PHYS581

Welcome to the Spring 2015 web page for Phys581

Lectures: Tues, Thursday :14:00 - 15:20 in 158 Loomis

Instructor:
Tom Faulkner

e-mail: faulkner_at_illinois_dot_edu
office: 433 Loomis Laboratory

Homework Graders :
Tong Wang

e-mail: twang92_at_illinois_dot_edu

Homework

Homework sets will be assigned roughly every second week. They will be due two weeks after posting (14 days later). Homework sets should be brought to class on the day they are due (if you cannot make this, please hand the problem set to me in my office 433 before class.) Unless a valid, verifiable excuse is given, homework sets which are submitted late will receive a 50% penalty. Homework sets which are turned in after 5:00pm on the 3rd week after posting (21 days after the set is first posted) will receive no credit. You may discuss the homework problems with your classmates, but each student is required to provide his/her own solutions.

Grading policies

Your grade will be based on the homework assignments (~ 70%) and the final exam (~30%).

Final exam instruction

The final will be held Thursday May 14 from 8am to 11am in 158 Loomis.
The exam will be open book. You may bring your laptop if you have a digital copy of your book, however the wifi must be disabled. Lecture notes for the course are also allowed. Here is a potential list of topics that you should study for the exam:StuffToStudy

Office hours

Tuesday 3:30pm - 4:30pm Tom Faulkner (@ 433 Loomis)
Monday 5-6pm Tong Wang (@ 464 Loomis)

Recommended materials

Weinberg, “Lectures on Quantum Mechanics”
Gottfried and Yan, “Quantum Mechanics: Fundamentals”
Supplemental text: Sakurai, “Modern Quantum Mechanics”

Tentative course syllabus

Week	Date	Lecture	Reading/Homework
1	01/20	Review of 580 - Math basics, Symmetries, Lec 1
	01/22	(more Review) Angular momentum etc, Lec 2
2	01/27	Single electron atom, Spin-Orbit etc., Lec 3	Problem Set 1 (due 02/10 in class)
	01/29	Dynamics, Lec 4a, Lec 4b
3	02/03	Time dependent perturbation theory, Lec 5
	02/05	More time dependent perturbation theory, applications to radiation, Lec 6
4	02/10	Photo-ionization, Photoelectric effect, Lec 7	Problem Set 2 (due 02/26, Thursday in class)
	02/12	Quantizing E&M , Lec 8
5	02/17	No class (make up later)
	02/19	No class
6	02/24	Quantizing E&M, spontaneous/stimulated emission etc. Lec 9
	02/26	Adiabatic processes and Berry’s phase Lec 10
7	03/03	Intro to scattering - 1d problems, Lec 11	Problem Set 3 (due 03/19, Thursday in class)
	03/05	Scattering and WKB approximation Lec 12
8	03/10	Formal theory, Lippman-Schwinger, Born approximation, Lec 13
	03/12	More scattering, partial waves Lec 14
9	03/17	Partial waves, low energy scattering, Lec 15
	03/19	Resonances, Lec 16
10	03/24	Spring break
	03/26	Spring break
11	03/31	Time delay, Eikonal limit Lec 17	Problem Set 4 (due 04/16, Thursday in class)
	04/02	Many body QM - Statistics, Few body examples, Lec 18
12	04/07	Helium, Heisenberg Exchange Lec 19
	04/09	Second quantization,Lec 20
13	04/14	Second quantization - Boson, Lec 21
	04/16	Second quantization - Fermions, Greens functions Lec 22
14	04/21	Interacting fermions Lec 23	Problem Set 5 (due 05/06, Wednesday, in my office 433 Loomis)
	04/23	Interacting bosonsLec 24
15	04/28	Entanglement Lec 25
	04/30	Entanglement, EPR, Bell’s inequalities Lec 26
16	05/05	Uses of entanglement Lec 27 Lec 28
	05/07	Reading day
	05/14	Final exam (8am to 11am at Looms 158)