Physics
731: Quantum
Mechanics, Fall 2006
Syllabus
Instructors
- Baha Balantekin
- Maxim Vavilov
Topics to be Covered
- Review of Undergraduate Quantum Mechanics
- Evolution Operator, Propagator, Heisenberg and Schrödinger Pictures
- Harmonic Oscillator, Creation and Annihilation Operators, Coherent States, External Forces
- Angular Momentum, Spin, Isospin, Quasi-spin, Wigner Eckart Theorem
- Exactly Solvable Problems: Jaynes-Cummings Model, Hydrogen Atom, charged Particles in External Electromagnetic Fields
- Perturbation Theory for Bound States
- Path Integrals, Semiclassical Approximations
- Scattering Theory; S-Matrix; Partial Waves; Born, Eikonal, and WKB Approximations
- Coupled Channels: Adiabatic Approximation, Topological Phases, Berry's Phase
- (Time-Permitting) Introduction to Many-Body Problems
- (Time-Permitting) Coupled-Channels: Effective Hamiltonians
- (Time-Permitting) Instantons, False and True Vacua and Other Non-perturbative Goodies
- (Time-Permitting) Anomalies -- How to go from Classical to Quantum Mechanics
- (Time-Permitting) A Basic Introduction to Quantum Computing
Exam times will be announced later. Final letter grade will be determined by the homework and exam grades.