Quantum Mechanics Basic to Biophysical Methods

It is critical that I begin by stating that, if you have never before completed a course in quantum mechanics and its applications, I would strongly encourage you to do so. While the material I incorporate in this chapter will brush quickly over the subject, there is an emphasis on brush and quickly. It is probably more useful as a review and reference than as a primary study source. The essential material is commonly offered in first-year graduate courses in both physics and chemistry departments. Physics courses will emphasize clear comprehension of the fundamentals of quantum mechanics and plumb its depths with the exactly soluble problems and its formalism. Chemistry courses will spend less time on the exactly soluble problems and the formalism, but will emphasize the approximate solution of problems and have a molecular perspective. If you will use spectroscopic methods as your major tool to study biophysics, you will need a greater grounding in quantum mechanics than this chapter will provide.