Physics 448 Atomic and Quantum Physics I

fall semester 2007

MWF 8:50-9:40 in 2241 Chamberlin, Final Exam 2:45 pm monday Dec. 17

Office hours: M,W 10-11, and Th 11-12 in 5330 Chamberlin, or by appointment, or just stop by.

Mark Saffman
Department of Physics
office: 5330 Chamberlin
tlf: 265 5601
email: msaffman@wisc.edu
web: hexagon.physics.wisc.edu

In class midterm II friday November 16th. Closed book, 1 letter sized page of notes allowed

First semester of a two-semester senior course. Review of atomic and other quantum phenomena and special relativity; introduction to quantum mechanics treating the more advanced topics of atomic physics and applications to molecular, solid state, nuclear, and elementary particle physics and quantum statistics. Experiments underlying this course are covered in Physics 407. Prerequisites: Physics 205, 241, or 244, and Physics 311 and 322. Not open to those who have had Physics 531.Course listing in UW timetable.

The course textbook is J.-L. Basdevant and J. Dalibard, "Quantum Mechanics"

Syllabus Syllabus (updated 2007.november.11)

Honors Credit (updated 2007.september.4)

Books on reserve (updated 2007.september.4)

Homework assignments and solutions are available from the physics library course reserves.

Homework is an important part of the course and accounts for 50% of your grade. Working problems is an important part of learning quantum mechanics, and will also give you practice in applying mathematical methods. You are encouraged to use the math resources provided in the notes and links below.

Homework will typically be given out on friday and due the following friday. You are welcome to work together on homework, however you must turn in your own solutions - not a Xerox copy of someone else's. Late homework will not be accepted unless prior approval has been given. Solutions will be posted on the course reserves.

Notes on various topics:

Physical constants (updated 2007.october.5)

Conversion between Gaussian and SI units (updated 2007.february.25)

Mathematical formulae (version 1.3 updated 2007.october.8)

Dirac notation and rules of quantum mechanics (updated 2006.october.10)

Tutorial on Fourier transforms

Note that this tutorial uses a different convention than us. The prefactor in one-dimension is 1/(2pi) for the inverse transform (k->x) and just 1 for the forward transform (x->k). We are using a symmetric form where the prefactor is 1/sqrt(2 pi) in each direction.

Special relativity notes (updated 2007.february.15)

Angular momentum notes (updated 2007.april.10)

Solution of the Schrödinger equation for hydrogenic atoms (updated 2006.november.28)

Some interesting papers related to the course:

Einstein:

Einstein photoelectric effect (1905)

Einstein special relativity (1905)

Einstein radiation theory (1917)

Einstein and quantum theory (review 1979)

EPR paradox, Bell inequalities, and experiments:

Einstein, Podolsky, Rosen paper (1935)

Bell's inequality (1964)