PHYS 415
Quantum Mechanics

Winter Quarter 2013

Tuesdays and Thursdays at 12:00 at 318 Willamette.

This the second quarter of a one year undergraduate level course.

Instructor:

Davison Soper
email: soper@uoregon.edu
phone: 6-5162
office: 479 Willamette.
office hours: Mondays and Fridays 11:00-12:00.

Text:

Introduction to Quantum Mechanics, Second Edition, by David Griffiths.

Reading:

7 - 11 January. Griffiths sections 5.1 and 5.2.
14 - 18 January. Griffiths section 5.3.
21 - 25 January. Griffiths section 5.4.
28 January - 1 February. Griffiths sections 6.1 and 6.2.
4 - 8 February. Griffiths sections 6.3, 6.4 and 6.5.
11 - 15 February. Exam on Tuesday. Griffiths section 7.1.
18 - 22 February. Griffiths sections 7.2 and 7.3.
25 - 29 February. Continue with Griffiths sections 7.2 and 7.3. Then read section 8.1.
4 - 9 March. Griffiths sections 8.2 and 8.3.
11 - 15 March. Griffiths section 8.3. Discussion of decaying states and the S-matrix (not in Griffiths).

Homework:

There will be problems assigned each week in class, due on Tuesdays. Occasionally a problem will involve computer work. I recommend Mathematica, which is available at UO computer labs. If you already know some other computer language like C++, Fortran, Matlab, or Maple, you can use what you know.

Tuesday 15 January: Griffiths problems 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, and 5.5.
Tuesday 22 January: Griffiths problems 5.7, 5.9, 5.16, and 5.20.
Tuesday 29 January: Griffiths problems 5.23, 5.24, 5.31, and 5.35.
Tuesday 5 February: Griffiths problems 6.1, 6.2, 6.4, and 6.9.
Tuesday 12 February: Exam.
Tuesday 19 February: Griffiths problems 6.14, 6.18, 7.2, and 7.4.
Tuesday 26 February: Griffiths problems 7.3, 7.8, and 7.9. You will need to perform some integrations. Please derive any results for integrals that you use (except for trivial integrals like the integrals of powers, sines or cosines, and similar simple results that are generally known by physics students).
Tuesday 5 March: Griffiths problems 7.7, 7.19, 7.20.
Tuesday 12 March: Griffiths problems 8.4, 8.5, 8.6, 8.7.

Exams:

Midterm Exam: Tuesday 12 February, in class.
Final Exam: 8:00 Tuesday 19 March.(!)

Grading:

The homework assignments will count for 25% of the course grade. There will be one midterm exam, which counts for 25% of the course grade. The final exam will count for 50% of the course grade.

Exams are to be taken without notes or books. That is because I want to encourage you to remember the most important formulas for quantum mechanics. If you will need an obscure complicated formula for an exam question, I will give it on the exam.

Note: I encourage students to work together on the homework. I don't want you to just copy from someone else's work because you won't learn anything that way, but if you work out the solution jointly with someone else or with a group, that's fine. Real science usually involves teamwork, so it's a good idea for you to learn how to work on science with others. This policy is an exception to the normal university rule about doing your own work. Of course, on exams, your paper has to be entirely your own work.

Davison E. Soper, Institute of Theoretical Science, University of Oregon, Eugene OR 97403 USA soper@uoregon.edu

PHYS 415 Quantum Mechanics