PHYS 487 Spring 2025
PHYS 487 :: Physics Illinois :: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Schedule
The table below shows the topics we will cover in the course. Exact lecture dates for the topics may still shift, though.
Last updated: Jan 14, 2025.
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The reading assignments are refer to chapters in Griffiths, Introduction to Quantum Mechanics, 3rd Ed.
Lecture notes are available for download after each lecture (up to a day or two delay). They are provided as a help in looking back what was covered, not to replace reading, or taking your own notes during lecture. Use them at your own risk; they may contain mistakes.
| Week | Date | L. Topics | Reading | Homework | Discussion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1/21 | Introduction and review | up to 5.2 | HW1 (due 1/28) Solution |
- |
| 1/23 | Transformations; translation symmetry. | 6.1, 6.2 | |||
| 2 | 1/28 | Symmetry, conservation laws; parity, rotations. | 6.3 - 6.8 |
HW2 (due 2/4)
Solution |
Discussion 1 Solution |
| 1/30 | Symmetry and degeneracy | 6.3 - 6.8 | |||
| 3 | 2/4 |
Free electron gas Additional notes on band structure |
5.3.1,2 |
HW3 (due 2/11)
Solution |
Discussion 2 Solution |
| 2/6 | No lecture (Prof. Pfaff has to attend a funding review) | ||||
| 4 | 2/11 | Time-independent perturbation thy. | 7.1 |
HW4
(due 2/18) Solution Computational part (due 3/14) |
Discussion 3
Solution |
| 2/13 | Degenerate perturbation thy. | 7.2 | |||
| 5 | 2/18 | Hydrogen fine-structure | 7.3 |
Practice exam
(due 2/25 for bonus)
Solution |
Discussion 4
Solution |
| 2/20 | Addition of angular momenta | 4.4.3 | |||
| 6 | 2/25 | Review |
HW 5
(due 3/4)
Solution |
No Discussion in the MT week | |
| 2/27 | MT 1 (In-class) (Solution) | ||||
| 7 | 3/4 | Minimal coupling, Zeeman effect | 4.5.1, 7.4 | HW 6 (due 3/11) |
Discussion 5
Solution |
| 3/6 | Zeeman effect and hyperfine splitting | 7.4, 7.5 | |||
| 8 | 3/11 | Variational principle | 8.1,2 |
HW 7
(due 3/25)
Solution |
Numerical homework session. (Attendance not graded.) |
| 3/13 | Variational principle | 8.1,2 | |||
| Spring break: 3/15 - 3/23 | |||||
| 9 | 3/25 | Time-dependent perturbation theory | 11.1 |
HW 8 (due 4/1)
Computational part (will be posted by 4/4; due 5/2) |
Discussion 6
Solution |
| 3/27 |
Rabi model
(v2: fixed typo) |
11.1 | |||
| 10 | 4/1 | Emission and absorption of radiation | 11.2 | - | Discussion 7 |
| 4/3 | Spontaneous emission and Fermi's golden rule | 11.3 | |||
| 11 | 4/8 | Review | HW 9 (due 4/15) | No Discussion | |
| 4/10 | MT 2 (In-class) | ||||
| 12 | 4/15 | Adiabatic approximation | 11.5 | HW 10 (due 4/22) | Discussion 8 |
| 4/17 | Adiabatic theorem | 11.5 | |||
| 13 | 4/22 | Geometric phases | 11.5 | HW 11 (due 4/29) | Discussion 9 |
| 4/24 | coupling to EM fields | 4.5 | |||
| 14 | 4/29 | TBD | HW 12 (due 5/6) | Discussion 10 | |
| 5/1 | Quantum information: multi-component systems and decoherence | 12 | |||
| 15 | 5/6 | Overview: Frontiers in quantum (information) science | - | - | - |
| 5/8 | Reading day | ||||
| TBD | FINAL (Thu, 5/15, 7-10pm, 2310 Everitt Laboratory) | ||||