Learning objectives
This course assumes that students have previously absorbed an introduction to quantum mechanics. Using a general and modern formulation , the course aims at providing a solid foundation of quantum physics suitable for students of the Master of Science in Physics.
Prerequisites
This course requires a knowledge of introductory quantum mechanics : wave mechanics, Schrodinger equation, some exactly solvable examples, the hydrogen aton, angular momentum, perturbation theory.
Course unit content
In the last 40 years the progress of quantum electronics experiments made it possible to carry out experiment that the founders of quantum mechanics described only as imaginary experiments: the interference of a single photon and its relocation, experiments on entangled states, etc..
Over the past 10 years new textbooks have been published in which quantum mechanics is exposed in a quite different way. The statistical operator (the density matrix) and situations where the observer has only incomplete knowledge of the quantum system are now described in detail from the beginning. There is more attention to systems with a few degrees of freedom '(especially systems of two energy levels). At the same time, the solution of the Schrodinger equation in one dimension in a quantity of examples that are analytically solvable is now considered as less important.
The course will develop arguments inspired by these new texts. A detailed view of the course program can be obtained from the lecture notes, which are available in the teaching material in the course website.
Full programme
The detailed program corresponds the the lecture notes prepared by the teacher, and freely available on Campus Net
Bibliography
K. Gottfried T-M. Yan, Quantum Mechanics : Fundamentals, Springer 2003.
M. Le Bellac, Quantum Physics, Cambridge Univ. Press 2006.
B.H.Bransden and C.J. Joachain, Quantum Mechanics, second edition, Pearson , 2000.
Teaching methods
Class lectures and exercises
Assessment methods and criteria
The final grade is determined as follows : 30% on homeworks, 30% on the middle-term exam, 40% on the final-term exam.
Other information
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