INTRODUCTION TO ATOMIC STRUCTURE

Prerequisites & course information

Requisites: PHYSICS 448 or concurrent enrollment, PHYSICS 531 or concurrent enrollment, or graduate/professional or special student standing Course Designation: Core GenEd - Natural Science & Wellness Breadth - Physical Science Level - Advanced L&S Credit - L&S Liberal Arts and Science Grad 50% - Counts toward 50% graduate coursework requirement Repeatable for Credit: No Last Taught: Spring 2026 Learning Outcomes: 1. Master the concept of the Bohr Atom Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 2. Fully understand the orbitals of the hydrogen atom, including how to calculate their explicit forms Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 3. Prove and apply the Wigner-Eckart Theorem Audience: Graduate 4. Become familiar with the phenomenology of multi-electron atoms Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 5. Calculate lifetimes and linewidths from first principles Audience: Graduate 6. Determine quantum states and their properties in the presence of external fields Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 7. Categorize and explain the different types of atom traps Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 8. Perform density-matrix calculations to quantitatively measure entanglement and decoherence Audience: Graduate Learning Outcomes: 1. Master the concept of the Bohr Atom Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 2. Fully understand the orbitals of the hydrogen atom, including how to calculate their explicit forms Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 3. Prove and apply the Wigner-Eckart Theorem Audience: Graduate 4. Become familiar with the phenomenology of multi-electron atoms Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 5. Calculate lifetimes and linewidths from first principles Audience: Graduate 6. Determine quantum states and their properties in the presence of external fields Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 7. Categorize and explain the different types of atom traps Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 8. Perform density-matrix calculations to quantitatively measure entanglement and decoherence Audience: Graduate