Instructor: Prof. Warren E. Pickett, email: pickett@physics.ucdavis.edu

Office: Physics 427; Office Hours: (tentative) Wed. 1-2pm; Fri. 10-11am.

Phone: 530-220-2138

Lecture: 10:30-11:50 TR, 185 Physics

Reader: Wenjian Hu Office Hours: Mon. 3-4pm, Thurs. 2-3pm. Office is Physics 410

Discussion Group: TBD

Content of 215ABC: Formal development and interpretation of non-relativistic quantum mechanics; its application to atomic, molecular, and solid state problems. Perturbation theory, both time-independent and -dependent. Introduction to relativistic QM and the Dirac equation. Potential scattering theory.
Prerequisites: For PHY 215C, PHY 215AB is required. Undergraduate classical mechanics. Differential and integral calculus. Real analysis. Complex analysis.
Materials: The text for the course is

There are many other excellent QM textbooks, excellent for different reasons. A representative list is:

• C. Cohen-Tannoudji et al., Quantum Mechanics
• P. A. M. Dirac, The Principles of Quantum Mechanics
• A. R. Edmonds, Angular Momentum in Quantum Mechanics
• J. L. Eisberg, Fundamentals of Modern Physics
• R. P. Feynman, Feynman Lectures on Physics I: Quantum Mechanics
• K. Gottfried, Quantum Mechanics
• D. J. Griffiths, Introduction to Quantum Mechanics
• L. D. Landau & E. M. Lifshitz, Quantum Mechanics
• E. Merzbacher, Quantum Mechanics
• A. Messiah, Quantum Mechanics
• L. I. Schiff, Quantum Mechanics
• B. Thaller, Visual Quantum Mechanics

URL for this course: http://yclept.ucdavis.edu/course/215c.S17/Main.html Syllabus, schedule, assignments, etc. will be posted at this URL.

Material to be covered in 215B. Chaps. 18-20: timme-dependent perturbation theory, scattering theory, Dirac equation. Then more modern topics, viz. Berry phase.
Assignments: to be posted at this URL. Homework is to handed in at the beginning of class on the due date. It will be accepted up to one day late, at 20% penalty.
Grading : Grades will be based on homework (25%), two midterms (25% each, dates to be determined), and a term paper (25%) [no final exam]. The term paper must be at least (and not much more than) four Physical Review pages in density, i.e. Physical Review Letters length. Up to four figures and tables are reasonable. It should have references, mostly likely at least five. For examples, go to aps.org, click on Publications, and browse through some papers, you might as well choose some in your main field of interest.

The term paper, in digital form suitable for useful reading by classmates, will be due Friday June 2 to allow time for grading. The term paper must have (1) and introduction or backbround, up to 15% of the paper, (2) main body, which may have subsections, and (3) a Discussion/Summary, up to 10% of the length. It must of course be your own writing -- no plagiarism! You will be paraphrasing various things that you read.

Topics must be cleared with the instructor. Topics suitable for the term paper include
* Stern-Gerlach experiment
* neutrino mixing
* Berry phase in quantum mechanics
* double slit experiment: with light, with particles with mass
* Einstein's explanation of phtotelectron emission from solids
* the "Lyman-alpha forest" in astrophysics
* the laser: how does it work?