PHYS 414, 415, 417 , Quantum Mechanics, AY 2011/12

This page and its links contain all of the general information you need for this course, and they will be updated frequently. Please check this page regularly, and make sure you hit your browser's `Reload' button so you get the latest version.

Time and Location:

PHYS 414: TR 10:00 - 11:50 in 360 CON
PHYS 415: TR 10:00 - 11:50 in 318 WIL ( NOTE THE VENUE CHANGE! )
PHYS 417: TR 10:00 - 11:50 in 318 WIL
Speaking of time, here is pretty accurate time courtesy of NIST :

Table of Contents, and Lecture Notes :

The table of contents will be updated as the course proceeds. To see pdf scans of my lecture notes, click the paragraphs headings.
NB: The notes may not show up in final form, or not at all, until we're done with a paragraph.

Instructor:

Dietrich Belitz
email:
phone: 6-4738
office: 459 Willamette
office hours:
- real: I'll try to keep an open office policy. Catch me after class if possible; otherwise, just stop by my office. If I'm really busy I'll kick you out, but usually I'll be able to accomodate you if I'm in. If your schedule and mine turn out to never overlap, send email and make an appointment.
- virtual: anytime. My e-mail response time is rarely longer than a few hours, and usually it is much shorter.

TA:

Nirmal Raj
email: nirmal at uoregon.edu
phone: 6-5569
office: 463 WIL
office hours: M 12:00 - 13:00

Textbooks and other helpful material:

Recommended texts:

R. Shankar , Quantum Mechanics
L.D. Landau and E.M. Lifshitz , Quantum Mechanics

Other useful books:

M. Abramowitz and I.A. Stegun , Handbook of Mathematical Functions
N.I. Achiezer and I.M. Glazman , Theory of Linear Operators in Hilbert Space
G.B. Arfken , Mathematical Methods for Physicists
C.M. Bender and S.A. Orszag , Advanced Mathematical Methods for Scientists and Engineers
R. Courant and D. Hilbert , Methods of Mathematical Physics
P. Dennery and A. Krzywicki , Mathematics for Physicists
R.P. Feynman, R.B. Leighton, and M.L. Sands , The Feynman Lectures on Physics, Vol. III
I.S. Gradshteyn and I.M. Ryzhik , Table of Integrals, Series, and Products
M.J. Lighthill , Introduction to Fourier analysis and generalized functions
A. Messiah , Quantum Mechanics
P.M. Morse and H. Feshbach , Methods of Theoretical Physics
V.I. Smirnov , A Course of Higher Mathematics
M. Stone and P. Goldbart , Mathematics for Physics
E.T. Whittaker and G.N. Watson , A course of modern analysis

Exams and Grading

Your grade will be mostly based on the exams (see below), but it will be next to impossible to do well on the exams unless you have spent a lot of time and effort on the homework problems.

Homework will be graded and count for 25% of the class grade. If your performance on the final is better than on the midterm, the final will count 75% and the midterm will not count. If your performance on the midterm is better than on the final, the midterm will count 25% and the final will count 50%. In marginal cases participation in class will be taken into account.

Homework, and Lecture Notes:

Homework problems will be assigned weekly on Thursday via a posting in pdf format on this page, and will be due the following Thursday at 5pm in Nirmal Raj's box in the Binney Lounge. I will post my solutions, also in pdf format.

Collaborating on the homework is okay, and even encouraged. You should make sure, however, that you really understand the material yourself rather than just tagging along, or you will be in for an unpleasant surprise at exam time.

I will also make my (hand written) lecture notes available in pdf format. Please keep in mind, however, that anybody else's lecture notes, including the lecturer's, are next to useless unless you have your own set taken by YOU. My notes are only meant as a permanent record of my blackboard art to check against.

Lecture notes

Lecture notes will be posted in pdf format as the course progresses. You can access them through the table of contents link .

Problem Sets

last update 6/13/2012

Dietrich Belitz
Department of Physics
University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403
USA