Physics 221A

Quantum Mechanics

Fall 2007

University of California, Berkeley

Instructor:  Robert Littlejohn
Office:  449 Birge
Office Hours:   Th 12-1
Telephone:  642-1229
Email:  physics221@wigner.berkeley.edu
TA:  Ruza Markov, Office Hours Th 2-3, Room 475 Birge (grad student lounge) ruza@wigner.berkeley.edu

Lecture:  3108 Etcheverry
Time:  TuTh 8-9:30
Discussion Section 1:   cancelled
Discussion Section 2:   W 3-4, 3 Evans
Text:   J. J. Sakurai, Modern Quantum Mechanics, Revised Edition (Addison-Wesley, New York, 1994)
  
Final Exam:  Monday, December 17, 12:30-3:30pm
Location: 3 LeConte

Organization and Logistics

The email address for this course is physics221@wigner.berkeley.edu.   Use this to send me emails if you have any questions etc. Also, I maintain an email mailing list for the course, and use it to send out announcements, corrections to homework assignments, etc back to you. If you received an email from me on Tuesday, Aug 28, then you are on the email mailing list and do not need to do anything. If you did not receive an email from me, then send an email to the course email address (above) and ask to be added to the mailing list (you do not need to be enrolled). If you drop the course or don't want to receive any more announcements, send an email to this address with a request to be dropped. 

The course web site (this site) will be used to post lecture notes, special notes, homework assignments, and homework solutions.

There will be no discussion section during the first week. I will probably cancel the Tuesday discussion section, and rely on the Wednesday section plus office hours to cover your needs. I will schedule my office hour and, if necessary, the discussion section so the maximum number of students can attend at least one.

I will be out of town the week of September 17-21. I will either have a substitute lecturer that week, or else schedule makeups.

Prerequisites for this course include graduate standing and a full year of undergraduate quantum mechanics. Students who do not have this background are required to get instructor's approval before enrolling. In particular, this applies to all undergraduates wishing to take the course.

The grade will be based on approximately 50% homework and 50% final exam. The final exam will either be in-class or a take-home; I haven't decided which yet, but I will let you know by the middle of the semester. In the meantime, please keep the in-class exam time open (plan to be in Berkeley).

Weekly homework assignments will be made available on this web site by Friday morning of each week, and will be due at 5pm on Thursday afternoon of the following week. Homework should be turned in in the 221A homework box in 251 LeConte (the reading room).

Late homeworks will be accepted up to one week late at 50% credit. Homeworks more than one week late will not be accepted. Please do not ask the reader to take late homeworks. Exception: Each student is allowed one free late homework (up to one week late) during the semester, no questions asked.

Students are encouraged to work together on homework, and to trade ideas. There is no better way to learn. However, it is expected that the work you turn in is your own work in your own words. It is not legal just to copy someone else's solutions. It is also strictly illegal to look at or use solutions from any previous version of this course from earlier years. You can't find those solutions anyway without going to some extra trouble.

The text for the course, Modern Quantum Mechanics, by J. J. Sakurai, was chosen because of its good selection of topics and because of the generally deep perspective it takes in developing the subject. Unfortunately, the explanations in the book are often poor and sometimes wrong; this seems to be due to the fact that Sakurai died before he could put his book into order. (His other book, Advanced Quantum Mechanics, which we will use in Physics 221B, is much better.) To make up for these deficiencies, most weeks there will be lecture notes made available which will supplement the readings from the text.

The content of Physics 221A is mostly a review of undergraduate quantum mechanics, presented from a deeper point of view and with a different emphasis. Some new topics are also presented. Physics 221B presents much new material, including an introduction to field theory and relativistic quantum mechanics. The course will have an emphasis on atomic physics that gradually turns into particle physics. One of the major themes of the first semester will be symmetry.

Lecture notes will be available in one of two forms. For some lectures I have typed-up notes. For those lectures without typed notes, I will usually try to supply hand-written notes, although I don't guarantee how closely they will follow the actual lectures. Nevertheless, it should be possible to get by without taking notes in class. I go to a lot of trouble to prepare these lecture notes, and they are for your benefit. It was not my intention in doing this to make it easy for you to skip class, but in view of the hour I won't be surprised if that happens. There is probably nothing I can do about it, but your presence does contribute to the educational experience for everyone and it will be better if you can attend the lectures. It will also be better if you ask questions occasionally. Do not be afraid to interrupt the lecture.


Homework assignments will normally be made available on this web site by Friday of each week, and will be due at 5pm on Thursday of the following week in the 221A homework box in 251 LeConte (the reading room). 



Typed lecture notes are available for some lectures, not others.



Homework Solutions.



Reprints.



Extra Notes.