ESSENTIALS OF QUANTUM MECHANICS
Academic year and teacher
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- Versione italiana
- Academic year
- 2016/2017
- Teacher
- ISABELLA MASINA
- Credits
- 9
- Didactic period
- Primo Semestre
- SSD
- FIS/02
Training objectives
- This course represent the first teaching of quantum mechanics.
The main goal of the course is introducing to students the concepts and the mathematics of (non relativistic) quantum physics.
The main knowledges acquired will be:
formalism of quantum mechanics; wave mechanics; theory of angular momentum.
The main abilities will be:
to solve exactly some simple but physically relevant problems. Prerequisites
- It is necessary to have acquired and assimilated all contents of the courses in mathematics and physics of the first two years of this laurea course. Please consult the list of the propedeutic courses.
Course programme
- The course consists of 72 hours of lectures and exercises.
First part (about 22 hours):
The crysis of classical physics. The double lit experiment. The Stern-Gerlach experiment. Hilbert spaces and bra-ket notation. Measurements and observables. Traslations and momentum. Fundamental commutation relations. Heisenberg Indetermination principle.
Second part (about 25 hours):
Time evolution and Schoedinger equation. Free particle, potential steps and wells. The harmonic oscillator. Heisenberg representation.
Third part (about 25 hours):
Rotation group and angular momentum. Angular momentum quantization. Orbital angular momentum, spherical harmonics and central potentials. The Coulomb potential. Addition of angular momenta and Clebsch-Gordan coefficients. Elements of time independent perturbation theory. Didactic methods
- Theoretical lectures and exercises at the blackboard.
Learning assessment procedures
- The examination consists of a written proof and an oral one.
The written examination is represented by three or four problems and is overcome when the score is equal or bigger than 18/30.
The oral examination consists in the exposition of three subjects chosen by the commission and is overcome when the score is equal or bigger than 18/30. The final score is given by the weighted mean of the previous scores. Reference texts
- J.J Sakurai - Modern quantum mechanics
D.J. Griffiths - Introduction to quantum mechanics
Lecture notes collected by the teacher available at the website (UniFe password needed):
http://www.unife.it/scienze/fisica/insegnamenti/elementi-di-meccanica-quantistica/materiale-didattico
Other books for a more in-depth analysis will be indicated.
