Outline of Thursday , Apr 2 class

Next class we will begin our investigations of 1-D QM. Specifically we will briefly study momentum eigenstates for free electrons, and then focus on the ground states of 4 different 1-D potentials and begin calculating expectation values of things like p and x for those (and p^2 and x^2).

The 4 potentials will be: infinite square well, harmonic oscillator, attractive delta-function and finite square well. (Note that two of them are actually limiting cases of the 4th one.) We will use the Sch.-wave eqn to solve for the g.s. in each case with appropriate boundary conditions. Interestingly, I think the boundary conditions appear quite differently in each case. You may want to look at the delta-function potential, and how the ground state emerges for that before class. Then, as mentioned above we will start calculating stuff; hopefully that will begin to meet your need for a hard-core quantum class that goes well beyond 101. This will form the basis for most of the second HW assignment, which will be posted later (and which will be due Thursday April 9). (Also later I will post a more nuanced outline for the first part of the class.)

Regarding the book (Liboff), and the implied question, "what should I read from the book for this?", here are my thoughts. This book is a new one being used for the first time this year. It seems like a very nuanced and thoughtful book. It is considerably longer and pitched at a higher level than Griffiths, the book that was used in this class for past decade or so. One of its strengths, as you will see, is that it is an excellent reference. The notation seems appealing, and some signature problems, like the spreading of a gaussian wave-packet, are worked out nicely. It some other regards, such as pedagogy, brevity and organization, you may find that "traditional books", like Griffiths, seem more aware of the readers experience and are more accessible. This is to some degree a matter of personal preference. I would recommend: coming to class, following this blog, and taking the initiative to find what book works best for you. There are interesting reviews and comparisons of quantum books at amazon that provide some perspective that may be useful.

http://www.amazon.com/Introductory-Quantum-Mechanics-Richard-Liboff/product-reviews/0805387145/ref=cm_cr_dp_all_helpful?ie=UTF8&coliid=&showViewpoints=1&colid=&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending

http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Quantum-Mechanics-David-Griffiths/dp/0131244051