Content:
1)
Spin: Combination with
orbital degrees of freedom. Density matrices.
2)
Identical
Particles and Quantum Statistics:
N-particle systems. Fermions and
bosons. Second quantization.
3)
Addition of Angular Momentum:
Simplified version. General version. Clebsch-Gordan coefficients.
Irreducible tensor operators. Degeneracies.
4) Variational
and WKB Methods: General formulations. Examples and applications.
6)
Time-Independent
Perturbation Theory:
General formalism. Examples and applications. Degenerate case.
7)
Time-Dependent
Perturbation Theory: First-order case. Higher-order cases.
Interaction of atoms with electromagnetic radiation.
8)
Scattering Theory:
General formalism (Lippmann-Schwinger equation). Born approximation.
Partial wave expansion. Optical theorem. Two-particle scattering.
9)
Relativistic Quantum Mechanics: Free-particle Dirac
equation. Electron spin. Spin-orbit coupling. Interaction with
electromagnetic fields.
Textbook:
Principles of Quantum Mechanics, 2nd edition, by R.
Shankar (Plenum Press, 1994).
Other useful books for this course are:
Modern Quantum Mechanics,
2nd edition, by J. J. Sakurai (Addison-Wesley, 1994);
Quantum
Mechanics: Non-Relativistic Theory, 3rd edition, by E. M. Lifshitz
and L. D. Landau (Butterworth-Heinemann, 1981).
Grading: Final grades will be based on homework (1/3), a
mid-term exam (1/3), and a final exam (1/3). Homework sets
will be handed out
every two weeks, approximately. Grading will be done over a scale from
0 to 100. Final
letter grades will be given according to the following grid: A
(100-95), A- (94-90), B+(89-85), B (84-80), B- (79-76), C+
(75-70), C (69-66), C- (65-61), D+ (60-57), D (56-53), D- (52-50), F
(49-0). Homework sets
handed in after the due date will be devaluated in 10% for every late
day. The days for the mid-term exam is February 25 (Monday) during
regular lecture hours. The final exam has
been schedule for April 28 (Monday), from 1:00-3:50 pm. All exams will
take place in PL 0101.
CALENDAR
PROBLEM SETS (pdf files)
#1 (due Friday, January 18)
#2 (due Wednesday, February 6)
#3 (due Wednesday, February 20)
#4 (due Friday, March 7)
#5 (due Friday, March 28)
#6 (due Friday, April 11)
#7 (due Friday, April 25)
GRADES
Eduardo
Mucciolo
2008-04-15
