PHYSICS 581 - Spring 2008
Class Time: M, W, 1:00-2:20pm, 144 Loomis Lab.


Instructor: P. Phillips, Rm. 2121 ESB
Office Hours: T, Th 1:00-2:00pm

Grader: J. Wu, (email:wu4@uiuc.edu) 4107 ESB

   

Exams: Midterm, Final at end of term
Course Grade: HW=Final=Midterm=1/3

 

Suggested Texts: Baym, Davydov, Feynman (Statistical Mechanics), Feynman and Hibbs, Shankar
Reserve list is in library

Note to Students: Buy either Baym or Shankar at www.amazon.com

 

I. Fundamentals of time-dependent quantum mechanics

A. Heisenberg and Schroedinger pictures, 1st-order Perturbation theory

B. Light-heavy particle collision, nth-order perturbative result

C. Fermi’s golden rule

D. Quantization of a radiation field

E. Einstein A and B coefficients, dipole selection rules

F. Density Matrices

G. Loss of quantum coherence

H. Functional integration, extremum principle

I. Free-particle action, tunneling, instantons

J. Double-well done doubly well

K. Functional integration of harmonic oscillator in external field

L. Particle in a magnetic field, Aharonov-Bohm Effect

II. Spin 1/2

A. Spin-angular momentum

B. Spin magnetic moment, spin-orbit coupling, Pauli equation

C. Spins in magnetic fields, Stern-Gerlach experiment

D. Addition of angular momentum

E. Clebsch-Gordon coefficients

F. Klein-Gordon equation

G. b-matrices, Dirac equation

III. Many-Body Problems

A. Identical particles, second-quantization

B. Hartree-Fock approximation/Koopman’s theorem

C. Interacting e gas

D. Two-electron atoms, Thomas-Fermi

E. Zeeman splitting

F. Introduction to superconductivity, Cooper pairs

Lecture 0

Problem Set 1

     Problem Set 1 Solutions

Lecture 1

Lecture 2

Lecture 3

Lecture 4

Lecture 5

Problem Set 2 - Due Feb. 11

     Problem Set 2 Solutions

Lecture 6

Lecture 7

Problem Set 3 - Due Feb. 27

     Problem Set 3 Solutions

Lecture 8

Lecture 9

Lecture 10

Lecture 11

Lecture 12

Lecture 13

Problem Set 4 - Due Mar. 10

     Problem Set 4 Solutions

Lecture 14

UPDATED 3/14 - Midterm - Due Mar. 28

     Midterm Solutions

Lecture 15

Lecture 16

Lecture 17

Problem Set 5 - Due April 9

     Problem Set 5 Solutions

Lecture 18

Lecture 19

Lecture 20

Lecture 21

Problem Set 6

Lecture 22

Lecture 23

Lecture 24