MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Department of Physics Physics 8.

04 SYLLABUS WEEK 1 Tue, Feb 6 Thu, Feb 8 1 2 Organization and policies. Units, scales. Intro to atomic structure and size. Thomson model of the atom. Atomic spectra. Rutherford scattering, nucleus. Spring Term 2007

Problem Set 1 due Friday, Feb 9 WEEK 2 Tue, Feb 13 Thu, Feb 15 3 4 Plancks constant: thermal radiation. Plancks constant: photoelectric effect. Bremsstrahlung: X-ray production. Compton scattering.

Problem Set 2 due Friday, Feb 16 WEEK 3 Tue, Feb 20 Thu, Feb 22 5 MONDAY SCHEDULE OF CLASSES DeBroglie relation. Bohr model of atomic structure.

Problem Set 3 due Friday, Feb 23 WEEK 4 Tue, Feb 27 Thu, Mar 1 6 7 Two slit experiments. Heisenberg uncertainty principle. Uncertainty principle. Wave functions. Probability density.

Problem Set 4 due Friday, Mar 2 WEEK 5 Tue, Mar 6 Thu, Mar 8 8 EXAM 1 Wave functions. Schrodinger equation. Operators.

No problem set due this week. ADD DATE is Friday, Mar 9. WEEK 6 Tue, Mar 13 Thu, Mar 15 9 10 Solving the Schrodinger equation. Time-independent solutions. Eigenstates and eigenvalues. Stationary states. Infinite square well. More on eigenstates. Expansion postulate. Fundamental postulates of QM.

Problem Set 5 due Friday, Mar 16 WEEK 7 Tue, Mar 20 Thu, Mar 22 11 12 Delta functions. Bound states in a general potential. Finite square well. Harmonic oscillator.

Problem Set 6 due Friday, Mar 23 WEEK 8 Tue, Mar 27 Thu, Mar 29 NO CLASSES (Spring Vacation) NO CLASSES (Spring Vacation)

No problem set due this week. WEEK 9 Tue, Apr 3 Thu, Apr 5 13 14 Harmonic oscillator: ladder operators. Delta function well. Free particle. Fourier transforms. More on free particle. Superposition and time dependence.

Problem Set 7 due Friday, Apr 6

WEEK 10

Tue, Apr 10 Thu, Apr 12

15

EXAM 2 Classical limit. Dimensional analysis. Parity. Hyperbolic functions.

No problem set due this week. WEEK 11 Tue, Apr 17 Thu, Apr 19 16 NO CLASSES (Patriots Day holiday) 1-D scattering. Potential step. Transmission and reflection. Probability current. Barrier penetration (tunneling).

Problem Set 8 due Friday, Apr 20. WEEK 12 Tue, Apr 24 Thu, Apr 26 17 18 Tunneling. WKB approximation. Schrodinger equation in 3-D. 3-D infinite well. Degeneracy. Radial potentials.

Problem Set 9 due Wednesday, Apr 27. DROP DATE is Wednesday, Apr 26. WEEK 13 Tue, May 1 Thu, May 3 19 20 Spherically symmetric potentials. Radial solutions to the hydrogen atom. Angular momentum.

Problem Set 10 due Friday, May 4. WEEK 14 Tue, May 8 Thu, May 10 21 22 L2 operator. More on 3-D Schrodinger equation. Hydrogen atom revisited.

Problem Set 11 due Friday, May 11. WEEK 15 Tue, May 15 Thu, May 17 23 24 Entanglement. Review. (Review?)

Problem Set 12 distributed but not collected. WEEK OF May 21: FINAL EXAM