PHYS 486 :: Physics Illinois :: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Schedule

Warning: Under Construction

The table below shows the topics we will cover in the course as well as the schedule for discussions, homework, and exams. Exact lecture dates for the topics may shift as the course progresses. If you have any issues logging in to view any of the secured documents below, please try adding "uofi\" (without the quotes) in front of your netid.

The reading assignments are strongly recommended accompanying reading to the lectures. They refer to chapters in Griffiths, Introduction to Quantum Mechanics, 3rd Ed.

Lecture notes are available for download after each lecture (up to a day or two delay). They are provided as a help in looking back what was covered, not to replace reading, or taking your own notes during lecture. They are my own notes for delivering lectures, so I cannot give any guarantee for legibility.

To work with the code exercise notebooks for discussion, see the info on using Google Colab.

 

Week Date Topic Reading Discussions Homework
1

21 Jan

23 Jan

Introduction  G Preface,
G § 1.1-4

no discussions

this week

 
2

28 Jan

30 Jan

The Schrodinger equation

G 1.5-6

G 2.1-2

D01, solutions

HW1 (due 2/4)

solutions

3

4 Feb

6 Feb

Solving the Time-Indept Schr. Eq.

G 2.1-2

G 2.6 (bound
states only)

D02, solutions

HW2 (due 2/11)

solutions

4 11 Feb
13 Feb

finite square well 

free particle

G 2.6

G 2.4

D03, solutions

HW3 (due 2/18)

solutions

5 18 Feb
20 Feb

SHO position space

Review and synthesis

G 2.3.2

D04, solutions

 

6 25 Feb
27 Feb

Exam I

QM as linear algebra

G 3.1, 3.2 D05, solutions

HW4 (due 3/4)

solutions

7 4 Mar
6 Mar

QM as linear algebra: operators

Commutation relations and uncertainty

G 3.1-3.3, 3.6

G 3.4-3.5

D06, solutions

HW5 (due 3/11)

solutions

8 11 Mar
13 Mar

SHO take II: operators

3D, central potentials

G 2.3.1

G 4.1

D07, solutions

HW6 (due 3/25)

solutions

spring break
9 25 Mar
27 Mar

Angular momentum

G 4.3 D08, solutions

HW7 (due 4/1)

solutions

10 1 Apr
3 Apr 

review and synthesis
  D09, solutions
11 8 Apr
10 Apr

Exam II 

Radial equation

G 4.1 D10, solutions

HW8 (due 4/15)

solutions

12 15 Apr
17 Apr

Coulomb potential 

Spin

G 4.2,

G 4.4.1,4.4.2

D11, solutions

HW9 (due 4/22)

solutions

13 22 Apr
24 Apr

Identical particles

G 5.1

G 5.2

D12, solutions

HW10 (due 4/29)

solutions

14 29 Apr
1 May

entanglement

G 12.1-12.2 D13, solutions

 

15 6 May

 Review and synthesis

G § 4.4    
16 TBA

Final exam: TBA