Phys 321
Fall 2007
QUANTUM THEORY I
Phys 321 Fall 2007
Instructor: Professor David Collins
Office: Wubben 184
Phone: 248-1787
email: dacollin@mesastate.edu
Office Hours: TBA
Class Meetings: MWF 9:00-9:50am, Wubben 276
Course Website: http://www.mesastate.edu/∼dacollin/teaching/2007Fall/Phys321
/index.html
Required Text: J. S. Townsend, A Modern Approach to Quantum Mechanics, Uni-
versity Science Books (2000).
Prerequisites: PHYS 232
Overview
Quantum mechanics is a foundation of modern physics, providing a general scheme for
understanding a vast range of physical phenomena. Every physicist needs to be familiar
with the main ideas and results of quantum mechanics and many use it routinely. This
course aims to give you a solid understanding of the framework and applications of quantum
mechanics.
Quantum mechanics is tremendously important in our modern lifestyle; it explains the
operations of semiconductors, lasers, magnetic resonance and other technologies that were
inconceivable before the development of the subject. It has also profoundly changed our
view of the physical world. Nearly 80 years after quantum mechanics was formalized, ex-
perts are still discover apparent paradoxes within the theory and dispute their implications.
In Phys 321, the general rules of quantum mechanics will be described using the state
representation framework rather than the more limited wavefunction approach. This will
be illustrated with two-state quantum systems, which have no classical counterparts but
capture the essential ideas of the subject without the distracting mathematical complica-
tions associated with single particles with a position degree of freedom. The general rules
will then be applied to systems with a position degree of freedom.
The course syllabus, subject to modification, is:
1. Spin half systems and Stern-Gerlach type experiments.
2. State representation, measurements and time evolution for spin half and analogous
systems.
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