Physics 200: Relativity and Quanta

2010 Course webpage

Course content lecture-by-lecture

Updated often. Check here for pre-lecture reading assignments, problem sets, deadlines, handouts, simulations and other stuff.

Lecture topics are tentative until the lecture has been given - things will probably move around a bit as depending on how fast I am going

#	Date	Pre-lecture reading assignment	The lecture	Handouts (including homework assigned)	Reminders
1	Wed 09/08		Course organization and syllabus What is 'Modern Physics?' Lecture Notes	Syllabus Grading rubric for Problem Sets Problem Set 1 Part One Problem Set 1 Part Two
Tutorial #1
2	Fri 09/10	37.1, 37.2 First reading quiz due by noon Fri!	Frames of reference, inertial frames of reference Principle of Relativity Galilean transformations Galilean relativity of Newton's laws Lecture Notes Clicker questions and annoucements
3	Mon 09/13	37.3	Light is an electromagnetic wave The search for aether and the Michelson-Morley experiment Einstein's principle of relativity Lecture Notes Clicker questions and annoucements Flash applet of the Michelson-Morley experiment Notes on the Michelson-Morley experiment for the interested (source: Modern Physics by Paul A. Tipler)
4	Wed 09/15	37.4	Setting up a coordinate system for time and distance measurement Comparing distances transverse to the motion Lecture Notes Clicker questions	Problem Set 2	PS 1 due (both parts)
Tutorial #2
5	Fri 09/17	37.6	Einstein's light clock Time dilation Lecture Notes Clicker questions
6	Mon 09/20	37.7, 37.5	Time dilation continued Relativity of simultaneity Lecture Notes Clicker questions An applet showing Einstein's light clock in action.
7	Wed 09/22	37.8	Length contraction Lorentz transformations The twin 'paradox' Lecture Notes Clicker questions	Problem Set 3	PS 2 due
Tutorial #3
8	Fri 09/24	None - no reading quiz	More on twin paradox Addition of velocities The invariant spacetime interval Lecture Notes Clicker questions
9	Mon 09/27	None - no reading quiz	Invariance of spacelike interval Geometric interpretation of Lorentz Transformations Lecture Notes Clicker questions
10	Wed 09/29	37.9	Spacelike and timelike separations Proper time and length Spacetime diagrams II - how do objects move? Lecture Notes Clicker questions	Problem Set 4	PS 3 due
Tutorial #4
11	Fri 10/01	37.10	More on proper time More on the spacetime interval Collisions Lecture Notes Clicker questions
12	Mon 10/04	None - no reading quiz	Relativistic momentum Relativistic energy Definitions of proper time, length and distance Lecture Notes Clicker questions Derivation of relativistic formulas for momentum and energy (source: Special Relativity by A.P.French, a really good book if you want to learn SR in a lot more detail).
13	Wed 10/06	None - no reading quiz	Review for midterm Lecture Notes		PS 4 due
Tutorial #5
14	Fri 10/08	None - no reading quiz	Midterm #1
15	Wed 10/13	None - no reading quiz	Lorentz transformations of momentum and energy Mass as an invariant Lecture Notes Clicker questions Detailed answer to the second clicker question	Problem Set 5
Tutorial #6
16	Fri 10/15	38.1-38.7	The massless limit More on the meaning of E=mc2 Lecture Notes Clicker questions		Last day for withdrawal
17	Mon 10/18	38.8-38.9	QUANTUM MECHANICS Classical description of the properties and production of electromagnetic radiation Lecture Notes Clicker questions
18	Wed 10/20	39.1, 39.2	The photoelectric effect: the experiment Introduction to the photon proposal Lecture Notes Clicker questions	Problem Set 6	PS 5 due
Tutorial #7
19	Fri 10/22	39.3	More on the photoelectric effect Lecture Notes Clicker questions A simulation of the photoelectric effect
20	Mon 10/25	None - no reading quiz	The Compton effect (see also Tutorial 7) Further evidence for the photon proposal: black body radiation Lecture Notes Clicker questions A simulation of black body radiation
21	Wed 10/27	None - no reading quiz	Review of evidence for the quantum nature of light Photomultipliers Polarizers Lecture Notes Clicker questions	Problem Set 7	PS 6 due
Tutorial #8
22	Fri 10/29	None - no reading quiz	Photons, polarization and QM Lecture Notes Clicker questions	Notes and practice problems on complex numbers
23	Mon 11/01	None - no reading quiz	Quantum states as superpositions of eigenstates Probabilities from superpositions Basic framework of quantum mechanics from the polarizer model Lecture Notes Clicker questions	Notes on polarization of waves and polarizers Notes on photon polarization and the rudiments of quantum mechanics (courtesy of Prof. van Raamsdonk)
24	Wed 11/03	40.1, 40.2	Double slit experiment with photons Explanation via quantum superposition and probabilities Lecture Notes Clicker questions	Problem Set 8	PS 7 due
Tutorial #9
25	Fri 11/05	39.4	Other failures of the classical picture: instability of atoms and atomic spectra Double-slit experiment for electrons Matter waves and de Broglie wavelength Lecture Notes Clicker questions
26	Mon 11/08	40.3, 40.4	Wavefunctions Measurement and wavefunction collapse Lecture Notes Clicker questions
27	Wed 11/10	40.5	Wavefunctions at fixed momentum as waves Wavepackets Spread in momentum vs spread in position A fourier mode simulator - select 'wave packet' from the Preset Functions on the right to explore how wavepackets are built up from plane waves. Lecture Notes Clicker questions	For more practice with wavepackets and Fourier components, check out this old tutorial: old tutorial solutions	PS 8 due
28	Fri 11/12		Midterm #2	Problem Set 9
29	Mon 11/15	40.6	Momentum space wavefunction and its probabilistic intepretation Relationship between momentum space and position space wavefunctions Lecture Notes Clicker questions
30	Wed 11/17	None - no reading quiz	The impossibility of knowing position and momentum of a particle at the same time Heisenberg uncertainity principle - exact statement Time dependence of wavepackets Time evolution of wavepackets from decomposition into pure waves Lecture Notes Clicker questions
Tutorial #10
31	Fri 11/19	41.1	Group velocity vs phase velocity (De Broglie's) relationship between energy and frequency Schrodinger equation plausability argument: time evolution of wavepackets from Schrodinger equation dispersion (spreading of wavepackets) Lecture Notes Clicker questions	Problem Set 10	PS 9 due
32	Mon 11/22	None - no reading quiz	The linearity of the Schrodinger equation Schrodinger equation in the presence of a potential Energy eigenstates: stationary states Lecture Notes Clicker questions
33	Wed 11/24	41.2, 41.3, 41.4	Time-independent Schrodinger equation General recipe for solving quantum mechanics wavefunction problems Quantum bound states; discreteness of bound state energies Simulation of bound states in various potentials. Lecture Notes Clicker questions
Tutorial #11
34	Fri 11/26	41.6	Explanation for discretness of atomic spectra and stability of atoms 1D example: the finite square well zero point energy nonzero probability for finding the electron in a classically forbidden region Lecture Notes Clicker questions	Problem Set 11	PS 10 due
35	Mon 11/29	41.10	qualitative discussion of the double well Tunneling Examples of tunneling: tunneling current, tunneling through a small hole, fusion in the Sun. Lecture Notes	Supplementary notes on Quantum Mechanics
36	Wed 12/01	none - no reading quiz	Applications of tunneling: the Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM), nuclear decay Quantum eraser experiments A detailed explaination of the quantum eraser can be found here (No clicker questions)
Tutorial #12
37	Fri 12/03	none - no reading quiz	General relativity (tentative) (No clicker questions)		PS 11 due