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Physics 541
Quantum Mechanics 2 http://faculty.washington.edu/seattle/
Instructor: Larry Sorensen Email: seattle@uw.edu Office: B-435 Physics-Astronomy Office Hours: After class or by appointment Telephone: 543-0360 All these fifty years of conscious brooding have brought me no nearer to the answer to the question, "What are photons?" Nowadays every rascal thinks he knows, but he is mistaken. (Albert Einstein) Every physicist thinks that he knows what a photon is. I spent my life to find out what a photon is and I still don't know. (Albert Einstein) You know, it would be sufficient to really understand the electron. (Albert Einstein) I have thought a hundred times as much about the quantum problem as I have about general relativity theory. (Albert Einstein) On quantum theory I used up more brain grease than on relativity. (Albert Einstein) I like quoting Einstein. Know why? Because nobody dares contradict you. (Studs Terkel) The problem of the exact description of vacuum, in my opinion, is the basic problem now before physics. Really, if you can’t correctly describe the vacuum, how is it possible to expect a correct description of something more complex? (Paul Dirac) In modern physics, the classical vacuum of tranquil nothingness has been replaced by a quantum vacuum with fluctuations of measurable consequence. A vacuum, classically understood, contains nothing. The quantum vacuum, on the other hand, is a seething cauldron of nothingness: particle pairs going in and out of existence continuously and rapidly while exerting influence over an enormous range of scales. What is nothingness? It's a philosophical question, to be sure, but in physics the ground state of the universe can't be described by the absence of all matter ... there must be a 'quantum vacuum'. Course Description 2012 Our current understanding of the photon, the electron, and the vacuum Part 1: QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter Part 2: From path integrals to Feynman diagrams Part 3: The Photon Part 4: The Electron Part 5: The Quantum Vacuum Part 6: QFT Lecture Notes 2012 Lecture 1 Introduction Shuttle Challenger Report What do you care what other people think? Surely you're joking Mr. Feynman Lecture 2 Feynman Chapter 1 Introduction lecture-2.mp3 Path Integrals Lecture 1 path-integrals-1.mp3 Path Integrals Lecture 2 path-integrals-2.mp3 Path Integrals Lecture 3 path-integrals-3.mp3 Imaginary Time (Euclidean) Path Integrals A Brief History of Time Feynman Diagrams Lecture 1 Feynman Diagrams Lecture 2 Beyond Feynman Diagrams Many Body Feynman Diagrams Beyond and Many-Body Feynman Diagrams.mp3 A Guide to Feynman Diagrams in the Many-Body Problem Diagrammar Diagramatica Facts and Mysteries Electroweak Lecture Yang-Mills Lecture In Search of Symmetry Lost QCD Lecture Group Theory: U(1), SU(2), SU(3) groups.mp3 Reading about SU(2) and SU(3) More Reading about Groups Hughs Lipkin Griffiths Henley Quantum Field Theory Textbooks Fetter-Walecka Gaume Griffiths Kaku Mandl-Shaw Ryder Zee Paper 1: What is QED? Guidelines for Paper 1 Required Reading Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Preface to the 1985 Edition by Ralph Leighton Preface to the 2006 Edition by Tony Zee Paper 2: What is a path integral? Guidelines for Paper 2 Required reading: Feynman's PhD thesis (excerpt) Feynman's publication based on his PhD thesis (excerpt) Mehra Chapter 6 Mehra Chapter 10 Teaching Feynman's Sum Over Paths Quantum Theory Feynman's PhD thesis (complete--not required) Feynman's publication based on his PhD thesis (complete--not required) Recommended Reading: Shankar Chapter 8 Shankar Chapter 21 Feynman and Hibbs--especially the Preface and Chapter 1 Feynman and Hibbs Typos Books and Reviews: Schulman's Book Grosche's Book Grosche's Review Paper MacKenzie's Review Paper Additional Reading: Johnson Kaku Klauber Ryder Seahra Siegel Zee Edwin Taylor's software Edwin Taylor's Tutorial Student Workbook The Bryn Mawr software Ladislav Svanto's software Paper 3: What is a Feynman diagram? Guidelines for Paper 3 Required reading: Feynman's Nobel Lecture Feynman Diagrams 0 Feynman Diagrams 1 Feynman Diagrams 2 Feynman Diagrams 3 Feynman Diagrams 4 Mehra Chapter 14 Mehra Chapter 15 Feynman at Cornell (Gleick) Complete Versions (not required reading) Gleick complete Mehra complete Milonni complete More about Feynman Diagrams Feynman Diagrams 5 Feynman Diagrams 6 Feynman Diagrams 7 Feynman's QED Papers Spacetime Approach to QED Theory of Positrons Mathematical Formulation of QED An Operator Calculus for QED Virtual Particles Virtual Particles 1 Virtual Particles 2 Virtual Particles 3 Virtual Particles 4 Experimental QED How Precise? Dehmelt 1 Dehmelt 2 Historical QED Historical 1 Historical 2 Historical 3 Historical 4 The Quantum Vacuum Quantum Vacuum 1 Quantum Vacuum 2 Quantum Vacuum 3 Beyond Here there be Dragons Children don't need fairy tales to tell them about dragons. They already know. They need fairy tales to tell them there is someone to fight the dragon. What is a photon? What is a photon? (extract) What is a photon? (complete) What is an electron? What is an electron? What is the quantum vacuum? What is the quantum vacuum? What is QFT? What is QFT? Course Description 2010
The interaction of electromagnetic radiation with matter.
Part 1: Quantum Electrodynamics, path integrals, Feynman diagrams
Course Description 2010
The interaction of electromagnetic radiation with matter.
Part 1: Quantum Electrodynamics, path integrals, Feynman diagrams
Course Assignments 2010
Paper 0: Synopsis of Feynman's little QED book
Course Reading 2010
For Paper 0: Your Synopsis of Feynman's little QED book
Lecture Notes 2010
The strange theory of light and matter
Virtual Book
Preface
Course Information 2008
Spin angular momentum, the addition of angular momenta, the variational method, the WKB method, time-independent perturbation theory, and time-dependent perturbation theory. Emphasis on the interaction of electromagnetic radiation with matter. Prerequisite: Physics 441 or equivalent.
Homework Assignments 2008
Homework Assignment 1
......Solutions
Exams 2008
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