Physics 115C, Fall 2009

Welcome to Physics 115c, Quantum Mechanics, for Fall 2009. Lectures are TuTh 9:30-10:45am in Phelps 3515; a 1-hour section meets Fridays 2-2:50pm in the same room. The textbook is `Introduction to Quantum Mechanics,' Second Edition by David Griffiths. The Instructor is Harry Nelson, and he'll hold office hours Thursday 11:15-12:15pm in 5103 Broida, and Friday 2:30pm to 3:30pm in the same office. The TA is Gavin Harnett, and his office hours will be in the PSR on the first floor of Broida. Currently his hours are Mondays, 2-3:30pm and Thursday 1-2:30pm,

Generally, homework will be assigned Tuesdays and due the subsequent Tuesday; late homework will not be accepted, but the two lowest homework grades will be dropped in calculating your grade. Homework will be collected at 4 pm sharp from the box, which is not yet set up, but will be on the first floor. of Broida.

A midterm is currently planned for October 27., May 4. The final will be Wednesday, Dec. 9 at 8am in 3515 Phelps. The current plan is for homework to count 35%, the midterm 25%, and the final 40%.

The plan is to cover Griffiths Chapters 6-12.

• Week 1 -
  1. Begin reading Griffiths Chapter 6.
  2. Due Tuesday, Sep. 29 Griffiths Problem 6.2 - use the raising and lowering operators, don't do explicit integrals, for part (b).
  3. First Lecture, Sep. 24
• Week 2 -
  1. Continue reading Griffiths Chapter 6.
  2. Due Tuesday, Oct. 6 Griffths 6.5, 6.7, 6.9, 6.17, 6.18 - Solutions
  3. Second Lecture, Sep. 29
  4. Third Lecture (Nelson notes); Oct. 1 - Third Lecture (Stuart notes), Oct. 1
• Week 3 -
  1. Continue reading Griffiths Chapter 6.
  2. Due Tuesday, Oct. 13 Griffths 6.23, 6.24, 6.32, 6.33 (6.28 was initially assigned, but since we didn't get to the hyperfine interaction in lecture, this problem will be delayed a week.) - Solutions
  3. Fourth Lecture, Oct. 6
  4. Fifth Lecture Oct. 8
• Week 4 -
  1. Griffiths Chapter 7.
  2. Due Thursday, Oct. 22 Griffths 6.28, 7.2, 7.5, 7.6, 7.5 - Solutions
  3. Sixth Lecture, Oct. 13
  4. Seventh Lecture Oct. 15
• Week 5 -
  1. Griffiths Chapter 8.
  2. Due Tuesday, Nov. 3 Griffths 7.14, 7.15, 8.1, 8.3, 8.4, 8.5 8.6 - Solutions
  3. Eighth Lecture, Oct. 20
  4. Ninth Lecture Oct. 22
• Week 6 -
  1. Griffiths Chapter 8.
  2. Midterm Tuesday Oct. 27!
  3. Tenth Lecture Oct. 29
• Week 7 -
  1. Griffiths Chapter 9.
  2. Due Tuesday, Nov. 10 Griffths 8.13, 9.5, 9.6 - Solutions
  3. Eleventh Lecture, Nov. 3
  4. Twelfth Lecture Nov. 5
• Week 8 -
  1. Griffiths Chapter 9.
  2. Due Tuesday, Nov. 17 Griffths 9.7, 9.8, 9.9, 9.10
  3. Thirteenth Lecture, Nov. 10 (midterm post-mortem)
  4. Extra Points on the Midterm by doing these problems
  5. Fourteenth Lecture Nov. 12
• Week 8 -
  1. Griffiths Chapters 9 and 10.
  2. Due Tuesday, Nov. 24 Griffths 9.12, 9.14, 9.18, 10.3 - Solutions
  3. Fifteenth Lecture Nov. 17
  4. Sixteenth Lecture Nov. 19
• Week 9 -
  1. Griffiths Chapter 10.
  2. No problems assigned.
  3. Seventeenth Lecture Nov. 24
• Week 10 -
  1. Griffiths Chapters 10 and 11.
  2. Due Wednesday, Dec. 9 at final Griffths 11.4, 11.6, 11.7
  3. Eighteenth Lecture Dec. 1
  4. Ninteenth Lecture Dec. 3