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Quantum Mechanics

Diagram Index

The diagram index classifies figures by purpose rather than by filename. A diagram should make a structure visible: a coordinate convention, a spectrum, a coupling, a gauge label, a degeneracy count, or a conceptual dependency.

Coordinate and Measure Diagrams

Section titled “Coordinate and Measure Diagrams”

These diagrams fix geometry or integration conventions:

  • spherical-coordinate-convention.svg supports spherical-coordinate pages.
  • angular-probability-measures.svg distinguishes circular and spherical angular measures.
  • free-particle-3d-energy-shell.svg shows constant-energy shells in momentum space.

Use these diagrams when a reader might otherwise confuse a coordinate label with a physical observable or omit a measure factor.

Spectrum and Level Diagrams

Section titled “Spectrum and Level Diagrams”

These diagrams show spectra, degeneracies, or avoided crossings:

  • particle-on-ring-spectrum.svg,
  • rotational-spectrum-line-ladder.svg,
  • coulomb-bound-continuum-spectrum.svg,
  • coupled-wells-avoided-crossing.svg,
  • landau-zener-sweep.svg,
  • fock-darwin-frequency-splitting.svg,
  • landau-level-degeneracy-flux-counting.svg.

Spectrum diagrams should state whether they are schematic, exact, approximate, or parameter-dependent.

Wavefunction and Probability Diagrams

Section titled “Wavefunction and Probability Diagrams”

These diagrams show qualitative wavefunction or probability structure:

  • hermite-functions.svg,
  • hydrogen-radial-probability-examples.svg,
  • hydrogenic-orbital-shapes-schematic.svg,
  • spherical-harmonics-angular-shapes.svg,
  • squeezed-state-quadratures.svg.

Captions should say whether the plotted object is ψ\psi, ∣ψ∣2\lvert\psi\rvert^2, a radial probability density, or a schematic lobe representation.

Gauge and Electromagnetic Diagrams

Section titled “Gauge and Electromagnetic Diagrams”

These diagrams explain gauge-dependent labels or magnetic-field structure:

  • aharonov-bohm-two-path-phase.svg,
  • gauge-transformation-wavefunction-phase.svg,
  • landau-vs-symmetric-gauge-labels.svg,
  • uniform-magnetic-field-cyclotron-oscillator.svg.

Gauge diagrams must be especially careful: the image may show gauge-dependent wavefunctions or labels while the physical claim concerns gauge-invariant phases, spectra, or fields.

Two-Level and Control Diagrams

Section titled “Two-Level and Control Diagrams”

These diagrams support finite-dimensional models:

  • bloch-sphere-two-level.svg,
  • rabi-oscillations.svg,
  • tight-binding-dimer.svg,
  • landau-zener-sweep.svg.

Use them to connect matrix Hamiltonians to dynamics, basis choices, and parameter sweeps.

Concept Maps

Section titled “Concept Maps”

The current concept-map asset is:

Concept maps should not replace definitions. They are navigation aids and should link readers to canonical pages for the actual formalism.

Diagram Admission Checklist

Section titled “Diagram Admission Checklist”

A diagram should have:

  • a tracked source file,
  • compact labels,
  • no hidden color-only meaning,
  • no overlapping labels,
  • meaningful alt text,
  • a caption that names the convention,
  • a canonical page where the physics is explained.
Section titled “Cross-Links”

References

Section titled “References”
  • W3C Web Accessibility Initiative, Images Tutorial.
  • E. Tufte, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, 2nd ed., Graphics Press, 2001.