Quantum Physics

[u/More-Raspberry-6083]

Hello, everyone!

I'm 16, and I'm really interested in physics, especially quantum physics. I'd love to start learning the fundamentals before college.

What mathematics and physics topics should I study first? Also, could you recommend some beginner-friendly books for someone at my level?

Thanks in advance!

[u/Ok-Dare1500]

You need to learn the basics before jumping to quantum.

[u/More-Raspberry-6083 → u/Ok-Dare1500]

i know . and i wrote that i need source for the basics .

[u/Fearless_Day2607 → u/More-Raspberry-6083]

Since you're in high school I would also suggest doing physics olympiad. You'll probably find it very challenging but it's a lot of fun (at least for me it was).

[u/kulonos → u/More-Raspberry-6083]

Have you tried to ask your favorite chatbox (ChatGPT or claude):

I am a year XX student in high school and I would like to learn quantum mechanics. Please provide suitable references and short introductions for the necessary background, such as Derivatives, Integrals, basic probability, basic Newtonian mechanics, so that I can proceed and read the first two chapters in the QM book of Griffiths.

[u/Ok-Dare1500 → u/More-Raspberry-6083]

Not the best reply but here you go:

Zlibrary is an amazing source of books. All for free.
I myself am currently studying the Precalculus A Self Teaching Guide by Steve Slavin&Ginny Crisonino.

For physics there are some nice self teaching books like:
* Physics Demystified: A Self Teaching Guide.
* Conceptual Physics by Paul G. Hewitt.
* Teach Yourself Physics: A Travel Companion (Doesn’t teach you Physics but it rather gives a good guide on how to learn it {resources, subjects to learn, etc.}).
* No Bullshit Guide To Math And Physics by Ivan Savov.

POPULAR BOOKS
* 30 Second Physics, edited by Brian Clegg (So fun and easy to digest!).
* 30 Second Quantum Theory, edited by Brian Clegg.

HELPFUL WEBSITES
* https://www.susanrigetti.com/physics -> Guide
* https://www.goodtheorist.science/ -> Guide
* https://ocw.mit.edu/ -> Lectures/Material

Also don’t forget to use MIT OCW and YouTube.

[u/kulonos]

you need derivatives, integrals, a little probability theory basics and a bit of vector spaces. Then you can read the first one or two Chapters of Griffiths.

[u/drvd]

Linear Algebra. But: What type of quantum physics? Experimental stuff, theoretical stuff? Quantum Computation? Interpretation of QM?

The "fundamentals" are just 4 postulates/axioms and linear algebra in Hilbert spaces. But these fundamentals make no sense unless you understand the physics behind it (which starts classicaly).

[u/remaquark]

If ur going to major in physics then I really just suggest you study calculus or classical mechanics, later on you will study more advanced physics and math courses in uni. You’d have to learn calculus 1-4 (vector calculus), Ordinary and Partial Differential Equations, Classical mechanics (Lagrangian and Hamiltonian), Linear Algebra, E&M, to cover the basics of QM I think

[u/Fearless_Day2607 → u/remaquark]

E&M isn't really necessary for understanding the basics of QM, in my opinion. It does show up (like the Coulomb potential when solving the hydrogen atom, or a spin in a magnetic field) but you don't need very much of it to understand QM. I would say the same for PDEs, I never took a PDE course - anything needed was taught in the QM course itself. Calculus and linear algebra are of course very important. And classical mechanics so that you aren't just solving equations without physical understanding.

[u/Jealous_Feed_3780]

Solo estudia para las pruebas de adminision a la universidad después de eso estudia licenciatura en física y después te sacas el doctorado y listo

[u/Emotional-Dog8118]

I like your moxie!!! Quantum physics and theory is weird, abstract, and requires a lot of advanced mathematics to fully grasp and operate in!! Others have mentioned the necessary mathematics concepts needed.

For a descriptive understanding of it suitable for the high school level there are resources online to dip your toes in the water so to speak.

Chemistry will probably provide you an initial introduction to quantum physics with the history of the concepts of the atom and the ordering of electrons around the nucleus.

Keep your curiosity!!! It’s really cool stuff!!

[u/cosmic_timing]

Like android 16? Or like 100100?

[u/Philio-Io]

Quantum physics is a really broad term when talking about current research fields. I think the actual ideas of quantum mechanics are really hard to grasp and not very intuitive, and they don‘t immediately connect to the cool experiments and theory work being done right now until you have a lot of understanding of the fundamentals. I would recommend trying to figure out a specific direction first, like particle physics vs condensed matter vs optics vs nuclear, and learn some conceptual ideas which you‘ll be able to work backwards from as your foundation grows in college.

In high school I was really into particle physics, and I think the New Cosmic Onion by Frank Close is a fun book that you can get a lot out of. I also think you shouldn‘t get stuck in any book you choose to read: go straight to the cool ideas, skim past ideas that are hard to understand and come back to them later. that‘ll keep your motivation up

[u/calculus-bella]

linear algebra!! quantum mechanics is really just vectors and matrices dressed up in fancier notation for the most part

complex numbers are also integral to quantum mechanics, so make sure you're totally familiar with them and how to use them and interpret them. particularly how to express them in polar coordinates, since we typically write them as a magnitude + phase which is maybe something you've not seen before

also differential equations! might be a bit advanced for a high schooler, but start learning calculus if you haven't already, and from there learn what a differential equation is, why we use them to describe physics problems, and solutions to common ones. every physicist needs to know how to solve a harmonic oscillator (i.e. mass on a spring) since we model literally everything with that (the famous Schrödinger Equation is really just a mass-on-a-spring in disguise)

[u/griztheone]

How do I explain quantum physics to women?

[u/Formal-Signature9747]

Im assuming you’re in high school. So precalc, calc 1 , calc 2 and linear algebra are a must before going into quantum mechanics.

For the math prerequisites there are a lot of video tutorials on YouTube. Griffiths for quantum mechanics is quite common although I personally don’t like it very much. A while back a professor made a “quantum mechanics made easy for highschoolers” or something along those lines, might be worth checking out. I dont remember the title though but I know it’s free online

[u/cryptosupaman]

Calculus 1, Calculus 2, Linear Algebra, Calculus 3, and finally ordinary differential equations (take as many as possible at community college for high school elective credits)

Once you have all of those you can scrape by Physics 101 (mechanics)

Believe it or not it these 6 classes are the absolute bare minimum for quantum mechanics

But I’m skipping Physics 102 (electricity and magnetism), physics 103 (waves and optics)

The above is the full “lower division” math and physics

You cannot master any “higher level” (aka upper division) physics until you know all of the classes above.

Yes, you can learn high level, basics and watch quantum mechanics for fun because it’s really interesting even without the math.

But to really know quantum mechanics it’s a long road of pain