Course Information
Dr. Andrew Frey2L26
a dot frey at uwinnipeg dot ca
786-9215
Lectures at MWF 11:30-12:20 in 2L14
Office Hours by appointment
Zoom coordinates for office hours
or if you must attend class remotely
I welcome feedback and comments on the course. If you're more comfortable commenting anonymously, please feel free to upload a plain text file to the homework upload link (PDF and word documents are ok but may contain information that identifies you).
Texts
- Required: Introduction to Quantum Mechanics by Griffiths
and Shroeter, 3rd ed
(2nd ed is acceptable, but please tell me)
In addition, I may assign some extra reading (from other texts, journal articles, etc), provided through this web page.
Important Dates
- First Lecture: 8 Jan 2024
- Winter Reading Week: 19-23 Feb 2024 (no class)
- Midterm Test: 26 Feb 2024
- Voluntary Withdrawal Date: 15 March 2024
- Last Lecture: 8 April 2024
- Course Project Due: 8 April 2024
- Review Session: TBA
- Final Exam: TBA by university
Syllabus
Reading assignments will be posted on the course web page. You are responsible for keeping up with the reading; material covered in the reading will not necessarily be discussed in the class lectures but may be included in tests. If you click the topic title, you'll get a scanned copy of my lecture notes.
NOTE: Unless noted, sections from Griffiths refer to the 3rd ed edition of the required textbook. If you are using the 2nd edition, please check with me about the reading assignment if the topic does not match the lecture. I will attempt to mark readings that differ with *. Italicized readings are optional.
| Dates | Topic | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| 8-19 Jan | Foundations of QM: Basic Postulates | Review GS chap. 3, §4.4.1, appendix A |
| 19-26 Jan | Foundations of QM: Entanglement & Mixed States | review GS §4.4.3, read §12.3* |
| 29 Jan - 2 Feb | Foundations of QM: Quantum Information Theory | Witten §2.1,3.2-3 OR Wilde §2.1.1-2,10.1.0-1,11.1.0-1; Witten §3.4-5 |
| 2-9 Feb | Foundations of QM: Quantum Computing | Blümel §7.2-7 (Course Reserves) OR Wilde §3.2,3,5; suggested GS §12.4* |
| 9-14 Feb | Foundations of QM: Collapse of Wavefunction | GS§12.2, Watch Quantum Mechanics In Your Face (or read the transcript) |
| 16 Feb - 4 Mar | Foundations of QM: Dirac Notation | Review GS chapter 2 |
| 26 Feb | Midterm Test | Instructions |
| 4-15 Mar | Perturbation Theory: Time-Independent | GS §7.1-5*; Lecture 6 Mar; Lecture 11 Mar |
| 15-20 Mar | Perturbation Theory: Time-Dependent | GS §11.1-3*; Lecture 20 Mar |
| 22-25 Mar | Variational Principle | GS §8.1-2* (2ed §7.1-2) |
Any copy of copyrighted material on this web site is made solely for the use by a student, staff member, faculty member or library patron for research, private study, review, criticism, news reporting, education, satire, or parody. Any other use may be an infringement of copyright if done without securing the permission of the copyright owner.
Assignments
Policies
Please see the course outline for the official statement of homework policies. The following are guidelines:
- Assignments will only be posted on this web page; you must let me know if you need alternate delivery.
- Assignments will be posted Wednesdays and are typically due the next Wednesday (I will announce schedule changes). Assignments are due by 10:59PM on the listed due date. Make sure to label your assignment with your name.
- Upload homeworks to this link.
- Assignments may be scans to PDF, PDF prepared by LaTeX, or PDF prepared with a word processor using an equation editor.
- Include your name on your assignment. Name your files with first initial, last name, and assignment number. If you need multiple files, label them in order with lower case letters. Example: AFrey_hw1.pdf or AFrey_hw1a.pdf, AFrey_hw1b.pdf, etc.
- Collaboration is allowed, but you must write up your own solutions independently (in your own words).
- Late assignments will only be accepted with prior permission from the instructor.
- Assignments that are not neatly organized and written will receive zero credit (one warning allowed). Please see the course outline.
- If you find a mistake in grading, please talk to Dr Frey.
Student Homework Presentations
When homeworks are assigned on Wednesday, a student will be assigned to present each problem for a few minutes the following Monday (typically). The presentation does not need to be a complete solution, merely some thoughts about the problem and an indication of how to proceed. A demonstration of effort will earn full participation credit (see the course outline). If you are presenting and need advice, please come by contact me.
Homework Sets
- Assignment 1 due 17 Jan,
Solution
Presentations: (1) A. Dhungana (2) I. Press (3) P. Switzer (4) S. Wright - Assignment 2 due 24 Jan,
Solution
Presentations: (1) A. Dhungana (2) I. Press (3) P. Switzer - Assignment 3 due 31 Jan,
Solution
Presentations: (1) S. Wright (2) A. Dhungana (3) I. Press - Assignment 4 due 7 Feb,
Solution
Presentations: (1) S. Wright (2) P. Switzer - Assignment 5 due 14 Feb,
Solution
Presentations: (1) S. Wright (2) A. Dhungana (3) I. Press - Assignment 6 due 28 Feb,
Solution
No Presentations - Assignment 7 due 6 March,
Solution
Presentations: (1) A. Dhungana (2a,b) P. Switzer (2c,d) S. Wright - Assignment 8 due 13 March,
Solution
Presentations: (1) A. Dhungana (2) I. Press (3) P. Switzer - Assignment 9 due 20 March
Presentations: (1) A. Dhungana (2) I. Press - Assignment 10 due 27 March
Presentations: (1) S. Wright (2) A. Dhungana
Course Project
Please see the project instructions.
Project deadlines:
- Topic approval 1 April 2024
- Project Due 10:59PM 8 April 2024
Last updated: 21:53 on 20 March 2024