| hsg@phy.duke.edu | 660-2548 | Physics 047 |
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[ Grading | References ]
Topics covered in 211 will include: experiments that led to the founding of quantum mechanics; the wave-particle duality of particles and photons; the single-particle Schrodinger equation and the physical meaning of the wave function; solutions and applications of the single-particle one-dimensional Schrodinger equation; the formulation of quantum mechanics in terms of state vectors, operators, and Hilbert space; the generalization of the single-particle Schrodinger equation to many-particle systems; and the generalization of the Schrodinger equation to two- and three-space dimensions.
In terms of physics, you need to know the simple mathematical description of a wave, the real and complex forms of a wave, what is a wave packet, the dispersion relation of a wave, the phase velocity of a wave, and the group velocity of a superposition of waves.
Please talk with me at the beginning of the semester if you have any concerns about whether your background is adequate for Physics 211 since this course is traditionally found by students to be one of the harder science courses on campus. The stronger your math and science background, the more you will enjoy the course and understand the material.
There will also be an optional discussion and problem-solving meeting each week. The time and place for this extra weekly meeting will be announced in class but presently and tentatively is scheduled for Friday afternoons from 1-2:30 pm in Physics 234 (this is the Physics Faculty Lounge). Students have found these meetings useful for strengthening their math background, getting help on homework assignments, preparing for tests, discussing the lectures in greater depth, and talking about topics beyond the lectures.
There will also be a few supplementary class meetings scattered throughout the semester, e.g., to look at a video of Feynman introducing quantum mechanics and to visit some laboratories carrying out research involving quantum mechanics. The times and places for these extra meetings will be sent by e-mail and posted on the course web page.
To set up a meeting, you can send e-mail or give a call using the information at the top of this syllabus.
Please also feel free to send me e-mail at any time. I am often logged on in the evenings and on the weekends and will be glad to discuss the course or homework with you.
| Activity | Percent of Total Grade |
| Class participation | 10% |
| Homeworks | 25% |
| Quizzes | 10% |
| First midterm exam (tentatively Tuesday, Oct 5) | 15% |
| Second midterm exam (tentatively Tuesday, Nov 7) | 15% |
| Final exam | 25% |
Your active class participation throughout the semester is extremely important since it is difficult to learn physics by passively listening to a lecture. I expect all members of the class to read and to think about the assigned material before lecture and to come prepared to ask questions and to discuss the material in class. If you don't understand something during lecture or from the textbooks, please don't be shy, ask questions! If something catches your interest and you want to learn more, ask questions. Talking with me outside of lecture is also one way to participate in class; I want to see evidence of your actively trying to understand quantum mechanics.
You are allowed to collaborate on homework (this is realistic, scientists collaborate all the time in research!). However: you must write up your homework on your own, in your own words, and with your own understanding. You must also acknowledge explicitly at the beginning of your homework anyone who gave you substantial help, e.g., classmates or the TA or myself. (Again, scientists usually acknowledge in their published articles colleagues that helped in completing some particular research.) Failure to write your homeworks in your own words and failure to acknowledge help when given can lead to severe academic penalties so please play by the rules.
Your main two goals in writing up your homework are to be clear (so that the teaching assistant and I can understand what you have written) and to demonstrate insight. Writing clearly means using readable handwriting. You should avoid tiny script and avoid trying to cram many sentences and equations onto a single page. Leave plenty of space between symbols and between lines of equations and leave plenty of space between the ending of one homework problem and the beginning of the next. Spread your answer out over many pages if necessary; paper is cheap compared to the time of working on or grading your homework.
Demonstrating insight means using complete sentences that explain what you are doing and why (e.g., as you proceed with some mathematical derivation). Cryptic brief answers like "yes", "no", "24" or "f(x)" will not be given credit. Your homework must show that you understand how you got your answer and that you appreciate the significance of your answer. A simple criterion for a well-written complete answer is that you will be able to understand it yourself a month after you have written your answer, even without remembering what the original question was.
In writing your homeworks, you should also pay attention to details. All symbols should be given names the first time you introduce them (say "the momentum p" or "the flux F" instead of just using the symbols p and F). Physical units should be given for any answer that is a physical quantity ("the angular momentum was A=0.02 J-sec", "the angle was µ=0.32 radians"). Graphs should have their axes clearly labeled by symbol and units, and should have a title explaining the purpose of the graph. To learn how to write in an effective scientific style, try reading research articles such as those published in Physical Review Letters .
Late homeworks are not accepted. If you think you will not be able to hand in your homework by its due date, please get in touch with me as soon as possible (at least three days before the due date) and explain what the situation is.