Physics 1371
PHYSICS 1371
Quantum Mechanics II
TERM (Spring 2014)
Lecturer: Dr. Chandralekha Singh
Office: 221 A Allen Hall
Office hours: Mon and Fri, 12-1 pm or send me an email if you cannot make it at these times
Phone: 624-9045
E-mail: BEST WAY TO CONTACT ME clsingh@pitt.edu
Lectures: MWF 11-11.50 am (102 Allen Hall)
Text: D. J. Griffiths, Introduction to Quantum Mechanics, Second Edition
Grader: Ben Messerly (grader's office: 4th floor Allen Hall TA office at the end of the corridor)
grader's E-Mail: bam132@pitt.edu
or grader's E-Mail: bam132@pitt.edu
Course Description
The major goal of this quantum physics course is to enable you to develop logical reasoning skills to explain or predict diverse phenomena in everyday experience, and to become good problem solvers and independent learners. I encourage you to participate fully in class discussions. Physics knowledge is hierarchical: new concepts rely heavily on solid understanding of prior material. I strongly encourage you to ask questions to clarify your doubts. Remember that all questions are good questions, and there is a good chance that if you are having trouble understanding a concept, others are also struggling with the same concept. "Plug-and-chug" approaches to physics are neither useful for developing problem solving, reasoning and higher order thinking skills that I hope you will develop nor likely to produce satisfactory results on examinations. I also want you to remember that struggling is a very natural part of learning. Do not get discouraged. The lecture material will more or less follow the text, and the assignments labeled "textbook assignments" will be drawn from the text. Hence it is a good idea for you to purchase the text or have regular access to it. There will also be some "reflective assignments" from outside the book on relevant material. This semester we will cover whatever could not be covered in the first term from chapter 4 and the rest of the book except the chapter on adiabatic approximation. We will also cover some other topics from outside the book in the later part of the course if time permits.
Courseweb
Useful information including assignments for this course are available at the courseinfo site for this course. You can access this site by going to http://courseweb.pitt.edu and typing your university username and password. This site can also be used for discussion forums related to this course in which your fellow classmates and instructor can participate.
Homework
Confucius has summarized the learning process well: ``I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand". Homework is an integral part of learning the material of this course. Homework will be assigned each week on Wednesday and collected next week on Wednesday. You are strongly encouraged to discuss the homework problems with each other after you have tried them to the best of your ability because you can learn a lot from each other (but please do not copy others homework). The solutions for the homework will be posted on courseweb the following week. You will also do reflective homework each week that will be turned in on the courseweb by 10 am on Wednesday each week. The reflective homework should be turned in on the courseweb through the assignment link for that particular reflective homework which can be found by clicking on the course Document. You can prepare the answers to your reflective homework questions in any format but the uploading (use attach file option and click on Browse my computer) on the courseweb should be in text format, pdf format or word format. Please note that you must click on the submit button to send the document. Please remember to use the submit button each time you send the reflective homework to your TA.
Grading Scheme and Other Details
There will be two mid-term exams and one comprehensive final exam. The final exam date is set by the university and can be found by contacting the registrar's office. The dates for the midterm exams will be announced later. There will sometimes be unannounced class quizzes. The TA wil post on the courseweb the scores for whatever work is returned to you (e.g., homework, midterm, quiz etc.). It is your responsibility to check that your scores are posted correctly. For example, if you do not see your homework score posted on the courseweb you must let the TA know within a week from the time the score is posted. No changes will be made and no disputes will be entertained after the one week grace period. To ensure that you are understanding the underlying concepts covered during the lecture, I will integrate conceptual questions in the lectures. I will ask such questions several times during the lecture. You will be asked first to think about the question by yourself, and later discuss it with your neighbor. Then, I will poll the class to see how many of you obtained the correct answer. It is important that you take the peer discussion seriously because you can learn a lot from your peers. Moreover, the kinds of questions asked in the class will help you understand that memorization of definitions is NOT the goal of the course and it is important that you start to pay attention to your knowledge structure and learn to interpret and draw inferences using various principles in diverse situations. The final grade will be determined by the traditional and reflective homework and quizzes (25%), mid-term exams (20% each), and final exam (35%). You can earn upto 5 bonus points towards the course grade based upon your responses to the conceptests.
If you have any questions, please contact me at: clsingh@pitt.edu
If you have a disability for which you are or may be requesting an accommodation, you are encouraged to contact both your instructor and the Office of Disability Resources and Services, 216 William Pitt Union, (412) 648-7890/(412) 383-7355 (TTY), as early as possible in the term. DRS will verify your disability and determine reasonable accommodations for this course. Academic integrity is very important. Anybody found cheating in the course will obtain a failing grade in the course.