Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics: An Advanced Short Course

Abstract

This paper collects and extends the lectures I gave at the "XXIV International Fall Workshop on Geometry and Physics" held in Zaragoza (Spain) August 31 - September 4, 2015. Within these lectures I review the formulation of Quantum Mechanics, and quantum theories in general, from a mathematically advanced viewpoint, essentially based on the orthomodular lattice of elementary propositions, discussing some fundamental ideas, mathematical tools and theorems also related to the representation of physical symmetries. The final step consists of an elementary introduction the so-called (C*-) algebraic formulation of quantum theories.

103 pages, no figures. Some text corrections performed, to appear in Int. J. Geometrical Methods in Modern Physics