Physics 221AB

Quantum Mechanics

Fall 2021 and Spring 2022

University of California, Berkeley

Instructor:  Robert Littlejohn
Office:  449 Birge
Office Hours:   Fridays 10:30am-11:30am, 397 Physics North
Email:  physics221@wigner.berkeley.edu
GSI:  Erik Aldape
GSI's email address:   e.aldape@berkeley.edu
Office Hours: Fri 9-10, 397 Physics Bldg

Lecture:  166 Social Sciences Bldg
Time:  TuTh 6:30-8pm
Discussion Section 101:   Wed 4-5. 105 Dwinelle
Discussion Section 102:   Tue 10-11, 151 Social Science Building
Links to lectures, office hours and discussion sections may be found here (UC password required).
Recommended text:   Eugene D. Commins, Quantum Mechanics: An Experimentalist's Approach.
  
Final Exam:  In class, location Physics Bldg 2; Exam Group 18, Friday, May 13, 11:30-2:30pm.

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 August 22, 2021, 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.

Prerequisites for 221B include graduate standing and Physics 221A or equivalent. "Graduate standing" implies a graduate student in the physics department, so it will be expected that you have sufficient background in subjects such as classical mechanics, statistical mechanics, electricity and magnetism and special relativity to do this course. Graduate students from other departments are advised that some knowledge of these subjects will be required for Physics 221B. Physics 221B will require a knowledge of special relativity at the level of Physics 209. Undergraduates wishing to take this course must make an application to Anna Hilke in the physics department. You have my permission to take 221B if you have previously passed 221A with a B or better. Admission to Physics 221B will also require approval of the head faculty advisor.

The grade will be based on homework and a final exam. The final exam will be in class. See above for time and location.

Weekly homework assignments will be made available on this web site (usually) by Saturday of each week, and will be due at 5pm on Friday afternoon of the following week. As of February 11, 2022, homeworks should be submitted as a pdf file at http://gradescope.com/. See the email sent to all enrolled students on February 10 regarding the code you need to set up an account with gradescope.

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. You can use your free late homework for any purpose you wish (illness, travel, etc), 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 trouble.

Lecture notes will be available in one of two forms. By now typed up versions of lecture notes are available for almost all my lectures, but for those lectures without typed notes, I will usually try to supply hand-written notes. There are enough notes that usually it should be possible to get by without taking notes in class.


Interesting Movies.


Typed lecture notes are available for most lectures, not all.





Homework Solutions.



Reprints.



Links to web sites for other courses I have taught.

  • Physics 209, Fall 2002.
  • Physics 250, Fall 2015.