Grades are entered and should be available now.

Quantum Mechanics I (521-001, 16808)

Fall 2007 Mondays and Wednesdays from 17:30 to 18:45 in room 184

Students may ask me questions about quantum mechanics whenever they see me.
My cell and office phone numbers are 205 5448 and 277 5318.

The course is designed for graduate students in physics. Students should have be familiar with complex numbers, linear algebra, vector calculus, and the Fourier transform, and know something about differential equations.
The principal topics will be:
Basic Concepts and Principles
Dynamics
Angular Momentum
Symmetries and Conserved Quantities
The Hydrogen Atom
Approximation Methods

The textbook is Modern Quantum Mechanics (Revised Edition) by J. J. Sakurai (Addison Wesley Longman, 1994). Try to get the latest printing.
The bookstore will carry it but possibly at a high price and in an old printing, so I suggest ordering it elsewhere, such as Amazon who charge $115 with free shipping for a new copy. They also list book-sellers who charge $55 and up for a used copy and $60 and up for a new one.

A good supplementary textbook is Lectures on Quantum Mechanics by Gordon Baym. Amazon sells it new for $55.42 and lists book-sellers who charge $24.95 and up for used and new copies.

The grader is Mr. Stefan Maier; his e-mail address is smaier1@unm.edu.

Lecture notes on chapter 1 of Sakurai.
Notes on the polarized-light demo that shows why quantum mechanics needs complex numbers.
Notes on matrix algebra. Wiki's description of the singular-value decomposition.
Notes on space-time translations.
Notes on birefringent crystals.
Notes on chiral molecules and polarized light.
Notes on Schroedinger's equation.
Uses of the uncertainty principle.
Dirac's delta function.
The Schroedinger & Heisenberg Pictures
Ehrenfest's theorem.
Bohr frequencies.

Notes on chapter 2 of Sakurai.
Notes on harmonic oscillators and coherent states.
Supersymmetric Quantum Mechanics
Harmonic Oscillators Are Ubiquitous
The Virial Theorem
Feynman's Path Integral
Path Integrals and the WKB Approximation
Path Integrals and Ground States
Particle in an Electromagnetic Field

Notes on chapter 3 of Sakurai.
Notes on Rotations
Notes on the Lie Algebra of the Rotation Group
Orbital Angular Momentum in Spherical Coordinates
Central Potentials
The Two-Body Problem
The Hydrogen Atom
The Hydrogen Atom in a Magnetic Field
Adding Angular Momenta
The 2-D Harmonic Oscillator
The 3-D Isotropic Harmonic Oscillator

First-Order Perturbation Theory and the Linear Stark Effect
Higher-Order Non-Degenerate Perturbation Theory
The Quadratic Stark Effect on the Ground State of Hydrogen
Higher-Order Perturbation Theory for a Degenerate Level
A More-Direct version of Degenerate Perturbation Theory
Isospin
The Variational Method
Fine Structure and the Spin-Orbit Effect
The Lorentz Group and the Dirac Matrices
Pages 261-273 of Dirac's Book
The Dirac Equation and the Magnetic Moment of the Electron
Spin Is Angular Momentum
Dirac's Hydrogen Atom
Invariances of the Dirac Equation
The Interaction Picture
The Time-Energy Uncertainty Principle, Fermi's Golden Rule, and Detailed Balancing
The Cubic Equation
Light and Atoms
Spontaneous Emission: Lifetime of the 2p state of atomic hydrogen
Ionization of atomic hydrogen
Classical currents make coherent states

Solutions to the non-HW problems of chapter 1.

In the following homework assignments, the "chapters" are those of the textbook by Sakurai.

Homework problems due Wednesday, September 5th: Problems 1-6 of chapter 1. Due to the two-day extension, this date is firm.
Feel free to ask for hints in class. Solutions to the problems of the first homework assignment.

Second homework assignment due Monday, September 17th: Problems 8, 10, 13, 14, 19, 21, & 23 of chapter 1.
Solutions to the problems of the second homework assignment.

Third homework assignment due Monday, October 1st: Problems 26, 30, & 32 of chapter 1 and 1, 3, 11, & 13 of chapter 2.
Solutions to the problems of the third homework assignment.

Fourth homework assignment due Wednesday, October 17th: Problems 15, 18, 19, & 36 of chapter 2 and 1, 2, 3, 4 of chapter 3.
Hint on problem 3.4: look at problem 1.7a.
Solutions to the problems of the fourth homework assignment.

Fifth homework assignment due Wednesday, October 31st: First problem: In the notes on orbital angular momentum in spherical coordinates, use Eqs.(10,13, & 14) to derive Eq.(15).   Second problem: In the notes on the two-body problem, show that Eq.(21) follows from (20) and the definitions (3, 5, 6, & 7).   Also, do problem 3.12 (you may want to express J_y in terms of J₊ and J_-) and problem 3.20. Finally, do problem 7.1 and parts (a, b, c, & d) of problem 7.2 of Cohen-Tannoudji and this four-part solar-neutrino problem.   Hints for C-T's problem 7.2.   More hints for C-T's problem 7.2.
Solutions to the problems of the fifth homework assignment.

Sixth homework assignment due Monday, November 19th: Problems 3.15 (hint: use the formulas for the Y₁^m 's on page 451), 3.18 (hint), 5.1, 5.4, 5.8, & 5.18 of Sakurai and two special problems: special problem 6.1 & special problem 6.2.    Hint for problem 6.2. Having been asked, I now defer the due date until Monday, November 19th. I plan to discuss isospin and the variational method on Monday, the 12th.
Solutions to the sixth set of homework problems.

Seventh homework assignment due Monday, December 3d: Special problem 7.1 : Compute the spin-orbit splitting of the 2p_3/2 and 2p_1/2 states of hydrogen.   Special problem 7.2: Compute the total splitting between these two levels by using Dirac's theory as summarized by Charles G. Darwin's formula. Hint: Equation (98) of these notes may help.   Do extra-credit special problem 7.3.   Hint: The notes on solving cubic equations may help. Do special problem 7.4. Do problems 5.7, 5.13, & 5.30 of Sakurai.
Solutions to the seventh set of homework problems.

Eighth homework assignment: Special problem 8.1:   Using equations (1, 2, 3, 4, & 7) of the notes on light and atoms, show that in the absense of charges and currents, the vector potential A satisfies the wave equation (12) of those same notes.   Special problem 8.2: For atomic hydrogen, compute the matrix element <1, 0, 0| z | 2, 1, 0> of the 3rd component z of the position operator x between the ground state <1, 0, 0| and the 2p state | 2, 1, 0 > with m = 0.   Make sure you get the answer I got in my notes on the 2p state of hydrogen. Special problem 8.3. Special problems 8.2 & 8.3 are due on Wednesday, December 12th; the other one (8.1) is due on Friday, December 12th, by 4 pm in Stefan Meier's mail or e-mail box.
Solutions to the last set of homework problems.

The video files of the lectures are 300 to 400 MB long despite the intrinsic compression of the wmv format. It is best to download them to your computer before trying to watch them.