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

Professor:  Susan Kovesi-Domokos
 skd@pha.jhu.edu
 Bloomberg 445
 x6-7840
 Office Hours:
 Fri, 12:30-2:00PM or
by appointment
TA:   Tom Zorawski
tz137@pha.jhu.edu
 Bloomberg 457
 x6-5464
 Office Hours:
 Mon, 3:00-4:00PM or
by appointment
Assistant Grader:   Imam Makhfudz
imhareni@pha.jhu.edu
 Bloomberg 355
 x6-5061
 Office Hours:
 Thurs, 4:00-5:00PM or
by appointment



Professor Kovesi-Domokos' lectures are Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 9-9:50 am, in BLBG 168.

Tom's Section is Tuesday, 1:30-2:20 pm, in BLBG 176.

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



Course Description

This is the second semester of a rigorous two semester introduction to Quantum Mechanics. We shall see how quantum mechanics can be used to solve problems at the atomic scale that are important for understanding our physical world. The major topics this semester are quantum mechanics of atoms and molecules, perturbation theory, theory of scattering, quantum statistical mechanics, and quantization of the electromagnetic field.


Required Textbooks:

1. A Modern Approach to Quantum Mechanics, 2nd Edition, J. S. Townsend.

We will cover chapters 8-14 during the spring semester.


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


Supplementary Textbooks:

1. 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).


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

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


3. Principles of Quantum Mechanics, Ramamurti Shankar.

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




Lectures


We will go over new concepts and provide examples that help you solve the upcoming problem assignments. Read the assigned text in advance, especially the examples. Read again afterwards and do some problems for optimal comprehension. Active participation in the lectures with questions and comments is strongly encouraged.

Conference


Conferences focus on improving your problem solving skills. They are also a good opportunity to ask questions.


Homework

Solving problems is how you learn physics. There will be a weekly assignment assigned every Wednesday, due the Wednesday of the following week. The assignments are due at or before class on the due date and late homework will not be accepted. Your homework assignment with the lowest score will not be included in your final homework grade. Assignments will also be posted on the course webpage.

Ethics

University Policy: The strength of the university depends on academic and personal integrity. In this course, you must be honest and truthful. Ethical violations include cheating on exams, plagiarism, reuse of assignments, improper use of the Internet and electronic devices, unauthorized collaboration, alteration of graded assignments, forgery and falsification, lying, facilitating academic dishonesty, and unfair competition.

Homework assignments are an opportunity to test how well you understand the material and solve related problems independently. So it is important that you pursue it independently. You may discuss with fellow classmates occasionally on some problems in general. But once you start to lay it out, you are expected to do it independently. If you do not work out the details on your own, it will be extremely difficult to pass the exams.

Grading

Homework: 40%
Midterm: 20%
Final Exam: 40%

Announcements

Homework Assignments

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


Fall 2012


 Spring 2013

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

Lecture Notes on 2-Level Resonances
 Articles on the Magic of Two-Particle Spin Spinglets
 Prof. Broholm's 12/10 Review Lecture

Previous Final Exams:

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

There are many excellent quantum mechanics texts out there.  Most are above the level of the course, but can be informative or helpful conceptually.  An undergraduate text between Griffiths and Townsend in sophistication is Liboff "Introductory Quantum Mechanics."  Townsend was inspired by Sakurai "Modern Quantum Mechanics," if you like Townsend and are curious about a more advanced treatment.  Also similar at the graduate level is Schwinger "Quantum Mechanics: Symbolism of Atomic Measurements."  Among other popular authors are Merzbacher and Messiah, and Shankar "Principles of Quantum Mechanics" is pretty much standard.  For the mathematical foundations of quantum mechanics, there are standard books by John von Neumann and George Mackey.  Landau and Lifschitz "Quantum Mechanics:Non-Relativistic Theory"(volume 3 of their 10 volume "Course of Theoretical Physics") has always been an undisputed classic.

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.

(c) 2012; maintained by Tom Zorawski