Hilbert Space Operators in Quantum Physics

Almost ?fteen years later, and there is little change in our motivation. Mathem- ical physics of quantum systems remains a lively subject of intrinsic interest with numerous applications, both actual and potential. Intheprefacetothe?rsteditionwehavedescribedtheoriginofthisbookrooted at the beginning in a course of lectures. With this fact in mind, we were naturally pleased to learn that the volume was used as a course text in many points of the world and we gladly accepted the o?er ofSpringer Verlag which inherited the rights from our original publisher, to consider preparation of a second edition. It was our ambition to bring the reader close to the places where real life dwells, and therefore this edition had to be more than a corrected printing. The ?eld is developing rapidly and since the ?rst edition various new subjects have appeared; as a couple of examples let us mention quantum computing or the major progress in theinvestigationofrandomSchr‥ odingeroperators.Thereare,however,goodsources intheliteraturewherethereadercanlearnabouttheseandothernewdevelopments.

Jiri Blank graduated in 1961 from Czech Technical University and got his PhD from Charles University. Until his premature death in 1990 he was active in mathematical-physics research and teaching. He educated many excellent students.

Pavel Exner graduated in 1969 from Charles University. From 1978 to 1990 he worked in Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna, where he got his PhD and DSc degrees. After the return to Prague he headed a mathematical-physics group in the Nuclear Physics Institute of Academy of Sciences and became a professor of theoretical physics at Charles University. He authored over 150research papers to which more than thousand citations can be found. At present he is a vice president of European Mathematical Society and secretary of IUPAP commission for mathematical physics.

Miloslav Havlicek graduated in 1961 from Czech Technical University; he got his PhD from Charles University and DSc at Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna. He wrote numerous papers on algebraic methods in quantum physics. From 1990 he served repeatedly as dean of the Faculty of Nuclear Sciences and Physical Engineering and head of the Department of Mathematics.