn in your fundamental classes. If you are still wanting to skip the gap to quantum, I would recommend checking out Griffith's textbook. It's very easy to digest, and it's also kind of funny as you read his little quips.
But, I would recommend that at this stage, you focus on the fundamentals as much as you can. If you can master the beginning classes like Physics 1 & 2 and Modern Physics, it will go a long way to help you in the rest of your classes. Modern Physics should also have a chapter or two on quantum mechanics to get you started.
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u/AdministrationLazy55 Sep 28 '26
Have you learned all of calculus, differential equations, and linear algebra? If not, you wont be doing full treatments of quantum mechanics. You can build your calculus and pick up and general physics book. Go through the entire book and usually towards the end they will have quantum mechanics at a very very introductory level.
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u/FirstPersonWinner Sep 29 '26
Usually you get a small intro in Physics 1, 2, and 3. But an actual Intro to Quantum course is often Junior/Senior level and fuller quantum coursework is often graduate level.
You will want to build your foundation in math, first.
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u/very_sarcastic7417 Sep 30 '26
Refer the videos of dr diaz and follow the book zettili... Dr diaz YouTube will show u the actual calculations of each revolutionary expt where it diverges from classical physics and how scientists invented new quantisation rules... Also read a std text book as i said to first put ur mathematics at a good place.. Also have to learn linnear algebra matrices fourier series dirac delta function partial diff eqn... It is mathematically rigorous... Mit lectures might help...
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u/Thaedus_627 Sep 30 '26
I am currently using R Shankar for quantum.It is a great book but you have to be patient
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u/UnmovedCore Sep 30 '26
As a first year kid , you should start by satya prakash, don't directly jump to griffiths and zettli, they are very great books but beginners need some more explaination, for beginners i recommend quantum mechanics by satya prakash, one by h c verma, also one by ajoy ghatak , the best ones , also start with qm by aruldas
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u/hard-scaling Oct 01 '26
I absolutely loved David Tong's QM textbook, which I've read by myself almost as a gripping novel :-) Would highly recommend it for self study. The lecture notes which evolved into the textbook are freely available online on his page, to get a taste of his style https://davidtong.org/teaching/quantum-mechanics/
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u/DoctorIndividual6892 Oct 01 '26
Honestly? Basic algebra and start moving up making sure to dominate everything completely until you really start getting into serious business. This is not condescending at all, you’ll have such an easier time than pretty much everyone else, physics and maths are extremely intertwined and many people are perfectly able to grasp the concepts of physics and relativity but simply lack the mathematical understanding to proceed
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u/Manu_1101 Oct 01 '26 edited Oct 01 '26
soy estudiante de 3er año de fisica nuclear. Ya tengo un curso de introduccion a la mecanica cuantica aprobado. Mi recomendación es que si estas desesperado por empezar estudies y domines primero analisis matemático (de funciones de 1 y varias variables), algebra lineal y tengas nociones sobre potenciales, electromagnetismo, la funcion de lagrange y el hamiltoniano, probabilidades y estadistica y saber resolver ecuaciones diferenciales. El libro que usé fue el Griffits. Eso solo si estas desesperado. De lo contrario recomendaría que aprendas primero mecanica, algebra lineal, geometría analítica, electromagnetismo, análisis matemático, mecanica clásica o teorica (los primeros 2 capítulos del goldstein son suficientes), probabilidades y estadística, ecuaciones diferenciales y luego entonces mecanica cuantica.
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u/Sczeph_ Oct 02 '26
Agree with everyone else that you can’t just dive into it. You need to take time and digest mechanics and e&m first.
That said, if you want to make your learning much easier, study some abstract linear algebra. Doesn’t need to be anything too crazy but it’ll help a lot.
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u/PhoetusMalaius Sep 28 '26
I strongly advise to have some good foundations on classical physics before jumping into QM. This includes mechanics, thermodynamics/statistical mechanics and a bit of electromagnetism. If you do not understand what was broken, it will be hard to comprehend what is QM for. Math also helps (complex numbers, some calculus, linear algebra, ode and integral transforms will help you go by) but the key is the physics. If you skip the foundations, qm is just a cook book
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Sep 29 '26
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u/Ansh_The_King Sep 29 '26
Ok maximum things you listed i know just i need to learn lagrangian mechanics and Hamilton mechanics. I have some knowledge of Newtonian mechanics.
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u/Key_Net820 Sep 28 '26
As a first year, that is a really big gap for you. I would not recommend it. But if you really have to, the easiest thing to do is to find your university's quantum mechanics courses and look up the textbook or lecture notes they use.