No label defined (Q4376485)

This book is about the primary importance of symmetries in physics, in particular in quantum theory. The emphasis is on rotational invariance and the related conserved quantity: angular momentum. Thus the book mainly deals with the many aspects of quantum theory of angular momentum: the rotation group in three-dimensional space, the Lie algebra of the rotation group (i.e. the angular momentum operators) and its representations, tensor product decomposition of representations (i.e. addition of angular momenta), representations of the rotation group, realizations of the Lie algebra (Jordan-Schwinger construction), irreducible tensors and tensor operators. Apart from this classical contents, there is a general introduction on group theory and on symmetries in quantum mechanics. Finally, there is a brief glance at some relativistic problems and a short overview of supersymmetry in quantum mechanics. The book is a didactic textbook intended for physicists. Mathematicians might be irritated by lack of rigour and (at least for mathematicians) unfamiliar notation. For physicists wishing to learn about quantum theory of angular momentum, this book provides an accessible source. The authors have made an effort of explaining not only how things work but also why; moreover, developments are well motivated and put in the right historical context. The bulk of the book is about angular momentum theory and its many aspects. It touches only very briefly on other topics (relativistic problems, Lorentz and Poincaré group, supersymmetry). For those who expect a coverage of all physics ``from angular momentum to supersymmetry'', the title is somewhat misleading.