Second Quantization – Overview

Introduction to Second Quantization
Lecturer: Jan von Delft

The formalism of 'second quantization' is used to simplify the treatment of exchange symmetry in many-body systems. It is used widely in numerous fields of quantum physics. Second quantization is typically not taught in undergraduate quantum mechanics lecture courses, but needed in many master- and PhD level lecture courses. Some lecturers of such courses spend the first lecture of their course to teach second quantization, others do not, expecting students to learn it on their own from some textbook.

The material offered below introduces second quantization to students needing to learn it through self-study. The lecture notes (17 handwritten pages), video (2 hours 17 minutes) and exercise sheet (4 problems) are self-contained. After studying them and possibly consulting one of the textbooks cited in the notes, students should be able to follow lectures or textbooks presuming knowledge of second quantization.

Lecture Notes
Video
Exercises
Solutions