Fall 2009 - Physics 511 - Quantum Theory and Atomic Structure

Midterm Results and Statistics and Solutions

Notice Oct. 11 and 20:

Midterm Time and Location: Wednesday, Oct. 21, 5:30PM - 8:30PM, in 340 West Hall.
Rules: The exam is open book (Sakurai). You may use your own class notes, your homework solutions, and the sample solutions I have posted. [All graded homeworks can be picked up outside my office, 4255 Randall]. No other books and printed/copied/written materials are allowed. Cell phones, I-phones, I-pods, computers and other electronic devices must be out of sight at all times. Calculators, including graphing calculators, are allowed. The exam material covers all of Section 1 and Section 2, subsections 1-3 of Sakurai. Also included is the Section 2.4, pages 97-100.

Final: Thursday, Dec. 17, 1:30PM - 5:30PM, Location 340 West Hall

Notice Sept. 28: Reminder: Make-up lecture today, 7PM in 4404 Randall

Notice Sept. 21: I'll be out of town Tuesday and Wednesday. Therefore, the Wednesday lecture is cancelled. I will schedule a make-up lecture. This week only,the office hour will be on Thursday, 3PM-4PM. If you need a special arrangement, please e-mail.

Office hours: Tuesdays, 1PM-2PM

Scope: This is the first course in a two-term sequence on the quantum theory and its applications to non-relativistic atomic, molecular, nuclear and solid state systems. The first course includes an introduction into the foundations of quantum theory and its mathematical implementation. Several exactly solvable problems and applications will be discussed, and the theory of angular mometum will be covered in depth. A treatment of the role of symmetries in quantum systems will conclude this first-term course.

Primary Textbook: J.J. Sakurai, Modern Quantum Mechanics

Secondary books and sources will be announced in class.

Class meetings: Wednesdays and Fridays, 10:00-11:30 in 4404 Randall

Instructor: Georg Raithel, Office: 4255 Randall, graithel@umich.edu

Grader: Christopher Gauthier, csg@umich.edu

Course grading: Midterm=25%, Final=45%, Homeworks=30%

Regular homeworks will be collected on the due date and will be graded.

Week of	Topic	Comments/Links
Sept. 9	Historical background Milestone experiments and developments Example: Stern-Gerlach effect
Sept. 16	Dirac notation, Operators, Quantum Measurements
Sept. 23	Wavefunctions in position and momentum space
Sept. 30	Schroedinger Equation
Oct. 7	Schroedinger vs Heissenberg Formulation
Oct. 14	Example systems
Oct. 21	Propagator methods
Oct. 28	Angular momentum and rotations
Nov. 4	Addition of angular momenta
Nov. 11	Tensor Operators, Wigner-Eckart theorem
Nov. 18	Density matrix formalism
Nov. 25 [no class Nov. 27]	Density matrix formalism
Dec. 2	Discrete symmetries
Dec. 9	Discrete symmetries
	Final Exam