Quantum Mechanics

4 credits · Undergraduate

Complex and dynamical quantum systems with applications to atomic, molecular, and particle physics. Multiparticle systems, bosons and fermions, Pauli exclusion principle. Approximation techniques including time-independent, degenerate and time-dependent perturbation theory, Fermi golden rule, WKB approximation, Born-Oppenheimer approximation, and the variational principle. The Helium atom, Spin-Orbit interaction, fine and hyperfine structure, higher Z atoms, molecules and the Linear Combination of Atomic Orbitals approximation. Atoms in electric and magnetic fields (Stark and Zeeman effects), and radiation (absorption, spontaneous and stimulated emissions). Exchange forces and van der Waals interaction. Introduction to scattering theory.