Visual Quantum Mechanics: Selected Topics with Computer-Generated Animations of Quantum-Mechanical Phenomena

In the strange world of quantum mechanics the application of visualization techniques is particularly rewarding, for it allows us to depict phenomena that cannot be seen by any other means. Visual Quantum Mechanics relies heavily on visualization as a tool for mediating knowledge. The book comes TM with a CD-ROM containing about 320 digital movies in QuickTime f- mat, which can be watched on every multimedia-capable computer. These computer-generated animations are used to introduce, motivate, and ill- trate the concepts of quantum mechanics that are explained in the book. If a picture is wort h a thousand words, then my hope is that each short animation (consisting of about a hundred frames) will be worth a hundred thousand words. The collection of lms on the CD-ROM is presented in an interactive en- TM vironmentthathasbeendevelopedwiththehelpofMacromediaDirector . This multimedia presentation can be used like an adventure game without special computer skills. I hope that this presentation format will attract the interest of a wider audience to the beautiful theory of quantum mechanics.