Junior and Senior level courses for majors share textbooks. Copies are freely available in the SPS room and Weniger 304F. The recommended (NOT required) texts for this particular course are:

McIntyre (McIntyre), Quantum Mechanics, Pearson, 2012, ISBN 13:978-0-321-76579-6
Taylor (T), Classical Mechanics, University Science Books , 2005. ISBN 978-1891389221

We will also be using assigned readings from two (free) online textbooks:

The Geometry of Static Fields
The Geometry of Mathematical Methods

The McIntyre text will used extensively in the quantum capstone PH 451 next year. We will only be using a few small readings from the Taylor book, so don't feel you need to buy it if you don't already have it. The online texts are underdevelopment. If you would like a complete and published mathematical methods textbook, we recommend: Boas (Boas), Mathematical Methods in the Physical Sciences, 3rd ed., Wiley, 2005. ISBN 978-0-471-19826-0

We will be using the computer algebra system Mathematica in several of the upper-division physics courses. Students who wish to put a copy of Mathematica on their privately owned computer (helpful, but not required) should contact COSINe for current academic licensing information. The physics majors' study room (Weniger 304F), with many machines running this software, are open at all times to enrolled students. See the physics department office for information about keys to Weniger 304F.

• 1) Apply the principle of superposition to construct wave packets and calculate group velocity
• 2) Move fluently between position and momentum space
• 3) Use the uncertainty principle to estimate magnitude of quantities
• 4) Explain how periodic symmetry relates to conservation of crystal momentum
• 5) Solve for the normal modes and frequencies of a set of coupled harmonic oscillators
• 6) Solve for 1D energy eigenstates of stepwise constant potentials
• 7) Interpret band structures and dispersion relations, including finding the group and phase velocities
• 8) Read and summarize a scientific research paper
• 9) Give a clear oral presentation
• 10) Communicate graduate level understanding of periodic systems to both peers and instructors.

• 1.) Quantum Free Particle
• 2.) Position and Momentum Representations of Quantum States
• 3.) Fourier Transforms
• 4.) Coupled Mechanical Oscillators
• 5.) Normal Modes
• 6.) Reflection, Transmission, and Tunneling in Quantum Systems
• 7.) Wave Packets
• 8.) Bloch's Theorem & Periodic Finite Wells

Your course score will be determined by the higher of these calculations:

1. HW & Exams: 50% Required Homework, 50% Final Exam
2. Exam Only: 100% Final Exam (you have to have turned in all the homework for this option)

Grading Scale: Course letter grades will be assigned using the following lower bounds for each grade bin. These lower bounds may be adjusted down as needed.
A = 93%, A- = 90%, B+ = 87%, B = 83%, B- =80%, C+ = 77%, C = 73%, C- = 70%, D = 60 F = 0%

• Homework: The best way to learn the material of this course is to attend class and do the homework.
• Practice Problems: We will sometimes provide Practice Problems. These are meant to be review or relatively simple examples for you to check whether you understand the material. They will not be graded. Solutions will be posted at the same time as the practice problems. We recommend that you at least read each practice problem. If you don't know how to do it, ask for help.
• Required Problems: Required homework is due on Wednesdays and Fridays. Please submit via Gradescope by 10 pm on the due date. Some Required Problems will be graded for correctness; others will be graded for completeness. Solutions will be posted online after the due date.
• Late Homework: We really want you to do the homework, so we will absolutely accept late homework (with a penalty of 20% for late work with higher penalties if the work is very late). When you know that an assignment will be late, let me and the grader know as soon as possible. Turn in what you've completed at the due/date time (it'll help us with grading logistics). Any portion of the work that is turned in on time will not be subject to the late penalty. Please consult the instructor for extenuating circumstances.

Additional Guidance

• You are strongly encouraged to work on assignments, including coding and plotting, collaboratively. Science is inherently a social and collaborative effort! So that we can best support your learning, you are required to turn in assignments that you have written up independently.
• Appropriate resources on assignments include: working with each other, graduates of the course, the course TAs and LAs, or the course instructor; textbooks; other online materials, etc. Do not use homework solutions from previous years and do not share your completed homework solutions with other students (in other words, collaborate through discussion, not copying).
• Document your resources appropriately. If you find a homework problem worked out somewhere (other than homework solutions from a previous year), you may certainly use that resource, just make sure you reference it properly. If someone else helps you solve a problem, reference that too. An appropriate reference might be "Liz Gire (private communication, 1/15/21)" or "I worked with Liz Gire on this problem". Representing someone else's work as your own without reference - also known as plagiarism - is unethical, but collaboration and exchange of ideas is healthy. You can avoid having collaborative efforts take on the look of plagiarism by acknowledging sources as described above and by writing up your work independently.
• The problems in this course will likely take longer than problems you've seen in previous courses. If you find that you have worked on a problem for 1/2 hour without making forward progress, it's time to pause, take a break, sleep, and seek help from classmates or the instructional team.