Hey everyone! Here are administrative details about Physics 487. (0) ONLINE TEACHING LINKS: We are using Zoom for everything: lectures, discussion, and office hours. Each instructor has a personal ID with Zoom; they will use it to open each online session, so the links are instructor-dependent. Here is the schedule for all of our online meetings. To join them, type the indicated meeting ID into a Zoom app (each instructor has their own ID). To obtain the passwords, click here. (It's in the secure area, use your netid, possibly prefixed by uofi\) OFFICE HOURS Sunday 2 - 6 pm Naomi Mtg ID: makins or 764 558 7296 Tuesday 6 - 7 pm Nan Mtg ID: nanzhang or 725 346 3390 Thursday 5 - 6 pm Mick Mtg ID: 442 732 4383 Thursday 6 - 7 pm Saavanth Mtg ID: velury or 815 449 9719 DISCUSSION Wednesday 6 - 9 pm Saavanth Mtg ID: velury or 815 449 9719 LECTURE Mon & Wed 12:30 - 2 pm Naomi Mtg ID: makins or 764 558 7296 ALWAYS OPEN FOR YOU TO WORK TOGETHER Piazza discussion board: piazza.com/illinois Blackboard shared whiteboard & A/V: tinyurl.com/makins-space HOMEWORK SUBMISSION Please upload scanned / photographed images of your homework using my.physics.illinois.edu/courses/upload Graded homeworks will be returned using this same tool → same link. (1) HOMEWORK DUE DATE: The homework deadline is each week on FRIDAY at 1 pm. Solutions are to be written on your own paper and should be dropped off in the 487 homework box on the second floor of Loomis. The homework boxes are in the overpass on the north side of the 2nd floor and they're painted bright yellow -- you can't miss them! (2a) OFFICE HOURS: Here is the weekly office hour schedule Sundays 2:00 - 6:00 pm Loomis 464 Naomi Tuesdays 4:00 - 5:00 pm Loomis 204E* Saavanth → now Naomi Wednesdays 4:00 - 7:00 pm Loomis 204E* Preetha → now Saavanth, Nan, Mick *Room 204E notes: please use the door in the NORTHEAST corner of the second floor, across from rooms 271-279; the door has a sign "204E" and will be propped open during office hours. I urge you all to come to Sunday office hours in particular: it's a nice quiet time to work on the homework early, and generally get most of it done and checked before you leave. There's also FREE CHOCOLATE. :-) In any case, please do not make the mistake of starting your homework the day before it's due! (That is *never* a good idea in an upper-level class. :-/) (2b) OFFICE HOUR POLICY: Homework is not a quiz, it's PRACTICE. We WANT you to get 100% on every homework and we EXPECT you to get at least 95%. To this end, the TAs and I will be very happy to CHECK your homework before you leave to make sure you understand everything. We also strongly encourage you to work together in groups: exchanging ideas is a superb way to learn! (2c) OFFICE HOUR ROOM RULES: Loomis 464 is used by many people for seminars and group meetings. It is *essential* that we keep this room tidy or we will no longer be allowed to use it. (It is a very nice room to work in so we would very much like to keep it!) Also, students in past semesters have appreciated using the room to work on homework after office hours are over. To preserve these priviledges, we *must* follow these rules: • CLEAN UP: The chairs and tables must be arranged for a seminar and all trash must be removed from the floor and tables before the last person leaves. • The last person to leave must LOCK THE DOOR. (There are two small buttons near the door latch, one of them unlocks the door and the other locks it.) • If the last person to leave is not me or a TA, whoever leaves last must TEXT ME A PHOTO of the room's condition. (This is so we do not get blamed if someone else makes a mess of the room!) This system has worked perfectly for the past three semesters; thank you in advance for making sure the room is in good order for the next group! (3) HOMEWORK LATE POLICY: We'll accept homeworks up to two business days late with a cumulative -15% penalty per late business day, where "business day" means days that are not weekends or university holidays. Thus, if it's due Friday 1 pm and you hand it in by Monday 1 pm, you get -15%; if you hand it in by Tuesday 1 pm, you get -30%. No homeworks will be accepted after that. Also, for homeworks that are due within the week preceding a MIDTERM EXAM, NO LATE ASSIGNMENTS are accepted, so that we can post the solution as soon as possible for studying. (4) HOMEWORK POSTING: will be on Saturday. The homework will appear in this webspace, in the homework subdirectory. (5) GRADING BREAKDOWN: The final grade breakdown will be approximately Discussion attendance = 5% Homework = 35% Three Quizzes = 8% each → 24% total Final Exam = 36% I may tweak this a wee bit, but not by more than 3% or so. (6) TEXTBOOKS: The required textbook is • D. Griffiths, "Introduction to Quantum Mechanics", 2nd ed. This book has one of the best blends of good pedagogy and rigour, although I find the order of presentation somewhat strange. I am also very fond of a second book that provides an excellent pedagogical introduction to upper-level QM and is available in Kindle format from Amazon for the astonishing price of $2.88 ! • M. Jain, "Quantum Mechanics: A Textbook for Undergraduates" Grab an e-copy before they raise the price (!) Jain's book also has many solved examples within the text, but the material was mostly covered in 486, it will run out shortly. Finally, if you are looking for a textbook that is less pedagogical, heavier on math and theory, and will serve as a good reference book, I recommend • R. Shankar, "Principles of Quantum Mechanics" Finally to address a common question: "Can I survive without any textbook?" If you go to all lectures you can probably survive, but with a subject this deep, foregoing any textbook is crippling. Your best resource is a COMBINATION of resourcesas you are best served by seeing different perspectives. Maybe the best answer is that, in lecture/discussion/homework, I am ASSUMING that you have Griffiths and are reading it. (7) DISCUSSION SECTIONS: You may not be able to get through all the discussion questions during section, and that's fine, but you are RESPONSIBLE for all the material. Solutions will be posted very soon after each discussion section so please try the questions you didn't get to, then consult the solutions for assistance - and maybe for some new ideas on how to solve the problems! (8) LECTURES: No points are assigned for attending lecture. However, you are RESPONSIBLE for all the material covered in lecture. I will post photos of the blackboards in case there is an expression or figure you didn't manage to write down during lecture, but the blackboards do NOT capture all of what goes on. Notable examples are demos, relevant items from the web, and most important of all, our DISCUSSIONS: about interpretation, physical intuition and significance, and answers to your outstanding questions! If you miss a lecture, it is your responsibility to get notes from a classmate. (9a) MIDTERM EXAMS: The midterms will be held during lecture period, with the first one in week 5 or 6 and the second one in week 11 or 12. The exact dates will be decided about 2 weeks in advance, after a poll in lecture to find dates that avoid peoples' other midterms as much as possible. Once we pick a date for each midterm, you will get an email and the date will appear on the INFO-Syllabus page. (9b) FINAL EXAM: The dates and times for final exams are determined for all courses on campus about 7 weeks after classes start and a general schedule is posted on their Final Exam page. The specific info for our course appears on the 487 Course Explorer page. Once the final exam date is announced, it will also appear in INFO-Syllabus. (9c) NO-3-IN-24-HOUR RULE: The Final Exams section of the Student Code (which you should read!) explains the no-3-in-24-hours rule: you can't be required to take three final exams in any 24 hour period. If you are in such a situation, there is an order-of-precedence rule for which course must offer you a conflict final. Basically, the largest classes have to offer conflicts first; if those still don't solve your problem, you contact the next smaller class, and so on. Note that this rule does NOT apply to midterm exams, only finals. (9d) FOR ALL EXAMS: - NO CALCULATORS are allowed (who needs 'em, they would just slow you down) - NO NOTES or other reference materials are allowed (books, computers, etc) - FORMULA SHEETS will be provided; they will be posted in the main area about a week in advance of each exam - NO HOMEWORK will be due during midterm exam weeks, but all office hours will be held as normal to help you study. As noted in the office hour section, if the exam falls on a Thursday, any Thursday or Friday office hours will be moved to an earlier day of the week. (10) WHERE'S THE GRADEBOOK? The online gradebooks for all physics courses are in the same place: my.physics.illinois.edu/gradebook/. Log in with your usual netid and password. (11) TA EMAILS: Discussion TA Saavanth Velury svelury2 at illinois.edu Grader Nan Zhang nanz6 at illinois.edu Grader Mick Krongchon krongch2 at illinois.edu Any questions about homework scores should be directed to the graders. Different graders score different assignments so please email all of them. Here is a link to email all the graders. (12) EMAILING NAOMI: Please USE THE PHONE, my dear friends. Phones rock. Stuff gets done over the phone at relativistic speeds compared with email. Call or text at any time (really!); the number is below. The only exception is homework questions: with a class of ~100 students, the TAs and I must regrettably confine homework assistance to the office hours (of which there are many). As for physics questions, please bring them to lecture! Many of the greatest insights we've had in lecture were prompted by student questions, please share your thoughts with all of us! :-) Cheers! Naomi --------------------------------------------------- Prof. Naomi C.R. Makins (217) 721-3793 email: please.use@the.phone (call|text any time) University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Loomis Laboratory of Physics, Room 463 1110 W. Green St, Urbana, IL 61801-3080