There are many good texts on introductory quantum mechanics. Which text is most appropriate for you depends on your interests and goals. To give you some choice, equivalent readings will be assigned each week from each of the following four texts:
KEY to Books
[E&R] = Eisberg, Robert M., and Robert Resnick. Quantum Physics of Atoms, Molecules, Solids, Nuclei, and Particles. Wiley, 1985. ISBN: 9780471873730.
[Li.] = Liboff, Richard L. Introductory Quantum Mechanics. Addison Wesley, 2002. ISBN: 9780805387148.
[Ga.] = Gasiorowicz, Stephen. Quantum Physics. John Wiley & Sons, 2003. ISBN: 9780471429456.
[Sh.] = Shankar, Ramamurti. Principles of Quantum Mechanics. Springer, 2008. ISBN: 9780306447907.
| SES # | TOPICS | READING ASSIGNMENTS |
|---|---|---|
| L1 | Introduction to Superposition |
[E&R] Chapter 1: Sec. 6 and 7; Chapter 2: Sec. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5; Chapter 3: all. [Li.] Chapter 1: all; Chapter 2: Sec. 3, 5, and 6. [Ga.] Chapter 1: Sec. 2, 3, and 4. [Sh.] Chapters 3 and 1. |
| L2 | Experimental Facts of Life | |
| L3 | The Wave Function | |
| L4 | Expectations, Momentum, and Uncertainty |
[E&R] Chapter 3: all; Chapter 5: Sec. 1, 3, 4, and 6. [Li.] Chapter 2: Sec. 5–8; Chapter 3: Sec. 1–3. [Ga.] Chapter 2: all except 4. [Sh.] Chapters 3 and 4. |
| L5 | Operators and the Schrödinger Equation | |
| L6 | Time Evolution and the Schrödinger Equation |
[E&R] Chapter 5: all [Li.] Chapter 3: Sec. 1–3; Chapter 5: Sec. 2–4. [Ga.] Chapter 2: all; Chapter 3: Sec. 2. [Sh.] Chapters 1 and 4. |
| L7 | More on Energy Eigenstates |
[E&R] Chapter 5: all, Chapter 6: Sec. 1, 2, and 8. [Li.] Chapter 3: all; Chapter 4: Sec. 1; Chapter 5: Sec. 1; Chapter 6: all. [Ga.] Chapter 2: Sec. 4; Chapter 3: all. [Sh.] Chapter 4: all; Chapter 5: Sec. 1 and 2. |
| L8 | Quantum Harmonic Oscillator | |
| L9 | Operator Methods for the Harmonic Oscillator |
[E&R] Chapter 6: Sec. 9, App. I. [Li.] Chapter 7: Sec. 1 and 4. [Ga.] Chapter 4: Sec. 7; Chapter 6: Sec. 1 and 2. [Sh.] Chapter 6: all; Chapter 7: all. |
| L10 | Clicker Bonanza and Dirac Notation | |
| E1 | Exam 1 | |
| L11 | Dispersion of the Gaussian and the Finite Well |
[E&R] Chapter 6: all; App. G, H. [Li.] Chapter 7: Sec. 1–9; Chapter 8: Sec. 1. [Ga.] Chapter 4: all; Chapter 5: all; Chapter 6: Sec. 1 and 2. [Sh.] Chapter 5: all; Chapter 7: all. |
| L12 | The Dirac Well and Scattering off the Finite Step | |
| L13 | More on Scattering | |
| L14 | Resonance and the S-Matrix |
[E&R] Chapter 6: all. [Li.] Chapter 7: Sec. 1–9; Chapter 8: Sec. 1. [Ga.] Chapter 4: all; Chapter 6: all; Chapter 19: Sec. 2. [Sh.] Chapter 1: 6; Chapter 5: all; Chapter 11: all; Chapter 19: Sec. 2. |
| L15 | Eigenstates of the Angular Momentum Part 1 | |
| L16 | Eigenstates of the Angular Momentum Part 2 |
[E&R] Chapter 7: all, App. M, N. [Li.] Chapter 8: Sec. 6; Chapter 9: Sec. 1, 2, and 3; Chapter 10: Sec. 1, 2, and 3. [Ga.] Chapter 7: all; Chapter 8: Sec. 1, 4, and 5. [Sh.] Chapter 12: all. |
| E2 | Exam 2 | |
| L17 | More on Central Potentials |
[E&R] Chapter 7: all; App. M, N. [Li.] Chapter 8: Sec. 2 and 3; Chapter 10: all. [Ga.] Chapter 4: Sec. c; Chapter 8: all. [Sh.] Chapter 13: all. |
| L18 | "Hydrogen" and its Discontents | |
| L19 | Identical Particles | |
| L20 | Periodic Lattices Part 1 | |
| L21 | Periodic Lattices Part 2 |
[E&R] Chapter 13: Sec. 1–7. [Li.] Chapter 8: Sec. 1–4. [Ga.] Chapter 4: supplements; Chapter 13: all. [Sh.] see Liboff |
| L22 | Metals, Insulators, and Semiconductors | |
| L23 | More on Spin | <No readings for this session.> |
| L24 | Entanglement: QComputing, EPR, and Bell's Theorem | <No readings for this session.> |
| E3 | Final Exam |