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PHY 6646 Quantum Mechanics 2
Spring 2002

This is the second of two courses constituting the graduate core sequence in quantum mechanics. The first course (PHY 6645 Quantum Mechanics 1) is taught in the fall semester.

Overview

PHY 6646 is designed for students who have already had at least one year of quantum mechanics at the undergraduate level, and who have successfully completed PHY 6645 or equivalent. The main topics covered are approximation methods (variational and WKB methods, perturbation theory), scattering theory, and many-particle systems.

Textbooks

R. Shankar, Principles of Quantum Mechanics, 2nd edition, Plenum Press, 1994 (required text).
    The course will generally follow the approach used in this book, which builds up quantum mechanics from a few basic postulates. Many readers find this to be a very useful tool for learning the subject. The main ideas are laid out clearly and logically. In places, however, Shankar stops short of the level of rigor or detail appropriate for a graduate course, so supplementary material will be presented in the lectures. At these points the recommended texts below may prove particularly useful.
E. Merzbacher, Quantum Mechanics, 3rd edition, John Wiley & Sons, 1998 (recommended text).
    More complete than Shankar, but less well organized and less clearly written. Useful for filling in many details once the main ideas of quantum mechanics have been understood.
L. E. Ballentine, Quantum Mechanics: A Modern Development, 2nd edition, World Scientific Publishing, 1998 (recommended text).
    Follows an axiomatic approach similar to Shankar's, but at a more rigorous level. Contains many typographic errors, but the only one of the three texts to really address such fundamental issues as the physical interpretation of the wave function and the procedure for quantizing classical systems.

Students are advised to wait until after the first lecture before deciding whether to buy either of the recommended texts.
 

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Kevin Ingersent / ingersent@phys.ufl.edu
Last modified: Jan 2, 2002