SU Physics 485: Quantum Mechanics
Fall 2001
with Dr. David Boness
This page is here for your convenience. Please remember that assignments are announced in class.
The Final Exam (comprehensive) will be on Monday, December 10, at 4 pm in Bannan 301 (or 304 if 301 is not available).
Syllabus: Click here for the course syllabus.
Prerequisites: Physics 205 and Math 234, or their equivalents elesewhere.
Class meetings: MTWThF 9:45-10:35 in Bannan 301.
Office hours: At least ten hours a week. I am department chair, and my schedule varies from day to day and week to week. See the sign on my office door for times I'm available that day, or see me after class to schedule a meeting the same day.
My email: dboness@seattleu.edu
My phone: (206) 296-5924.
Text: David J. Griffiths. Introduction to Quantum Mechanics. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, 1995. Professor Griffiths has a list of text corrections on his web page at Reed College. You may want to buy a math handbook that has integral tables. Integrals can be done on the web (using Mathematica) at The Integrator.
Look at these webMathematica interactive examples pertaining to the quantum world:
Particle in a 1-d box (note that what is called "probability" is really probability density distribution)
Other interesting webMathematica examples:
Week 1 assignments:
For Wednesday, September 26: Receive the syllabus in class. I will give a course overview.
Homework 1 (due on Fri, Sept. 28, in class): Problems 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3 (to get you thinking about basic probability and statistics concepts).
For Thursday, September 27: Work on HW 1.
For Friday, September 28: Read Ch. 1, the whole chapter ("The Wave Function"). Start on your written reading notes.
Homework 1 is due in class.
Homework 2 (due on Tuesday, Oct. 2, in class): Problems 1.6, 1.7, and 1.8.
Links for physics news on quantum entanglement of a trillion atoms, and quantum teleportation:
Nature Science Update announcement (with links): http://www.nature.com/nsu/010927/010927-11.html
Nature paper in PDF format (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader plug-in, free from Adobe here)
Week 2 assignments:
For Monday, October 1: Re-Read Chapter 1 and write out your Chapter 1 reading notes. Hand them in to me by Wednesday, October 3, classtime.
For Tuesday, October 2: Finish your homework (Griffiths problems 1.6, 1.7, and 1.8) that is due in class today.
Homework 2 is due in class.
For Wednesday, October 3: Read the last two sections of Chapter 1 again.
Homework 3 (due on Monday, Oct. 8, in class): Problems 1.11, 1.14, 2.1, and 2.5.
For Thursday, October 4: Read section 2.1("Stationary States") and take notes on your reading.
For Friday, October 5: Read section 2.2 ("The Infinite Square Well") and take reading notes.
Homework 4 (due on Monday, Oct. 15, in class): Problems 2.6, 2.10, 2.12, and 2.13.
Week 3 assignments:
For Monday, October 8: Read section 2.3 ("The Harmonic Oscillator"). Continue to write out your Chapter 2 reading notes.
Homework 3 is due in class.
Read online this "reprint" of a fun and thought-provoking 2000 Physics Today article on quantum entanglement-enhanced communication, and be prepared to discuss it in class by Thursday. For more information about quantum computation and communication, visit the home page of the University of Oxford Centre for Quantum Computation. Note that the particular interpretation of reality expressed there is largely influenced by Prof. David Deutsch, a well-known proponent of the idea of the "multiverse."
For Tuesday, October 9: Study section 2.3 thoroughly (the harmonic oscillator is the "building block" for understanding vibrational motions in molecules and solids).
For Wednesday, October 10: More study of the harmonic oscillator.
For Thursday, October 11: Read section 2.4 ("The Free Particle") and continue taking reading notes.
We'll learn something about how to use Mathematica for 1-d potentials today.
For Friday, October 12: Read section 2.5 ("The Delta-Function Potential").
Week 4 assignments:
For Monday, October 15: Read section 2.5 again. Continue to write out your Chapter 2 reading notes.
Homework 4 is due in class.
Homework 5 (due on Thursday, Oct. 18, in class): Problems 2.17 and 2.22.
For Tuesday, October 16: Read section 2.6 ("The Finite Square Well").
For Wednesday, October 17: More study of the finite square well.
For Thursday, October 18: Read section 2.7 ("The Scattering Matrix") and continue taking reading notes.
Homework 5 is due in class.
For Friday, October 19: Read section 3.1 ("Linear Algebra").
Homework 6 (due on Tuesday, Oct. 23, in class): Problem 3.5.
Week 5 assignments:
For Monday, October 22: Read section 3.1 again. Continue to write out your Chapter 2 reading notes.
For Tuesday, October 23: Read section 3.2 ("Function Spaces"). Be sure to take reading notes on Chapter 3.
Show me your Chapter 2 reading notes for credit.
Homework 6 is due in class.
For Wednesday, October 24: Exam 1: Know the basics of chapters 1 and 2 by heart. This does not involve much pure memorization. From doing homework, writing out reading notes, and listening to lecture, you should know the basics without having to stare at Schroedinger's equation and memorizing it as a visual image. Exam 1 consists of an easier, closed-book, closed-notes in-class part, and a take-home part (open everything) which is due in class on Friday (Oct. 26).
For Thursday, October 25: Read section 3.3 ("The Generalized Statistical Interpretation") and continue taking reading notes.
Take-home part of Exam 1 will be handed out in class.
For Friday, October 26: Re-read sections 3.1 through 3.3.
Week 6 assignments:
For Monday, October 29: Read section 3.3 again.
Take-home part of Exam 1 is due at 3:00 pm to my office (under door O.K. if I'm out).
For Tuesday, October 30: Read section 3.4.
Read this Nature physics news article entitled, "How decoherence killed Schroedinger's cat." (Don't worry, no actual cat has been experimented on.)
Homework 7 (due on Monday, Nov. 5, in class): Problems 3.9, 3.12, 3.18, and 3.20.
For Wednesday, October 31: Re-Read section 3.4.
Receive handout of articles about some recent quantum mechanics developments. Happy Halloween!
For Thursday, November 1: Continue to write out Chapter 3 reading notes. We will go over more formalism, some of which is not in Griffiths.
For Friday, November 2: More formalism.
Homework 8 (due on Wednesday, Nov. 7, in class): Problems 3.36 and 3.44.
Week 7 assignments:
For Monday, November 5: Review Chapter 3, especially the uncertainty relation section.
Homework 7 is due in class.
For Tuesday, November 6: Work on HW 8. We'll go over the uncertainty relation proof today.
For Wednesday, November 7: Read Chapter 4 ("QUANTUM MECHANICS IN THREE DIMENSIONS"), subsections 4.1.1 and 4.1.2.
Homework 8 is due in class.
Homework 9 (due on Tuesday, Nov. 13, in class): (i) Do Problem 4.2; (ii) Show me your Chapter 3 reading notes; (iii) Run as many as you can of the CUPS QM programs on the Zenon PC on the last lab table in Bannan 304 (I or a Physics major can give you the door lock code), and take "lab" notes on what you learn. Pay particular attention to the 1-d potential eigenfunction and eigenvalue situations and on the scattering and time-dependence situations. Show me your "lab" notes. You are welcome to work with another student, but each student needs to show me his or her notes.
Today, beginning with Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, I told you students about the different "eras" of the universe's history up until it was about 300000 years old. Here are some links to the incredibly exciting work currently being done on measuring the cosmic microwave background (CMB), which still contains today details of what the whole universe was like when it was 300000 years young.
My favorite general-purpose CMB and cosmology site is maintained by Ned Wright, an astronomy professor at UCLA.
An excellent introduction to the CMB, adapted from a 1997 Physics Today article by Bennett, Turner, and White.
Here's a list of CMB measurements.
NASA's Microwave Anisotropy Probe (MAP) home page. MAP was just launched (successfully) and is beginning to take data.
BOOMERang Antarctic balloon CMB measurements collaboration home page.
DASI CMB spectrometer (ground-based, at the South Pole) home page.
O.K., so it won't be launched by the ESA until 2007, but here's the Planck spacecraft home page. Planck should be fantastic.
For Thursday, November 8: Read Chapter 4 subsections 4.1.3 and 4.1.4.
No class on Friday, November 9 (University observance of national holiday, Veterans' Day).
Week 8 assignments:
For Monday, November 12: We will not have a regular class today. I will be out of town until tonight. During class time, or at another time on Monday (or before), go to Bannan 304 and experiment (write out lab notes to show me) with the CUPS Quantum Mechanics 1-d potential and scatterings programs. I will have shown the class how to run these programs, and what to concentrate on, before today.
For Tuesday, November 13: More Chapter 4.
Homework 9 is due in class.
Homework 10 (due on Monday, Nov. 19, in class): Problems 4.3, 4.4, 4.5, and 4.9.
For Wednesday, November 14: More Chapter 4 (up to 4.1.3).
For Thursday, November 15: Read Chapter 4, section 4.2.
For Friday, November 16: We begin study of the most important application in the course: the hydrogen atom.
Week 9 assignments:
For Monday, November 19: Re-read the Chapter 4 material on the hydrogen atom radial equation solution and the spectrum of hydrogen.
Homework 10 is due in class.
Homework 11 (due on Tuesday, Nov. 27, in class): Problems 4.10, 4.11, 4.13, 4.14.
For Tuesday, November 20: Read the very important section 4.3 on angular momentum, and take notes on your Chapter 4 reading.
Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday are University holidays for Thanksgiving. Don't eat too much! If you are with relatives, frighten them by asking them to help you with your quantum mechanics homework.
Week 10 assignments:
For Monday, November 26: Re-read section 4.3 on angular momentum.
Homework 12 (due on Wednesday, Nov. 28, in class): Problem 4.20.
For Tuesday, November 27: Read section 4.4 on spin.
Homework 11 is due in class.
For Wednesday, November 28: Review Chapters 3 and 4 (up to 4.4). I'll emphasize the most important points in class today.
Homework 12 is due in class.
For Thursday, November 29: Exam 2: Know the basics of chapters 3 and 4 by heart. This does not involve much pure memorization. Be especially familiar with the formalism of quantum mechanics and the separation of variables in spherical coordinates. The in-class part of the exam will again be a closed-book, closed-note exam emphasizing concepts more basic than you could hope to see on an open-book exam. I will provide on the exam itself any complicated formulas. (For instance, I don't expect you to memorize the Laplacian in spherical coordinates.) From doing homework, writing out reading notes, and listening to lecture, you should know the basics without having to stare at equations and memorizing them as visual images. Exam 1 consists of an easier, closed-book, closed-notes in-class part, and a take-home part (open everything) which is due in class on Friday (Oct. 26). The take-home part (due on Monday, Dec. 3, at 4 pm) will concentrate more (but not exclusively) on the hydrogen atom and angular momentum, but not spin.
For Friday, November 30: Read section 5.1 ("Two-Particle Systems"). The lecture will be primarily on spin.
More spooky quantum entanglement! Look at this Physics News item about making a hologram of a hidden object.
Homework 12 (due on Friday, Dec. 7, in class): Problems 4.27, 4.28, 4.30, 4.37, 5.14, 5.16.
Week 11 assignments:
For Monday, December 3: Read section 5.2 ("Atoms"). The lecture will cover the basics of two-particle systems and will point out how quantum mechanics determines what atoms are and how they differ.
Take-home part of Exam 2 is due at 3 pm (put under my office door if I am not in when you arrive).
For Tuesday, December 4: Read section 5.3 ("Solids").
For a nice periodic table on the web, look at WebElements.
For Wednesday, December 5: Re-read section 5.3 ("Solids").
For Thursday, December 6: Read Griffiths' "Afterword," starting on p. 374. I will discuss the EPR "paradox" and Bell's Theorem. With these topics we revisit deep questions about reality that were introduced in Chapter 1 and in several of the supplemental reading that I gave you. Physics has profound, deep, verifiable things to say about the nature of reality that no amount of philosophical discussion can compare with. These questions have very practical consequences in the new field of quantum computing and communications. Although the machinery of quantum mechanics has never been wrong when tested with repeatable experiments, we can look forward to a more complete theory this century (we hope) that unifies the worlds of quantum physics with general relativity.
Here is an introduction to the EPR "paradox" and the Aspect experiments at the level of the course.
For Friday, December 7: For a bit of extra credit, show me your reading notes on Chapters 4 and 5. I will give a "review" wrap-up of the course.
Final Exam: 4 pm to 5:50 pm, Monday, December 10, in Bannan 301 (or 304 if 301 is not available). This is an open-book, open-note exam, with no take-home part. After this exam you should be a certified quantum mechanic. Congratulations!
Have a nice winter break!