| Consider what the lecturer, meeting the class for the first time,
has to do: the lecturer must guide this collection of individuals through
territory the students are unfamiliar with, towards a common meeting point,
but without knowing where they are starting from, how much baggage they
are carrying, and what kind of vehicle they are using. This is insanity.
It is truly a miracle, and a tribute to human ingenuity, that any student
learns anything worthwhile in such a system.
Diana Laurillard Rethinking university teaching: a framework for the effective use of learning technologies (Second edition, RoutledgeFalmer, 2002), page 3. |
Week Lectures Topics/Assignments
Jan M Outline and Module 1: Background Information
14-18 W Black-body radiation, COBE, Specific heats
F Continuation of background material:
Photoelectric and Compton effects, Bohr atom
Jan M No class, MLK day holiday
21-25 W Uncertainty principle, Fourier transforms
F Convolutions, Postulates of QM
Jan 28 M The Schrödinger equation, potentials, real and complex.
Optional Diagnostic Test
W Module 2: 1-dimensional Eigenvalue problems
Expectation values, averages, operators
-Feb 1 F Eigenvalue problems
Feb M First problem set due at beginning of class;
4-8 Time-independent 1-dimensional problems (boxes);
W Parity. Normalization and orthogonality. Beams and scattering.
F Finite wells, tunneling. Boundary conditions.
Feb M Return prob set #1. CUPS computations and PhET Web examples, including
11-15 W Coupled 1D problems, double well, delta-function limit (Dr B. Perret).
F Expansion postulate, Dirac notation, bra's, ket's, expectation values.
Feb M Module 3: Operator and Matrix methods. Simple Harmonic Oscillator,
18-22 W Raising and lowering, Creation and Annihilation operators
F Rotation and Angular momentum; spherical harmonics.
Feb M Second problem set due at beginning of class
25-29 Operators for angular momentum.
W Matrices, angular and spin states
F SHO, Angular momentum and spin examples.
Mar M Matrix examples, spin and magnetism, magnetic resonance methods.
4-8 W Return problem set #2; revision and question session
F No class: Midterm Exam (closed book, 50 min).
March 11-15 Spring Break (don't forget to take Problem set #3 with you!)
Important dates: March 28/30, Course withdrawal inperson/online; April 29, Last day of classes; April 30, Reading Day; May 5, Final Exam; May 8, Commencement.