Graduate Quantum Mechanics I

Physics 6572, Fall 2014
Monday, Wednesday, Friday 11:15-12:05, Rockefeller 115
Instructor: James Sethna, sethna@lassp.cornell.edu, 5-5132, PSB 412, Office Hours Wed noon
TAs: Thomas Bachlechner (tcb63@cornell.edu, PSB 428, Office Hours Tu 4:00)
and Philip Burnham (psb84@cornell.edu, Rock 237, Office Hours Th 2:30)

https://sethna.lassp.cornell.edu/Teaching/QuantumI/

Live/Dead Cat in Box

We cover nonrelativistic quantum physics at the graduate level, focusing on fundamental conceptual issues and methods. Entanglement, Qbits, Path Integrals, Classical Limits, WKB & Instantons, Gauge Invariance & Charge, Angular Momentum, Group Representations, Bosons, Fermions & Anyons, Resonances, Random Matrix Theory, Chemical Bonds, Overlap Catastrophes, Macroscopic Quantum Tunneling, Schrödinger's Cat

Texts

  • Modern Quantum Mechanics, (Second Edition) J. J. Sakurai and Jim J. Napolitano (Required)
  • Quantum Processes, Systems, & Information, Benjamin Schumacher and Michael Westmoreland (Optional, available as a Cornell e-book)
  • Lectures on Quantum Mechanics, Steven Weinberg (Optional, available as a Cornell e-book)

Grading

  • Homework 50% (Collaboration encouraged; separate writeups)
  • Evening mid-term 15%
  • Takehome final 35%

Information and Links