We meet Tuesdays and Thursdays 12:30-1:45pm in Psychology 1802. The first class is Tues., Apr. 1. The TA, Antonio Boveia, will teach a section on Friday from noon to 12:50 in 2128 Girvetz.
The lecturer is Harry Nelson, and the TA is Antonio Boveia. Prof. Nelson's office hours are currently Wed. 9:30am-11:30am and by appointment in 5103 Broida, Antonio Boveia's are currently Tuesday 10:30-12:30pm, Wednesday noon-12:30pm, and Thursday noon-12:30pm in the PLC. Our grader, Victor Soto, will hold office hours Tuesday 9:00-10:30am in the PLC.
This is the second quarter of a core course on Quantum Mechanics. The textbook is `Principles of Quantum Mechanics' by R. Shankar. We will cover material from Chapters 6 through 12 of Shankar. The principal planned topics include the classical limt, the harmonic oscillator, the uncertainty relations, identical particles, symmetries, and angular momentum.
One midterm is planned on Tuesday, May 13
Homework is assigned on Thursday, due the next Thursday in class. Homework turned in after class on Thursday will have 10% of the score removed; homework turned in on Friday by 5pm will have 20% of the score removed; homework turned in by the subsequent Monday by 5pm after will have 50% of the score removed; homework turned in after that may receive no credit. You may work with others on working out the problems, but you must write up solutions independently of one another.
The grading formula to be 45% Final, 30% Midterm, and 25% Problems.
| Pages | Lecture Dates | Reading |
| Pages 120-122, 1-5 | Apr. 1 | Shankar pp. 179-191 |
| Pages 6-14 , Extra page 11 , Hermite Polynomials , Link to QSHO on web | Apr. 3 | Shankar pp. 191-202 |
| Pages 15-20 , Excel QSHO | Apr. 8 | Shankar pp. 202-206 |
| Pages 21-28 | Apr. 10 | Shankar pp. 207-212 |
| Pages 29-35 | Apr. 15 | Shankar pp. 209, 216-221, 237-238 |
| Pages 36-40 , Excel Uncertainty Principle (uncertainty.xls) | Apr. 17 | Shankar pp. 238-241 |
| Pages 40-47 | Apr. 22 | Shankar pp. 241-244, 247-250 |
| Pages 48-55 | Apr. 24 | Shankar pp. 250-258 | Pages 56-61 , Feynman: Audio, Text | Apr. 29 | Shankar pp. 258-265 |
| Pages 62-70 Nobel Prize for Bose-Einstein Condensates | May 1 | Shankar pp. 266-278 |
| Pages 71-77 | May 6 | Shankar pp. 279-284 |
| Pages 78-85 | May 8 | Shankar pp. 284-286, 289-290, 292-298 |
| Midterm | May 13 | Solutions |
| Pages 86-90 | May 16 | Shankar pp. 298-303 |
| Pages 91-98 | May 20 | Shankar pp. 305-311 |
| Pages 99-106 | May 22 | Shankar pp. 311-318 |
| Pages 107-111 | May 27 | Shankar pp. 318-321 |
| Pages 112-118 | May 29 | Shankar pp. 321-327 |
| Pages 119-127, Spherical Harmonics: Gallery , Additional Info, Cosmic Microwave:Information , Plot of Power as a Function of Multipole | June 3 | Shankar pp. 327-328, 333-339 |
| Pages 128-135 | June 5 | Shankar p. 329 |
| Final | June 9 | Solutions |
| Link | Date Assigned | Date Due | |
| Problem Set 1 | Apr. 3 | Apr. 10 | Solutions |
| Problem Set 2 | Apr. 10 | Apr. 17 | Solutions |
| Problem Set 3 Typos Fixed 4/22 | Apr. 17 | Apr. 24 | Solutions | Problem Set 4 | Apr. 24 | May 1 | Solutions | Problem Set 5 | May 1 | May 8 | Solutions |
| Problem Set 6 | May 8 | May 15 | Solutions |
| Problem Set 7 | May 15 | May 22 | Solutions |
| Problem Set 8 | May 22 | May 29 | Solutions |
| Problem Set 9 | May 29 | June 6, 5pm, PSC | Solutions |
| Particle Data Group | Source of many useful tables |
| Nobel Prizes | The Nobel e-Museum |
| Colloquia Online | Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics |
| BBC | British Broadcasting Corporation Science Page |
| DMN | Dallas Morning News Science Page (free registration required) |
| LAT | Los Angeles Times Science Page |
| NYT | New York Times Science Page |
| PT | Physics Today (Registration required to view articles) |
