Physics 487 Syllabus
Spring 2013

 

Here is a tentative course syllabus (under construction):

Class Notes
 
Week Date Topic Reading Checkpoints Homework Discussion
1 15 Jan

17 Jan		 P486 review

Addition of angular momenta 		L Chs. I,  II, III,
IV, V,  Suppl
L Ch. VI
G Ch. 4.4		 no CP HW 1

Solutions		 PS 0
(P486 review)
2 22 Jan

24 Jan		 Identical particles
Pauli exclusion principle
Exchange interaction		 G Ch. 5.1-2 CP 1

Solutions		 HW 2

Solutions		 no Quiz

PS 1
3 29 Jan

31 Jan		 Multi-electron atoms
Time-independent perturbation theory
Nondegenerate case		 L TIPT
G Ch. 6.1-2		 CP 2

Solutions		 HW 3

Solutions 		Quiz 1

PS 2
4 05 Feb

07 Feb		 Degenerate case
Relativistic correction
Spin-orbit correction		 L TIPT
G Ch. 6.2-3		 CP 3

Solutions		 HW 4

Solutions 		Quiz 2

PS 3
5 12 Feb

14 Feb		 Atomic finestructure
Zeeman effect
Hyperfine splitting		 L TIPT
G Ch.  6.4-5		 CP 4

Solutions		 HW 5

Solutions 		Quiz 3

PS 4
6 19 Feb

21 Feb		 The variational principle

Helium atom

L VP

G Ch. 7

 CP 5

Solutions		 HW 6

Solutions 		Quiz 4

PS 5
7 26 Feb

28 Feb		 Hydrogen molecule

WKB approximation

L WKB

G Ch. 8

 CP 6

Solutions		  HW 7

Solutions		 Quiz 5

PS 6
8 05 Mar

07 Mar		 WKB: connection formulae

Midterm exam (practice exam)
solutions
 		  no CP HW 8

Solutions 		no Quiz

PS 7
9 12 Mar

14 Mar		 Time-dependent perturbation theory G Ch. 9
 CP 8

Solutions		 HW 9

Solutions 		Quiz 7

PS 8
10 19 Mar
21 Mar		 Spring break
11 26 Mar

28 Mar		 Stimulated emission & absorption
Spontaneous emission
Line broadening
 G. Ch 9
 CP 9

Solutions		 HW 10

Solutions		 Quiz 8

PS 9
12 02 Apr

04 Apr		 Selection rules

Adiabatic approximation
 
G Ch. 10
 CP 10

Solutions		 HW 11

Solutions		 Quiz 9

PS 10
13 09 Apr

11 Apr
geometric phase

Scattering
G Ch 10.1-2,11
 CP 11

Solutions		 HW 12

Solutions		 Quiz 10

PS 11
14 16 Apr
18 Apr
Green's function
Born approximation
 G Ch 11 CP 12

Solutions		 HW 13

Solutions		 Quiz 11

PS 12
15 23 Apr

25 Apr		 partial wave approximation  

Feynman's Path integral:
the propagator
 G Ch 11

Shankar Ch 5, 8
CP 13

Solutions		 no HW
 Quiz 12

PS 13
16 30 Apr Feynman's Path integral 
Shankar Ch 5, 8,
               21
 no CP no HW no Quiz

PS 14
17 Final exam: 7 May 2013, 7:00PM - 10:00 PM