Introduction to Quantum Mechanics

Fall 2015
MW: 6:45 p.m. 8:00 p.m., BH 1610
Instructor:

Sergey Buldyrev
buldyrev@verizon.net
Belfer 1112
Extension: 430

Office Hours:

TR: 12:00 p.m. 2:00 p.m.

Required Texts:

Introduction to Quantum Mechanics, 2nd

edition, D.J. Griffiths. (Pearson Prentice
Hall, Upper Saddle River 2005). ISBN 013-111892-7

This is a new introductory course in Quantum mechanics. Quantum mechanics

describes the behavior of matter at the atomic scale.It is dramatically different
from the Newtonian Classical Mechanics describing the behavior of macroscopic
objects. It was developed in the first half of the 20th century by Max Planck,
Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, Louis de Broglie, Arthur Compton, Albert
Einstein, Erwin Schrdinger, Max Born, John von Neumann, Paul Dirac, Enrico
Fermi, Wolfgang Pauli, Max von Laue, Freeman Dyson, David Hilbert, Wilhelm
Wien, Satyendra Nath Bose, Arnold Sommerfeld, and others. At the core of
quantum mechanics lays the wave-particle duality of matter and the uncertainty
principle implying that nature is intrinsically unpredictable. The philosophical
implications of Quantum Mechanics are so profound, that there is still a debate
on what it all means. However, the mathematical formalism of Quantum
Mechanics is as rigorous as that of Classical Mechanics, and it explains
tremendous amount of phenomena related to the structure and properties of
atoms and molecules and thus yields the foundation of the entire Chemistry and
Material Science. If Newtonian mechanics is based on ordinary differential
equations, Quantum mechanics is based on partial differential equations and
linear operators in the Hilbert functional space. The goal of this course is to
provide an introduction to this mathematical formalism and solve many practical
problems such as to find the spectrum of the hydrogen atom and simple
molecular spectra as well as to describe such amazing phenomena as quantum
tunneling.

Grade breakdown:
homework and class participation
Midterm
Final

20%
40%
40%

Topic

Textbook Chapters

August 29

Wave Function

August 31

Time Independent
Schrodinger Equation

September 7

Time Independent
Schrodinger Equation

September 12

Formalism

September 14

Formalism

September 19

Quantum Mechanics in 3D

September 21

Quantum Mechanics in 3D

September 26

Identical particles

September 28

Identical particles

October 31

Midterm

1-5

November 2

Time Independent
Perturbation theory

November 7

Time Independent
Perturbation theory

November 9

Variational Principle

November 14

Variational Principle

Dates

November 16

The WKB Approximation

November 21

The WKB Approximation

November 23

Time Dependent
Perturbation Theory

November 28

Time Dependent
Perturbation Theory

November 30

Adiabatic Approximation

10

December 5

Adiabatic Approximation

10

December 7

Scattering

11

December 12

Scattering

11

December 14

Understanding of Quantum
Mechanics

12

December 19

Understanding of Quantum
Mechanics

12

December 21

Understanding of Quantum
Mechanics

12

December 26

Understanding of Quantum
Mechanics

12

January 6

Final