COURSE TIME: MW 10:00-11:20 am.
COURSE LOCATION: Physics-Geology 416.
INSTRUCTOR: Richard Scalettar
OFFICE: Physics-Geology 409.
OFFICE HOURS: Tu 3:00-5:00 pm; or by appointment.
PROBLEM SESSION: TBA; Attendence is OPTIONAL !
GRADING:
5-6 Problems Sets, 60%
Midterm Exam, Monday May 5, in class, 15%
Final Exam, Thursday June 12, 1:00-3:00 pm, 25%
TEXT: "Principles of Quantum Mechanics", R. Shankar
DISCUSSION LEADER: Alex Zujev
OFFICE: Physics/Geology 406
OFFICE HOURS: Monday 1:00-2:00 pm.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION:
This is a continuation of the first year graduate sequence in quantum mechanics. We will finish the discussion of time dependent perturbation theory, focusing on the interaction of electromagnetic radiation with atoms. Our second and third topics will be scattering theory and relativistic quantum mechanics (the Dirac equation). We will conclude the course with a discussion of the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics. We will first work through the description of a quantum oscillator, and then proceed to the Ising model in a transverse field, a simple and important example of a system exhibiting a "quantum phase transition". An emphasis of this final topic will be on the mapping of quantum problems onto classical problems in one higher dimension.
FURTHER INFORMATION:
