PHYS 457 Honours Quantum Physics 2: Winter 2024 Course outline#
Description and goals#
This course follows on from PHYS 357 Honours Quantum Physics 1, covering topics such as 2D and 3D quantum systems, perturbation theory, scattering, and the interaction of matter and radiation.
Instructor and TAs#
Prof. Andrew Cumming, andrew.cumming@mcgill.ca, Rutherford 310.
TAs: Clément Fortin, Renee Goodman, Ivan Martinez
Time and place#
Class will be held on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1-2.30pm in Rutherford 114.
The first class is Thursday January 4th.
List of topics#
We will cover Chapters 8 onwards of Townsend, including:
Path integrals
The two-body problem, bound states of central potentials, the H atom
Perturbation theory
Identical particles
Scattering
The interaction of matter and electromagnetic radiation
Useful books and other resources#
Following PHYS 357, we will use the book “A Modern Approach to Quantum Mechanics” by Townsend (2012, second edition).
Townsend’s book is all you will need to complete the course, but I encourage you to read widely on the topics we will cover. Some suggested readings will be posted as appropriate during the course. There are many excellent textbooks on quantum mechanics that you can look at. An excellent book is The Physics of Quantum Mechanics by Binney and Skinner (you’ll find a downloadable PDF of an earlier version of the book on their webpage).
Office hours#
I will have an office hour on Wednesday at noon in my office ERP 310. I encourage you to come and talk to me about any questions you have about the course or just generally about quantum topics if you don’t have any specific questions in mind. I am also available to answer questions directly after class on Tuesdays or Thursdays.
The TAs will two “debug den” sessions on Fridays 2.30-3.30 in the piano room (ERP 211 Piano room) and Mondays 10-11am (ERP 326).
Evaluation#
Homeworks 30%, and either (1) midterm 30%, final exam 40% or (2) final exam 70%, whichever gives you the best grade. When calculating the homework component of the final grade, each homework will count equally, and the two lowest scoring homeworks will be dropped to help your grade.
Homeworks will be weekly, due on Tuesday 11:59pm each week. The homeworks are a key part of learning the material and will prepare you for the exams. Late submissions will not be accepted. If you run out of time, please submit whatever you can before the deadline.
The midterm will be an open-book take home format exam, given out at the start of class on Tuesday March 12 (this is week after reading week) and will be due 48 hours later. The final exam will be a 72-hour take home exam during the final exam period. Update the final exam will be released at 9am on April 22 and will be due at 9am on April 25.
Course materials such as lecture notes and problem sets will be made available on the course website at
https://andrewcumming.github.io/phys457/intro.html
Homeworks will be submitted in PDF format on myCourses. Grades will be distributed in myCourses. Questions about the homework grading should first be discussed with the TA who graded that particular problem set.
McGill policy statements#
McGill University values academic integrity. Therefore all students must understand the meaning and consequences of cheating, plagiarism and other academic offences under the Code of Student Conduct and Disciplinary Procedures (approved by Senate on 29 January 2003) (See McGill’s guide to academic honesty](https://www.mcgill.ca/students/srr/honest) for more information).
In accord with McGill University’s Charter of Students’ Rights, students in this course have the right to submit in English or in French written work that is to be graded. This does not apply to courses in which acquiring proficiency in a language is one of the objectives.
In the event of extraordinary circumstances beyond the University’s control, the content and/or evaluation scheme in this course is subject to change.
Additional policies governing academic issues which affect students can be found in the McGill Charter of Students’ Rights.