Quantum Mechanics I
Physics 7501, Autumn 2015
Welcome to the Physics 7501 home page!
The course information is available here plus lots of supplementary
info. Please check this page regularly.
Recent additions to this page:
- 19-Sep-2015 --- The first midterm exam will be given in two installments, Parts 1 and 2, in class on Friday, Oct. 2, and Monday, Oct. 5, 2015. Bring paper, pencil, and eraser. (No pens!) The exam is closed book, closed notes, but you can bring one handwritten "cheat sheet", letter size, with anything you deem possibly useful written on it in your own handwriting. You can write on both sides of the sheet. The exam covers pages 1-133 of Shankar's text (Chapters 1 through 4.2, except for the last few pages of Section 4.2). This includes Example 4.2.4 which is also covered in Homework No. 5.
- 19-Sep-2015 --- Homework no. 5 on Chapter 4 problems has been posted. It is due on Sep. 29, i.e. 6 days before the second part of the midterm exam.
- 3-Sep-2015 --- No classes on Monday, 9/7, and Friday, 9/11! (We'll meet
only twice next week, on Wednesday and Thursday.) Remember to read Chapter 2
before class on Thursday next week.
- 2-Sep-2015 ---
Please check out new reading
assignments below.
- 25-Aug-2015 ---
Please note updated information below on class meeting times and graders
for the course, as well as a revised version for the first homework assignment.
- 19-Aug-2015 ---
Please read the first 29 pages of Shankar
(the official text for this course) before the first class on Wednesday.
- 19-Aug-2015 ---
First class on Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2015, 11:30pm in Scott Lab,
Rm. N050.
Instructor: Ulrich Heinz
Office: M2046 Physics Research Building (PRB) (phone: 688-5363)
Office Hours: I have an open door policy (drop in any time with
your questions, the worst that can happen is that I ask you to return
later).
Course Meets: in
Scott Lab,
Monday, Wednesday, Friday 11:00-12:25 in Room N050 and Thursday 4:10-5:05pm
in Room N054.
Graders: (will grade homework for alternate weeks)
1. Abhishek Mohapatra
(office: PRB M2025; office hours: Mo 4:00-5:30pm; phone: 688-3293;
email: mohapatra.16@osu.edu)
2. Fuyan Lu
(office: PRB 3018; office hours: Mo 2:00-3:30pm;
phone: 614-530-3580 (message preferred);
email: lu.984@osu.edu)
If you have questions related to your graded homework, please contact
the grader who graded it.
Return to Contents
- Linear vector spaces, operators, eigenvalue problems
- Why quantum mechanics is needed, quantum mechanical postulates
- Simple problems in one dimension
- The classical limit
- The harmonic oscillator
- (time permitting) Path integral formulation of quantum theory
-- a first pass
- The Heisenberg uncertainty relations
- Systems with N degrees of freedom
- Symmetries and conservation laws in quantum mechanics
- Rotationsal symmetry and angular momentum
Return to Contents
Textbook:
Supplemental Reading:
available at Science and Engineering Library (18th Avenue Library)
- S. Weinberg - Lectures on Quantum Mechanics, 1st Edition
(Cambridge University Press, 2013, ISBN 978-1-107-02872-2).
List price $75.00 (~$65 on Amazon)
- E. Merzbacher, Quantum Mechanics (Wiley): advanced text, very thorough
(was used as text for this course in 2002)
- D. Griffith, Introduction to Quantum Mechanics (Pearson/Prentice Hall):
upper division undergraduate text
- R. Bluemel, Advanced Quantum Mechanics -- The claassical-quantum
connection (Jones and Bartlett): advanced
- L. Schiff, Quantum Mechanics (McGraw-Hill): a classic
- A. Messiah, Quantum Mechanics I,II (Wiley): another classic
(very comprehensive)
- C. Cohen-Tannoudji et al., Quantum Mechanics I, II (Wiley): also very
comprehensive but more modern than Messiah
- M. Belluni, W. Christian, A.J. Cox, Physlet Quantum Mechanics
(Pearson/Prentice Hall): an interactive text with numerical simulations
(CD ROM included)
Return to Contents
All section numbers and pages refer to Shankar's text. Reading must be
completed by due date listed, to be able to complete the reading quizzes:
- 8/26/2015: Sections 1.1-1.4 (pages 1-18)
- 8/27/2015: Sections 1.5-1.7 (pages 18-30)
- 8/28/2015: Section 1.8, part 1 (pages 30-42)
- 8/31/2015: Section 1.8, part 2 (pages 42-54)
- 9/2/2015: Sections 1.9 and 1.10, part 1 (pages 54-63)
- 9/4/2015: Section 1.10, part 2 (pages 63-73)
- 9/10/2015: Chapter 2 (pages 75-106)
- 9/14/2015: Chapter 3 (pages 107-113)
- 9/16/2015: Chapter 4, Sections 4.1 and 4.2 (pages 115-143)
- 9/18/2015: Rest of Chapter 4 (pages 143-150)
- 10/7/2015: Chapter 5 (pages 151-178)
- 10/21/2015: Chapter 6 (pages 179-184)
- 10/26/2015: Chapter 7 (pages 185-221)
- 11/18/2015: Chapter 9 (pages 237-246)
- 11/23/2015: Chapter 10, Section 10.1 (pages 247-258)
- 11/30/2015: Chapter 10, Sections 10.2-10.3 (pages 259-278)
Return to Contents
Here I will post scanned copies of my hand-written lecture notes. They are
sorted by chapters in Shankar's text.
- Chapter 1: Mathematical prerequisites
- Chapter 3: What is wrong with Classical Mechanics?
- Chapter 4: The postulates of Quantum Mechanics
- Chapter 5: Simple problems in one dimension
- Chapter 6: The classical limit
- Chapter 7: The harmonic oscillator
- Chapter 9: The Heisenberg uncertainty relations
- Chapter 10: Systems with N degrees of freedom
Return to Contents
Homeworks are usually assigned (i.e. posted here) on Tuesdays and
due at 5:00 pm on Tuesday of the following week. Please deliver
them to the office of the grader listed on the assignment, sliding them
under the office door if the office is locked.
You can, of course, turn in the homework any time before the deadline, but
note that NO LATE HOMEWORK IS ACCEPTED! If you cannot come to the PRB on
the due date, please hand the homework in early. In case
of emergency (illness etc.) when you anticipate that you will not be able
to finish the homework in time, you must send me an email or call me
BEFORE the due date so that alternate arrangements can be made. No
homework nor excuses will be accepted after the due date. (Solutions are
password protected, they are for the use of OSU students and faculty only,
please write to me if you belong to that group and are interested in
accessing them.)
- HW 1
(due Tuesday, 1-Sep-2015) [100 pts. total]
-- Solution 1
- HW 2
(due Tuesday, 8-Sep-2015) [90 pts. total]
-- Solution 2
- HW 3
(due Tuesday, 15-Sep-2015) [100 pts. total]
--
Solution 3
- HW 4
(due Tuesday, 22-Sep-2015) [100 pts. total]
-- Solution 4
- HW 5
(due Tuesday, 29-Sep-2015) [100 pts. total]
-- Solution 5
- HW 6
(due Tuesday, 20-Oct-2015) [100 pts. total]
-- Solution 6
- HW 7
(due Tuesday, 27-Oct-2015) [100 pts. total]
-- Solution 7
- HW 8
(due Tuesday, 3-Nov-2015) [100 pts. total]
-- Solution 8
- HW 9
(due Thursday, 19-Nov-2015) [100 pts. total]
-- Solution 9
- HW 10
(due Tuesday, 24-Nov-2015) [70 pts. total]
-- Solution 10
- HW 11
(due Tuesday, 1-Dec-2015) [90 pts. total]
-- Solution 11
- HW 12
(due Tuesday, 8-Dec-2015) [100 pts. total]
-- Solution 12
Return to Contents
1st Midterm Exam: The exam will be given in two parts:
Part 1: Friday, October 2, 2015, in class
Part 2: Monday, October 5, 2015, in class
2nd Midterm Exam: Friday, Nov. 6, 2015, 5:30pm-8:00pm, Scott Lab N050
Final Exam: Thursday, Dec. 10, 2015, 2:00-5:00pm, Scott Lab N050
Grading: 30% HW, 20% 1st Midterm Exam, 20% 2nd Midterm Exam, 30% Final Exam
Return to Contents
Your comments and
suggestions are appreciated.
- D. Mermin on "Quantum
Weirdness" (Physics Today, April 1989)
- Matthew Pusey et al. "On
the reality of the quantum state" (Nature Physics, May 2012)
- Eugene Reich,
"A boost for quantum reality" (Nature 485 (2012) 157)
- D. Mermin on giving talks
(Physics Today, Nov. 1992)
- S. Weinberg's three Laws of
Progress in Theoretical Physics
(from Asymptotic Realms of Physics, edited by A. Guth, K. Huang
and R. L. Jaffe, MIT Press, 1983)
- A T-Symmetric formulation of
Quantum Mechanics by Y. Aharonov, S. Popescu, and J. Tollaksen,
(Physics Today, Nov. 2010, p. 27)
Your comments and
suggestions are appreciated.
[OSU Physics]
[College of Arts and Sciences]
[Ohio State University]
Physics 7501
Last modified: .
heinz.9@osu.edu