Book recommendation for Quantum Mechanics

Question

I want to delve into Quantum Computation, and for that I need background in Quantum Mechanics and other relevant mathematical topics. Which Quantum Mechanics book/resource should I use for that purpose ?

Does this answer your question? A book on quantum mechanics supported by the high-level mathematics — Roger V., May 12 '21 at 16:31
The other answer seems to be oriented towards people with a good grasp in higher mathematics, which is unfortunately not the case for me, as I'm just starting out. — The Limit Does Not Exist, May 12 '21 at 17:20

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered May 12 '21 at 16:41

I am going to assume you are mostly interested in the programming/computer science side of quantum computing rather than its engineering challenges.

You actually need to know very little of the theory of quantum mechanics to understand quantum computing, since qubits are specifically prepared (a) to have discrete states and (b) to have stationary (time independent) states. Volume 2 of Leonard Susskind's theoretical minimum series Quantum Mechanics - The Theoretical Minimum contains more than you need to know about QM.

Outside of QM, some familiarity with linear algebra will be useful - enough to understand eigenvalues, eigenvectors, and the properties of unitary and Hermitian matrices - although many introductory quantum computing texts cover this anyway.

Also I believe that book is based on lectures which can be found on Youtube and I think iTunes. — jacob1729, May 12 '21 at 17:32

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered May 12 '21 at 17:23

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Adding to what gandalf61 said, if you just want a bit more insight into what QM is I highly recommend Introduction to Quantum Mechanics from David J Griffiths. He explains like a charm in a good way, the first half of the book or even less will help you have a grasp of what QM is about (but he does not use bra-ket notation)

answered May 12 '21 at 17:23

Iván Queirolo

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I haven't read this book so take this with a pinch of salt, but the lack of bra-ket notation in this book is basically a complete 'no' for the OP's purpose of quantum computing in my opinion. – jacob1729 May 12 '21 at 17:26

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered May 19 '21 at 15:11

I would recommend a classic in quantum computing: Quantum Computation and Quantum Information by Nielsen and Chuang. In the second chapter, the authors provide necessary background in linear algebra and quantum mechanics. The first chapter is devoted to basics of a quantum computation and also covers some basics mathematical concepts in QC.

As mentioned by others, if you are not interested in engineering problems and just want to understand how QC works and how to program a quantum computer, even this book is more than necessary. Simply read the first (intro) and second chapter (math and quantum mechanics basics), you can skip the third, and switch to fourth (basics of quantum computing) and then skim fifth and sixth chapters to get the grasp of Shor's and Grover's algorithms...and now you have a basic understanding of QC.

Book recommendation for Quantum Mechanics

3 Answers3