PH 425: Paradigms in Physics: Quantum Fundamentals meets 7 hours per week (MWF for 1 hour, TR for 2 hours) for five weeks for a total of 3 credits.
Prereq: PH 213
Coreq: MTH 341
Liz Gire | She/Her | Th 10-11 am in Wng 304F or Wngr 499 + open door + by appt. |
(541) 737-1692 |
giree@oregonstate.edu |
Corinne Manogue (Math Bits) | She/Her | Th 10-11 am in Wng 304F or Wngr 491 + open door + by appt. |
(541) 737-1695 | corinne@physics.oregonstate.edu |
Maggie Greenwood (TA) | She/Her/They/Them | W 4-5 & F 2-3 Wngr 304F |
greenwom@oregonstate.edu | |
Acacia Patterson (LA) | She/Her | WF 3-4 Wngr 304F |
patterac@oregonstate.edu | |
Dustin Treece (LA) | He/Him | T 4-6 Wngr 383 (Event Horizon) |
treecedu@oregonstate.edu |
A complete list of required texts and other resources for the the entire year of Paradigms courses can be found on the Paradigms website. For this course, the required text is McIntyre (McI).
The “Quantum Fundamentals” course is built upon the quantum mechanical two state system. The first of the Quantum Paradigms, this course introduces students to quantum mechanics by beginning with the postulates of quantum mechanics and how the postulates are used to gather information about quantum mechanical systems. The common spin-up and spin-down state vectors with x,y, and z-orientation will be derived, and the general state vector |ψ(θ,ϕ)⟩ will also be introduced. Throughout the class, students perform several simulated experiments with virtual Stern-Gerlach devices and interpret their results. Operators that correspond to physical observables in quantum experimentation are then presented; students will learn in particular about spin operators, projection operators, the density operator, and the Hamiltonian. Important physical relations among these quantum operators will also be made using the commutators, uncertainty relations, and expectation values. Spin 1 systems are also introduced as an additional context for exploring and interpreting Stern-Gerlach experiments. The time evolution of quantum states using the Schrodinger Equation will also be explored to investigate time dependence in probabilities, uncertainties, and expectation values. The course ends with and introduction to wavefunctions and solving the Schrödinger Equation for one-dimensional potentials.
Students shall be able to:
Additional Information about Homework
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