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Course Calendar
| Week 1 |
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| Mon, Aug 29 |
Course introduction. Schrödinger equation and statistical
interpretation.
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| Required reading: |
Griffiths: Ch 1.1-1.2 |
| Wed, Aug 31 |
Probability.
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| Required reading: |
Griffiths: Ch 1.3-1.4 |
| Thu, Sep 01 |
Physics department colloquium by Pierre Hohenberg on
Why are there so many interpretations of quantum mechanics?
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| Fri, Sep 02 |
Operators and the uncertainty principle.
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| Required reading: |
Griffiths: 1.5-1.6 |
| Week 2 |
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| Mon, Sep 05 |
No Lecture!
Labor Day.
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| Wed, Sep 07 |
Stationary states.
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| Required reading: |
Griffiths: Ch 2.1 |
| Due: |
Homework Set 1. |
| Fri, Sep 09 |
Infinite square well.
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| Required reading: |
Griffiths: Ch 2.2 |
| Week 3 |
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| Mon, Sep 12 |
Harmonic oscillator: algebraic approach.
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| Required reading: |
Griffiths: Ch 2.3.1 |
| Wed, Sep 14 |
Harmonic oscillator: Hermite polynomials.
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| Required reading: |
Griffiths: Ch 2.3.2 |
| Due: |
Homework Set 2. |
| Fri, Sep 16 |
Worked problems. We will spend the class working on problems related
to the infinite square well, harmonic oscillator, and/or anything
else we find interesting.
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| Required reading: |
Griffiths: 2.2, 2.3 |
| Week 4 |
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| Mon, Sep 19 |
Free particle.
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| Required reading: |
Griffiths: 2.4 |
| Due: |
Homework Set 3. |
| Wed, Sep 21 |
Delta-function potential.
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| Required reading: |
Griffiths: 2.5 |
| Fri, Sep 23 |
Finite square well.
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| Required reading: |
Griffiths: 2.6 |
| Week 5 |
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| Mon, Sep 26 |
Review/catch-up.
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| Due: |
Homework Set 4. |
| Wed, Sep 28 |
Exam I |
| Exam I: |
In Nord 204:
Exam covering chapters 1 and 2.
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| Fri, Sep 30 |
Linear algebra.
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| Required reading: |
Griffiths: Appendix A |
| Week 6 |
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| Mon, Oct 03 |
Exam recap. More on Linear algebra. Hilbert space and observables.
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| Required reading: |
Griffiths: Ch 3.1, 3.2 |
| Wed, Oct 05 |
Hilbert space and observables.
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| Required reading: |
Griffiths: Ch 3.1, 3.2 |
| Due: |
Homework Set 5. |
| Fri, Oct 07 |
Observables and eigenfunctions.
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| Required reading: |
Griffiths: 3.2, 3.3 |
| Week 7 |
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| Mon, Oct 10 |
Eigenfunctions and statistical interpretation.
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| Required reading: |
Griffiths: 3.3, 3.4 |
| Due: |
Homework Set 6. |
| Wed, Oct 12 |
Uncertainty principle.
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| Required reading: |
Griffiths: Ch 3.5 |
| Fri, Oct 14 |
Dirac notation.
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| Required reading: |
Griffiths: 3.6 |
| Week 8 |
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| Mon, Oct 17 |
Catchup/Review.
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| Due: |
Homework Set 7. |
| Wed, Oct 19 |
Exam II |
| Exam II: |
In Nord 204: Exam covering chapter 3.
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| Fri, Oct 21 |
Matrix mechanics. Matrix mechanics was developed before
Schrödinger developed wave mechanics. We study wave mechanics
since the mathematical techniques are more familiar to us. The
original paper by Born and Jordan provides a historical perspective
on how quantum mechanics was developed as well as the introduction of
linear algebra to physics. Fedak and Prentis provide a good
discussion of Born and Jordan's original paper. We will
discuss this paper more later in the semester so we will not try to
get through it all at once. From on campus and/or on the VPN you
have full access to the paper.
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| Required reading: |
Fedak and Prentis |
| Week 9 |
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| Mon, Oct 24 |
No Lecture!
Fall Break.
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| Wed, Oct 26 |
Schrödinger equation in spherical coordinates. Spherical harmonics.
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| Required reading: |
Griffiths: Ch 4.1 |
| Fri, Oct 28 |
Infinite spherical well.
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| Required reading: |
Griffiths: 4.1 |
| Week 10 |
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| Mon, Oct 31 |
The Hydrogen atom.
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| Required reading: |
Griffiths: 4.2 |
| Due: |
Homework Set 8. |
| Wed, Nov 02 |
The Hydrogen atom continued.
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| Required reading: |
Griffiths: Ch 4.2 |
| Fri, Nov 04 |
The Hydrogen atom continued.
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| Required reading: |
Griffiths: Ch 4.2 |
| Week 11 |
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| Mon, Nov 07 |
Angular momentum.
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| Required reading: |
Griffiths: 4.3 |
| Due: |
Homework Set 9. |
| Wed, Nov 09 |
Angular momentum continued.
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| Required reading: |
Griffiths: Ch 4.3 |
| Fri, Nov 11 |
More on matrix mechanics. We will finish this paper and briefly
discuss the modern view of matrix mechanics including the
Schrödinger picture and Heisenberg picture.
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| Required reading: |
Fedak and Prentis |
| Week 12 |
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| Mon, Nov 14 |
Spin introduction and spin 1/2 system.
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| Required reading: |
Griffiths: Ch 4.4 |
| Due: |
Homework Set 10. |
| Wed, Nov 16 |
Electron in a magnetic field.
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| Required reading: |
Griffiths: Ch 4.4 |
| Fri, Nov 18 |
Addition of angular momentum, Clebsh-Gordon coefficients.
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| Required reading: |
Griffiths: Ch 4.4 |
| Week 13 |
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| Mon, Nov 21 |
Catchup/Two particle systems intro.
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| Required reading: |
Griffiths: Ch 5.1 |
| Due: |
Homework Set 11. |
| Wed, Nov 23 |
Two particle systems continued.
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| Required reading: |
Griffiths: Ch 5.1 |
| Fri, Nov 25 |
No Lecture!
Thanksgiving break.
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| Week 14 |
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| Mon, Nov 28 |
Review.
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| Wed, Nov 30 |
Exam III |
| Exam III: |
In Nord 204: Exam covering chapter 4.
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| Fri, Dec 02 |
Two particle systems continued.
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| Required reading: |
Griffiths: Ch 5.1 |
| Week 15 |
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| Mon, Dec 05 |
Quantum statistical mechanics.
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| Required reading: |
Griffiths: 5.4 |
| Wed, Dec 07 |
Quantum statistical mechanics continued.
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| Required reading: |
Griffiths: 5.4 |
| Fri, Dec 04 |
Entanglement and Schrödinger's Cat. One of the "absurd" features
of quantum mechanics is entangled states. We have blithely written
down and manipulated such states but haven't thought about them in
detail. Schrödinger's cat is an example of this "absurd" feature
taken to an extreme. Even so a recent report claims to have entangled
macroscopic objects (diamonds). We will briefly discuss these
results and also some of the philosophical issues of quantum
mechanics.
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| Required reading: |
Griffiths: Problem 12.1; Griffiths: 12.4. |
| Due: |
Homework Set 12. |
| Final Exam |
|---|
| Wed, Dec 14 |
Exam (Final) |
| Exam (Final): |
8:30am-11:30pm in NORD 204.
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Physics