Physics 313: Quantum Mechanics I

• Instructor: Professor David Armstrong
• Office: Small Hall, Room 343E
• Phone: (757)221-3489;    Mobile: (757)778-2937
• Email: armd@jlab.org
• Office Hours: Wed 9:00am - 10 am, 11:00 am - 1:00 pm, and by appointment.
• Course WWW page: http://physics.wm.edu/~armd/P313.html

Classes:

Schedule:

Description:

• Chapter 1 - The Wave Function
• Chapter 2 - Time-Independent Schrodinger Equation
• Chapter 3 - Formalism
• Chapter 4 - Quantum Mechanics in Three Dimensions
• Chapter 12 - Afterword (Measurement in QM)

Required Math:

All of the Linear Algebra that is needed in the course is reviewed in the Appendix of the textbook.

Grading Scheme:

There will be homework assignments, roughly every week, three in-class tests, and a final exam. The grades will be calculated based on either

    Homework       : 25% 
    In-class Tests : 45%  (lowest test grade will be dropped)
    Final Exam     : 30% 

    Homework : 25% 
    Final Exam:  75% 

This procedure means that students who may have had difficulty with one or more of the in-class tests have the chance to make up for it with a good performance on the final exam; after all - what is relevant is how much physics you have learned at the end of the course!

Letter grades will be determined from the numerical grades using:

               A  92-100%    A-  88-92
   B+  84-88   B  80-84      B-  76-80
   C+  72-76   C  68-72      C-  64-68
   D+  60-64   D  55-60      D-  50-55
   F  < 50

Tests and Exam:

If you know you will miss a test due to a university-sanctioned event, please notify me by email well in advance. If you are ill on the day of the test, please contact me as soon as possible to make other arrangements. A makeup test may be administered.

The final exam will be held Tues. Dec. 21, 9:00 am - noon.

Text:

Note: this is a new (third) edition of this book. The differences between this edition and the previous edition are rather minor, however some of the homework problems are different. If you want to use a previous edition, make sure that you can get access to the 3rd edition for homework problems. An eText version is available at reduced cost. Please be aware that the 'international' edition of the text (which is less expensive, and is in paperback) and is labelled for sale in only certain countries is not the same as the 3rd edition (there are some missing sections and the problems are not the same), so please avoid using this one.

Homework:

You can't properly learn physics just by listening to a lecture or watching someone else use it. You've got to do it yourself. To get good at it, you must practice. Doing the homework assignments will be integral to success in this course. Expect to have one homework assignment per week, for most weeks of the semester. You may work problems with others (but not copy each other's work!), and all students must turn in their own solution set.

For full credit, assignments must be turned in on their due date, which will always be on a Friday. Late assignments will be accepted until the following Friday, but the grade will be reduced by 50%. The graders for the course are Mohsin Jamil and Kevin Braga; their contact information is posted on Blackboard.

Important Dates:

  Last day of Add/Drop:    Fri. Sept. 10
  Last day for Withdrawl:  Mon. Nov. 1
  In-class Tests:          Wed. Oct. 6; Mon. Nov. 1; Wed. Dec. 1
  Final Exam:              Tues. Dec. 21, 9:00 am              

Electronic Access:

Alternate Textbooks

Accessibility:

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