Quantum Mechanics I
| Phys 711 — Fall 2016 |
| Department of Physics & Astronomy |
| Instructor | Dr. Kevin Beach |
| Office: | 206 Lewis Hall |
| Email: | kbeach@olemiss.edu |
| Website: | https://www.phy.olemiss.edu/~kbeach |
More details provided in the syllabus.
Final Exam
The final exam is scheduled for Friday, December 9 at 08:00. The exam is closed-book. It covers material from the first five chapters of Sakurai. This includes the material tested on the midterm exam (all of Chapter 1; Sections 2.1, 2.3–2.5 of Chapter 2; Sections 3.1–3.3, 3.5–3.9 of Chapter 3; Sections 4.1–4.3 of Chapter 4) as well as the subsequent material on approximate methods (Sections 5.1–5.4 of Chapter 5). You should have a good understanding of degenerate and nondegenerate perturbation theory and variational methods. I strongly suggest that you review the four assignments and ensure that you understand how to solve all the problems.
Midterm Exam
An in-class midterm is scheduled for Wednesday, November 2. The exam is closed-book. It covers material from the first four chapters of Sakurai. You should be prepared for questions related to all of Chapter 1 and Sections 2.1, 2.3–2.5 of Chapter 2. You are also responsible for the material on angular momentum, which corresponds to Sections 3.1–3.3, 3.5–3.9 of Chapter 3. We approached this material in a somewhat different order (segueing from raising and lowering operators, in context of quantum harmonic oscillators, straight to the Schwinger boson construction). Although we didn’t dwell on Chapter 4 (Symmetry is the main subject of Phys 712), we did touch on those parts of Sections 4.1–4.3 that are related to discrete spatial symmetries, such as reflection symmetry (parity) and discrete translation (regularity/peridicity).
Here are two final exams and three tests from a course I previously taught (Phys 451). The content is slightly different (it’s an undergraduate quantum mechanics course), but the overall structure of our exam will be similar.
- Fall 2014 In-class Test 1 — pdf
- Fall 2014 In-class Test 2 — pdf
- Fall 2014 Final Exam — pdf
- Fall 2015 In-class Test 1 — pdf
- Fall 2015 Final Exam — pdf
And here is a collection of practice problems to help you study.
- Fall 2016 Miderm Practice Questions — pdf
Now that you have written the midterm, here’s a link to the test paper. Solutions will follow soon.