Introduction to Quantum Mechanics I/II

171.303/4: Introduction to Quantum Mechanics I/II

"The solution of the difficulty is that the two mental pictures which experiment leads us to form- the one of the particles, the other of the waves- are both incomplete and have only the validity of analogies which are accurate in limiting cases."-Werner Heisenberg

Welcome to the website for the Johns Hopkins undergraduate quantum mechanics course. From here, you can get contact information, download assignments and solutions and check for announcements. Many links on this page are to PDF files. To view them, you can download Acrobat Reader for free.

Table of Contents

Course and Contact Info
Announcements
Homework Assignments (in PDF format)
Useful and Related Links

Course and Contact Info

Prof: Susan Kovesi-Domokos	skd@jhu.edu	Bloomberg 445	x6-7378	Office Hours:	Fri, 1:00-2:30PM or by appointment
TA: Tom Zorawski	tz137@pha.jhu.edu	Bloomberg 457	x6-5464	Office Hours:	Mon, 3:00-5:00PM or by appointment
Assistant Grader: Yongjie Xin	yongjie@pha.jhu.edu	Bloomberg 410	x6-XXXX	Office Hours:	Tues, 2:30-3:30PM or by appointment

Professor Kovesi-Domokos' lectures are Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 9-9:50 am, in BLBG 274.

Tom's Section is Tuesday, 1:30-2:20 pm, in BLBG 274.

Sometimes, section and class will switch places; this will be announced in advance in class.

Course Description

This course is the first semester of two giving an introduction of quantum mechanics, beginning with non-commuting observables, angular momentum, two-state systems, time evolution, the wave equation in one dimension, and the simple harmonic oscillator.

Required Textbooks:

J. S. Townsend, A Modern Approach to Quantum Mechanics, University Science Books (California) 2000.

Supplementary Textbooks:

1. Quantum Mechanics, 2nd Edition, David J. Griffiths.

This book has some nice examples, and it seems to be a very popular undergraduate text. Some subjects are studied more extensively than in Townsend's book. We will use it often in the second semester.

2. Modern Quantum Mechanics , J.J. Sakurai.

This is in principle a graduate-level textbook, which Townsend in fact uses as a basis of approach. It is a bit terse and incomplete (though the newest edition is supposed to have improved on these issues).

3. Quantum Mechanics, 2nd Edition , B. H. Bransden and C.J. Joachain.

A very good and thorough book starting from the classic wave-function approach.

4. Principles of Quantum Mechanics, Ramamurti Shankar.

A very inclusive undergraduate text which thoroughly reviews the linear algebra needed for the course.

Announcements

9/12/2011: Solutions to HW #1 have been posted. See below.
9/15/2011: Solutions to HW #2 have been posted. See below.
9/22/2011: Solutions to HW #3 have been posted.
9/30/2011: Solutions to HW #4 have been posted.

** 10/06/2011: Because of Fall Break day next Monday, office hours will be held on Tuesday from 1:00-2:30. **

10/07/2011: Solutions to HW #5 have been posted.
10/14/2011: Solutions to HW #6 have been posted.
10/21/2011: Solutions to HW #7 have been posted.

** The midterm exam will be held Tues., Oct. 25, in section from 1:30-2:30pm. It will cover Ch. 1-4. You are allowed to use a formula sheet (both sides of letter-size paper). **

10/25/11: Extra office hours will be held on Thurs., Oct. 27, from 1:00-2:00pm.

**10/30/2011: Office hours for this week have been moved to 11:00am-12:30pm on Monday. If this doesn't work for you, please contact me to arrange a different time. **

10/31/2011: Solutions to HW #8 have been posted.
11/04/2011: Solutions to HW #9 have been posted.
11/11/2011: Solutions to HW #10 have been posted.
11/21/2011: Solutions to HW #11 have been posted.
12/02/2011: Solutions to HW #12 have been posted.

** The final exam will be held Tues., Dec. 13, in Room 274 from 9:00-12:00pm. It will cover Ch. 1-7 and the WKB approximation. You are allowed to use a formula sheet (both sides of letter-size paper). **

A review session will take place on Wed., Dec. 7, from 5:00-6:30pm in Room 274.

Homework Assignments

Here are the homework assignments and their respective solutions. Solutions can be obtained in Lecture and Section by request.

Fall, 2011

Spring, 2012

< > >

Problem Set 1	Solutions
Problem Set 2	Solutions
Problem Set 3	Solutions
Problem Set 4	Solutions
Problem Set 5	Solutions
Problem Set 6	Solutions
Problem Set 7	Solutions
Problem Set 8	Solutions	Cryptography Solutions
Problem Set 9	Solutions
Problem Set 10	Solutions
Problem Set 11	Solutions
Problem Set 12	Solutions
Problem Set 13	Solutions

Table of Clebsch-Gordon Coefficients

Previous Midterm Exams:

Fall 2005 Midterm     Solutions
Fall 2006 Midterm     Solutions
Fall 2007 Midterm     Solutions
Fall 2008 Midterm     Solutions
Fall 2009 Midterm     Solutions
Fall 2010 Midterm     Solutions

Prof. Broholm's 12/10 Review Lecture

Previous Final Exams:

Fall, 2003
Fall, 2004
Fall, 2005    Solutions
Fall, 2006    Solutions
Fall, 2007    Solutions
Fall, 2010    Solutions

Previous Midterm Exams:

Spring 2007 Midterm Solutions
Spring 2006 Midterm Solutions
Errata for Midterm P3 Solutions

Previous Final Exams:

Spring 2006 Final

Prof. Broholm's Review Lecture

Useful and Related Links

The Teaching of Quantum Mechanics. A great page by Prof. Daniel Styer at Oberlin on QM teaching, with a link to his paper in Am. J. Phys, "Common Misconceptions regarding Quantum Mechanics", plus all kinds of wonderful teaching simulations.
Quantum Mechanics Simulations and Explanations. This is a really cool site with a lot of demonstrations.
Quantum Mechanics Made Simple! A ThinkQuest (TM) Competition website. Pretty fun. Have a look.
Quantum Mechanics Message Board - Run by Barnes&Noble, this is a message board where you can post questions and answers to the general public. You need to create an account, but it's free.
History of Quantum Mechanics - A history of the subject with links to many excellent biographies of the people who founded it (part of a larger library of math and physics history). If you like history of science, this is the place for you!

Linear Algebra review (PDF) - These are notes( by Andrew Blechman, Ph.D. 2006) from the first couple of sections reviewing some of the basic and important tools of linear algebra. You will find that linear algebra is central to what we'll be doing here, and you need a good feel for it; it's more important than calculus!
Mathematics Primer (PDF) - This is a review of mathematical tools useful for a first-year graduate student taking the graduate courses. Almost everything in here is too advanced for this course, but I include it here for the few useful things it has. Also, you can feel free to look it over and see what kind of mathematical trickery you would use as a graduate student.
Quantum simulations - This is a project being constructed by Jeffrey Wasserman and Professor Oleg Tchernyshyov here at The Johns Hopkins University's Physics Department. The idea is to provide a quantum mechanics lab where you can do "experiments". The material is actually aimed at the graduate course, but there are still a few things that can be learned as an undergraduate.
Physics department at Johns Hopkins University.

For even more links than you might know what to do with, see what Google.com has on "quantum mechanics". Beware, however: there is a lot of crap out there!

A great book to look at is Mr. Tomkins In Paperback, by George Gamow. It is written for the general public, and has very little to no math in it, but it has some beautiful explanations. The idea is that Mr. Tomkins goes to a physics lecture and, taking us all for surprise, falls asleep. However, he has some great dreams where all the phenomena of relativity and quantum mechanics becomes macroscopic. As an example, he must learn how to hit a billiard ball when confined to a small space of a pool table, and hence it's momentum becomes very uncertain. I heartily recommend you get a hold of this book and take a look at it.