Last updated 2009-Jan-16.
The course meets on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 11am in Crow 204.
| Instructor: | Prof.
Mark Alford Office: Compton 358; Phone: 5-5034; Email: p217(at)physics.wustl.edu Office hour: Wed, 3pm. Students are also welcome to make appointments to see Prof. Alford at other times. |
| TA: | Nilushi Fonseka Office: 220 Crow; Phone: 5-7507; Email: nfonseka(at)physics.wustl.edu |
| Sections: | Thurs 5-6pm in Compton 245, along the corridor from our regular classroom. |
| Homework assigned so far: | PostScript version | PDF version | |
| Lecture topics and suggested reading: | follow this link | ||
| Prof. Alford's notes on Quantum Mechanics: |
PostScript version | PDF version | |
| Energy eigenfunctions of a square well | PostScript version | PDF version | |
| Plots of the spherical harmonics | PostScript version | PDF version | |
| Energy levels of the Hydrogen atom | PostScript version | PDF version | |
| Information about complex numbers: |
The Mathematica guide to complex numbers |
An online introduction to complex numbers |
Appendix K of the textbook. |
| Corrections to Mon Nov 17th lecture | PDF version | ||
| Human interest: | Short Biography of Schrödinger |
| Course Textbook: | Modern Physics
by Randy Harris, ISBN 978-0-805300308-7. You must own a copy of this book: the course will follow it closely, and many of the homework problems will come from it. |
| Other useful books: | Modern Physics for scientists and engineers by
Taylor and Zafiratos (and Dubson, 2nd edition). Modern Physics by Bernstein, Fishbane, and Gasiorowicz. Introductory quantum mechanics by Liboff. Quantum Mechanics by Rae. (these are available on reserve in the physics library) |
This course is an introduction to Quantum Mechanics, the keystone of modern physics. We will cover chapters 3 to 7 of the textbook, Modern Physics by Randy Harris.
| Chapter 3: | Light as particles (photons); sections 3.2, 3.4, 3.6. |
| Chapter 4: | Matter as waves; wave functions and the Schrödinger equation,
free particles, wavepackets and the Fourier Transform; sections 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 4.5, 4.7. |
| Chapter 5: | Simple bound states in quantum mechanics; all sections except 5.10. |
| Chapter 6: | Unbound states in quantum mechanics; tunnelling and barriers; all sections. |
| Chapter 7: | Schrödinger equation in 3D; central forces and the Hydrogen atom; all sections except 7.10. |
The final grade will be a weighted average of homework (30%), the midterm (30%) and the final exam (40%).
| Homework: | Problem sets will be handed out every week. Students are
expected to hand in the solutions on the due date, typically a Friday.
Late homework will only be accepted by prior arrangement with
Prof. Alford. In no case can homework be given a grade after the
solutions have been distributed. Students are encouraged to form study groups and discuss the homework with each other, but each student must formulate his or her own solutions. When answering a question, you will usually (unless the question is very simple) only get partial credit if you just write down an answer, with no justification. To get full credit you need to give reasons why your answer is correct. |
| Midterm: | The midterm will be on Mon October 13th, in Crow 204, our usual classroom.. It will be two hours long. You can either arrive at 10am and leave at 12 noon, or arrive at 11am and leave at 1pm. |
| Final: | The final exam will be on Wed Dec 17th from 10:30am-12:30pm, in Crow 204, our usual classroom. The scheduled time is 10:30am-12:30pm, but the professor is giving you an ectra hour: you can either arrive at 9:30 and leave at 12:30, or arrive at 10:30 and leave at 1:30pm. |
| Exam rules: |
These rules apply to both the midterm and the final.
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During the evaluation period you can supply your evaluation of the course at the course evaluation website.