PHYS 519 A: Quantum Mechanics

Prof. Steve Sharpe (srsharpe@uw.edu)

TuTh 11:00-12:20  and F 11:30-12:20 PAA A114

Office hours: Th 1:30-2:30 (B406)

TAs: Ella Henry (ech43@uw.edu) and Wilder Schaaf (wschaaf@uw.edu)

TA Office hours: W 1:30-2:30 (Ella) over zoom or in 2nd-floor lounge and Th 3:30-4:30 (Wilder) in B439

Welcome to PHYS 519 (Spring 2025). This is the final quarter of the graduate QM sequence. For information about texts, homeworks, final paper/presentation, and grading see COURSE INFORMATION (PHYS 519) (which is also on the "Pages" link). There will be no exams in this class, only HWs, probably 6 in all, and a final paper or presentation on a topic of your choice.  We will, however, most likely use the final exam slot (Wed June 11, 4:30-6:20pm) for presentations. All work (HW and papers) should be submitted electronically on Canvas (pdf or jpeg). 

There will be no lectures on the following four dates:

• week 6: Friday, May 9;
• week 8: Tuesday, May 20; Thursday, May 22; Friday, May 23;
  • This week will thus be the ideal time to work on your papers/presentations
• week 10: Depending on the number of presentations, some of these lecture slots may be used for presentations; we also might use the final exam time for presentations, so please keep that time available. 

Turning to physics, my aim this quarter is to cover Sakurai & Napolitano (SN) Chapters 6-8, with some additional material included as needed. Note that I will not follow SN's development or order precisely.

• Time-dependent perturbation theory, Fermi's Golden rule
• Scattering theory (this is a huge subject and will take about 9 lectures)
• QM of multiple identical particles--starting with 2 and going to any number, i.e. ``second quantization". 
• Quantization of the EM field (dipping our toes into Quantum Field Theory)
• Introduction to the Dirac equation
• If time allows: time-reversal symmetry, Berry phases and the adiabatic approximation

The detailed lecture by lecture coverage is given below and will be updated as the quarter progresses. I will post detailed lecture notes, which can be accessed from the daily links below, or from "Files".

Code of Conduct (excerpted from )

All students must abide by the UW Student Code of Conduct; staff and faculty conduct is regulated as described in the resources here. The Physics department has developed a Physics Values Statement, an excerpt from which is

`As members of the Department of Physics, the University of Washington, and the global scientific enterprise, we, the faculty, postdocs, staff, and students, share a collective responsibility to create a supportive working and learning environment that fosters academic and scientific progress.'

Should you observe or experience unprofessional or inappropriate actions or comments from other students or instructors, there are many approaches and resources available to you, as described on the department's Community Support webpage. If appropriate, please feel free to bring up issues with me, either in person, by email, or via an anonymous comment form.

Religious Accommodations

Washington state law requires that UW maintain a policy for accommodation of student absences or significant hardship due to reasons of faith or conscience, or for organized religious activities. The UW’s policy, including more information about how to request an accommodation, is available here. Accommodations must be requested within the first two weeks of this course (i.e. by Friday April 11) using the Religious Accommodations request form.