PHY 465: Quantum Mechanics II, Spring 2016


Instructor:   Prof. Thomas Barthel
Lectures:   Tuesdays and Thursdays 3:05PM-4:20PM in Old Chemistry 116
Office hours:   Tuesdays 4:20PM-5:30PM and Fridays 10:00-11:00 in Physics 287
Teaching assistant:   Moritz Binder
Tutorials:   Fridays 4:40PM-5:55PM in Physics 299
Grading:   Problem Sets (40%), Midterm exam (20%), Final exam (40%)

Synopsis

This is an advanced undergraduate course taking a stroll through the world of quantum mechanics. Deepening the understanding of quantum systems, the course also prepares for studies of quantum optics, quantum information, condensed matter, and quantum field theory.

Starting from a reminder on the postulates of quantum mechanics and its mathematical basis, we will discuss the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, the semi-classical regime (WKB method), approximations for time-dependent problems, treatment and use of symmetries, the theory of angular momentum, and systems of identical particles (fermions and bosons). Nice examples and exercises will be used to illustrate these topics. Depending on the available time we may also cover decoherence, Bell inequalities, and aspects of quantum information theory such as quantum entanglement and quantum algorithms.

Some basic knowledge of linear algebra will be needed. Knowledge corresponding to the course PHY 464 (Quantum Mechanics I) will be very useful, but we will try to keep the course as self-contained as possible.

Lecture Notes

[Are provided on the Sakai site PHYSICS.465.01.Sp16.]

Homework

You are encouraged to discuss homework assignments with fellow students. However, the written part of the homework must be done individually and cannot be a copy of another student's solution. An exception to that rule is that you are allowed to work in groups of two. In that case, both partners still need to hand in a copy of their solution and should additionally always specify the name of their partner.

[Are provided on the Sakai site PHYSICS.465.01.Sp16.]

Useful literature

Textbooks on quantum mechanics.
  • Sakurai "Modern Quantum Mechanics", Addison Wesley (1993)
  • Shankar "Principles of Quantum Mechanics" 2nd Edition, Plenum Press (1994)
  • Cohen-Tannoudji, Diu, Laloe "Quantum mechanics", Wiley (1991, 1992)
  • Le Bellac "Quantum physics", Cambridge University Press (2006)
  • Merzbacher "Quantum mechanics" 3rd Edition, Wiley (1998)
  • Schwabl "Quantum Mechanics", 4th Edition, Springer (2007)
  • Galindo, Pascual "Quantum Mechanics I & II", Springer (1991)
More on identical particles and second quantization in books on quantum many-body physics.
  • Negele, Orland "Quantum many-particle systems", Westview Press (1988, 1998)
  • Altland, Simons "Condensed Matter Field Theory" 2nd Edition, Cambridge University Press (2010)
  • Bruus, Flensberg "Many-body quantum theory in condensed matter physics", Oxford University Press (2004)
Quantum information and computation.
  • Nielsen, Chuang "Quantum Computation and Quantum Information", Cambridge University Press (2000)
  • Bruss, Leuchs "Lectures on Quantum Information", Wiley (2007)

have a nice day!