Applied Quantum Mechanics

Oberlin College Physics 412

Syllabus for Fall 2020

Details subject to change as the pandemic changes.

Learning goals: Through your work in this course, you will

deepen your understanding of quantum mechanics concepts such as amplitude, wavefunction, eigenfunction and eigenvalue;
abstract from nature to build mathematical models;
find exact or approximate solutions to those mathematical models;
invest those solutions with meaning to uncover insights about nature; and
broaden, deepen, and sharpen your physical and mathematical problem solving skills, particularly as regards perturbation theory.

Aldo Leopold wrote "We speak glibly of ... education, but what do we mean by it? If we mean indoctrination, then let us be reminded that it is just as easy to indoctrinate with fallacies as with facts. If we mean to teach the capacity for independent judgment, then I am appalled by the magnitude of the task." The ultimate goal of this course (and, I hope, of all your other courses) is to develop your capacity for thoughtful, informed, independent judgment.

Teacher: Dan Styer, Wright 215, 440-775-8183, Dan.Styer@oberlin.edu
home telephone 440-281-1348 (9:00 am to 8:00 pm only).

Meeting times: This is a two-credit-hour, first-half-of-the-semester module course (Monday, 31 August to Friday, 16 October). Class: MWF at 9:00 am. Location: On line and perhaps also in Wright Laboratory 201.

Course web site: http://www.oberlin.edu/physics/dstyer/AppliedQM. I will post handouts, problem assignments, and model solutions here.

Textbook: David J. Griffiths, Introduction to Quantum Mechanics, third edition (2018). (Errata for this book.)

Topics:
This course treats atomic, molecular, and optical physics, including:

Atoms
Diatomic molecules
The quasiclassical (WKB) approximation
Time-dependent perturbation theory
The interaction of matter with radiation
Scattering (if time permits)
Lasers (if time permits)
Quantum information theory (if time permits)

Exams, homework, grading: Problem assignments will be distributed on each Friday and will be due in class the following Friday; late papers will be accepted only in cases of illness. The fifth assignment (due Friday, 2 October) will be an unlimited-time, open-book, open-Web, no collaboration, take-home exam. When writing your solutions, describe (in words) the thought that went into your work as well as describing (in equations) the mathematical manipulations involved. Anyone earning a final score of 50% or lower will not receive credit for this course.

Collaboration and references: I encourage you to collaborate or to seek printed help in working the problems, but the final write-up must be entirely your own: you may not copy word for word or equation for equation. When you do obtain outside help you must acknowledge it. (E.g. "By integrating Griffiths equation [5.96] I find that..." or "Employing the substitution u = sin(x) (suggested by Carol Hall)..." or even "In working these problems I benefited from discussions with Mike Fisher and Jim Newton.") Such an acknowledgment will never lower your grade; it is required as a simple matter of intellectual fairness.

Bibliography

David J. Griffiths, Introduction to quantum mechanics [QC174.12.G75 1995]

L.D. Landau and E.M. Lifshitz, Quantum mechanics, non-relativistic theory [530.123L231Q]

H. Haken and H.C. Wolf, The physics of atoms and quanta [QC173.H17513 1994]

H. Haken, Light [QC355.2.H33]

P.W. Milonni and J.H. Eberly, Lasers [QC688.M55 1988]

George Greenstein and Arthur G. Zajonc, The quantum challenge: modern research on the foundations of quantum mechanics [QC174.12.G73 1997]

Martin C. Gutzwiller, Chaos in classical and quantum mechanics

A. Zee, Quantum field theory in a nutshell [QC174.45 .Z44 2003]

Kurt Gottfried and Victor F. Weisskopf, Concepts of particle physics (in two volumes) [QC793.2.G68 1984]

Michael A. Nielsen and Isaac L. Chuang, Quantum computation and quantum information [QA76.889.N54 2000]