PHYSICS 384: PHYSICS FOR SCIENTISTS AND ENGINEERS I
SYLLABUS SPRING 1999
ADDRESSES
The material contained in this syllabus is tentative and subject to change at my discretion.
OBJECTIVES & FORMAT
In this second part of quantum mechanics we will cover selected chapters from the textbook (to be determined with the students). Since the change of textbook and the difference in the book organization we sometime have to refer to the material in early part. There may be symbols and notations that are different from what you used to use. We will develop from our basic knowledge of quantum mechanics further theory and applications. We will explore operator manipulation, matrix technique, and various approximation methods. Selected applications in atomic and optical physics will be addressed.
Lectures will present the main ideas of the course and include the topics which deserve emphasis. Apart from reading the text, it is essential that you do many practices. You will be given many opportunities to do so. The regular homework will be exercises related to or compliment of the classes. The computer projects will be hand on opportunities for you to work out numerical results. They should help you in getting a better view of what's going on. All these exercises are very important, no good physicist survived without them.
TEXT
MATHEMATICS
We will be encountering calculus, complex numbers, linear algebra, matrices, partial differential equations. It will be a good idea to review the relevant part as we go along.
GRADING
The final grade will be based on your performance in two exams, a final exam, seven homework assignments, and four computer projects and frequent quizzes. The breakdown will be as follows:
Exams 40 %
Final Exam 20 %
Homework 20 %
Computer Projects 15 %
Quizzes 5 %
The final is scheduled on Mon, May 3 at 1:00 pm. The exams will be close-book but one 8.5'' x 11'' sheet of paper that you think will help you with difficult equations will be permit-ted. I will make a math handbook available too. The high boundaries for the letter grade are A>88%, B>76%, C>65%, D>50%. The exact grade boundaries may be lower which will be determined according to your overall performance.
LATE HOMEWORK AND ABSENCES
Make-up exams will be allowed only for excused absences due to serious
illness, death in your immediate family, or other significant reasons. Make-up
exams may be more difficult than regular exams. Homework will be collected
on the announced due date. Late homework will lose points 10% daily. Incomplete
homework will be given partial credit. No homework will be accepted after
the solutions have been posted.
HOMEWORK AND COMPUTER PROJECTS
I will assign theoretical homework regularly. I will also assign computer projects. The solutions that you hand in should include a brief description of what you did, program list-ing, appropriate graph or data outputs. The program source file should be emailed to the instructor separately (the login name is qcsu on en-tropy). The programs should be well organized and clearly commented on each part. Typed homework is encouraged.
Up to this point you are probably quite use to the computer assignments in this department. New algorithms and techniques for the assignments will be discussed in the assignment or in class or the assignments. You are expected to write out the programs on your own. The language will be FORTRAN and the machine will be entropy. Anyone who has not an account should let me know. We will be using popular softwares of the department, xlf, NCAR, NCSA-telnet (for mac users), kaleidagraph (for mac) and Mathematica. We may not use them all. An introductory manual about the use of the local RS6000 and the above softwares is around in Moulton 304 and 308.
Quantum Mechanics is not an easy subject. Sometimes it is counter-intuitive and abstract. For this reason you may have problem working out the assignments in the required time. Have you encounter such a problem discuss with classmates or instructor and get some useful hints from them. Independent work will be essential and copy will be prohibited.
MISCELLANEOUS
Homework and test solutions will also be available in the Physics Department office (Moulton 311). We have a glass case on the second floor (outside of MLT 214) reserved for this course.
POSSIBLE TOPICS
Below is a tentative list of the topics to be covered. I will be happy to discuss and changed them to meet your needs.
Quantum mechanics postulates
Hydrogen atom
Dirac notation
State, Operator expressed in representations
Operator commutation relations
Angular momentum
Spin and couplings
Variation principle
Helium atom
Perturbation (time independent)
Hydrogen fine structure
Perturbation (time dependent)
Multiphoton transition
Few-level optical transitions
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