Visual Quantum Mechanics





Mathematica Graphics Package

This package has been distributed with the book "Visual Quantum Mechanics". It is provided here for compatibility reasons. For "Advanced Visual Quantum Mechanics", the packages have been reorganized a bit. They are now all distributed in a folder /AddOns/Applications/VQM/. The new VQM packages can be obtained here.

Description:

The Mathematica packages ArgColorPlot.m and ComplexPlot.m are needed if you want to produce pictures and animations similar to those found on the CD "Visual Quantum Mechanics". Some versions of these packages are included on the CD.

Here you can download all Mathematica graphics packages as a compressed archive. You need the Mathematica software in order to use the packages. The archive contains the folder "Graphics" which may be placed into the folder "AddOns/Applications/" of your Mathematica program folder.

The package ComplexPlot comes complete with documentation. After unzipping (resp. unstuffing) the archive the folder Graphics which contains the package files and the documentation has to be placed inside the Mathematica folder. The appropriate place is in the folder Applications inside the folder AddOns.

The package ArgColorPlot implements a Mathematica command for the graphical representation of complex-valued functions depending on one real variable. An application is the visualization of a quantum mechanical wave functions for particles in a one-dimensional space. The command ArgColorPlot works like the command FilledPlot in the corresponding standard Mathematica package. A plot of the absolute value is filled with a x-dependent color representing the phase of the complex function.

The package ComplexPlot implements several Mathematica commands for plotting complex-valued functions of two real variables. This is particularly useful for the visualization of quantum mechanical wave functions in two dimensions. The Mathematica commands use adjustable color maps to represent complex values with the help of a color. Usually, the hue corresponds to the complex phase while the lightness corresponds to the absolute value. The package contains commands for creating colored density plots as well as three dimensional surface plots.

Download now:

Complete graphics package with documentation:
Macintosh: StuffIt archive, binhex'd StuffIt archive
Windows: zip archive
Mathematica packages only: ComplexPlot.m, ArgColorPlot.m

Further links:

A description of the package ComplexPlot.m was given in The Mathematica Journal, Vol 7 isssue 2, which was presented at the 10th anniversary Mathematica Conference in Chicago 1998. On the internet the article is only availabe to subscribers of The Mathematica Journal.

View the standard color map