Physics 522 Spring 2016

University of New Mexico

Department of Physics and Astronomy

Graduate Quantum Mechanics II

Eugene Wigner

Lectures: Tues. and Thurs. 9:30-10:45 PM, P&A Room 184

Problem Session: Friday 10:00-11:15 Room 5

Instructor: Prof. Ivan H. Deutsch

Office Hours: Monday 12:30-1:30 Room 30

Teaching Assistant: Gopi Muraleedharan

Office Hours: TBA

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General Information

Syllabus

Lecture Schedule

Problem Sets

General Information

Grading:

Problem Sets: 34%

Problem sets will be distributed approimately once a week and due on Tuesdays, to be placed in the grader's mailbox by 5:00 PM.

Two Exams 66%

"Recommended" Texts:

We will not be following any text directly. Copies of my lecture note will be available. The are many good texts out there; you should pick the one(s) that work best for you. Relevant material from the following recommended texts with be referenced throughout the course.

o Modern Quantum Mechanics, by J. J. Sakurai

Good advanced text with a modern perspective. It's somewhat terse, are there are few examples.

o Quantum Mechanics , vol. II, by C. Cohen-Tannoudji, B. Diu, and F. Laloë.

Vol II of this text is not quite as good vol. I. It is a bit elementary for this course, but has some very good material, especially on atomic physics.

o Quantum Mechanics 3rd Edition, by E. Merzbacher

Everything is here but the organization is difficult. This edition and contains many contemporary topics.

Other texts:

o Quantum Mechanics, by L. I. Schiff

The old advanced classic. Still a good reference. Somewhat old fashion

o Quantum Mechanics, vol. I and II, by A. Messiah

Another older classic and good reference

Quantum Mechanics , vol. I, by K. Gottfried.

Recently republished. Contains a reasonable coverage of measurements theory.

Syllabus

I. Intro to Structure of Matter (5 weeks)

A. From one to multiple degrees of freedom

B. Intro to Angular Momentum in Quantum Mechanics

C. Central potentials and 3D wave mechanics

D. Nonrelativistic Hydrogen Atom

II. Time-Independent Perturbation Theory (4 weeks)

A. Nondegenerate theory - examples from atomic/molecular spectra.

B. Degenerate theory - examples: quadratic stark effect, band structure in solids, relation to symmetries.

III. Time-Dependent Perturbations (2 weeks)

A. Transition Probabilities

B. Coherent Rabi Flopping

C. Fermi's Golden rule

IV. Symmetries and Groups (5 weeks)

A. Symmetries and group theory in quantum mechanics.

B. SU(2) and irreducible representations.

C. General theory of addition of angular momentum.

D. Tensor operators, Wigner-Eckart theorem, multipole selection rules.

E. Identical particles, spin, and permutation symmetry - application to multielectron atoms.

Tentative Schedule of Lectures

Problem Sets and Exams