PHYS-261 : Quantum Mechanics I, Fall 2002

Instructor: Gerald Dunne (486-4978; dunne@phys.uconn.edu; Room P-422)

Text: ``Introduction to Quantum Mechanics'', David J. Griffiths (Prentice-Hall)

Other recommended books:

``Introductory Quantum Mechanics''(3rd Ed. ), Richard Liboff (Addison-Wesley)

``The Principles of Quantum Mechanics''(4th Ed.), Paul Dirac (Oxford U. Press)

Lectures: Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 10-11 a.m., Rm. MSB 407.

Assessment: There will be weekly (approx.) written homework assignments, which will constitute $30\%$ of the grade. The remainder of the grade is determined from one written midterm exam ($30\%$) and one written final exam ($40\%$).

Course Outline:

• 1. Brief review of quantum phenomenology: black-body radiation; photo-electric effect; spectral lines and Bohr atom; matter waves; double-slit experiment

• 2. Wave mechanics : the Schrödinger equation; the wavefunction; expectation values and probabilities

• 3. Time-independent Schrödinger equation : stationary states; energy spectra; transmission and reflection; one-dimensonal examples: infinite square well, free particle, harmonic oscillator, finite square well, delta-function potential

• 4. Hilbert spaces and algebraic methods: states and observables; eigenvalues and eigenvectors; hermitean operators; diagonalization and completeness

• 5. Quantum mechanics of three-dimensional systems: spherical coordinates; hydrogen atom spectrum; angular momentum; spin

• 6. Identical particles and quantum statistics: two-particle systems; exclusion principle; atoms and molecules; quantum statistical mechanics