| Instructor: Philip Stamp |
Contact:
- Office: Hennings 311A
- e-mail: stamp@phas.ubc.ca
- office phone: 604-822-5711
|
Lectures: 12:00-13:30 on Mon, Wed; room Hebb 418.
Grading:
- 50%: assignments
- 15%: oral exam
- 35%: final exam
Syllabus: pdf file
Here is an over-complete guide to the course (we can’t do all of this!). What I actually teach, and at what level, will be partly determined by the background and interests of the students. There is no set book – but many books and articles can be used as background reading (see list below). The course notes will form the basis of the course. I’ll include many examples from different fields of physics.
(1) BASICS - CONCEPTUAL
Entanglement, non-locality, Bell states, 2-path experiments. EPR paradox. Delayed choice and quantum eraser experiments
State preparations and measurements. Non-local measurements, weak measurements
Decoherence and disentanglement; the quantum environment
What is “real” in quantum mechanics – different views and interpretations, and paradoxes
(2) BASICS - FORMAL
Classical Physics: Hamiltonians, Lagrangians, & Symmetries
Wave-functions and density matrices. Reduced density matrices
Path integrals for particles and for spin. The bridge to quantum field theory
(3) STATISTICS
Statistics – fermions, bosons, & anyons
2nd quantization & coherent states
(4) PERTURBATION THEORY
Time-independent theory: expansion in small parameter; diagrammatic representations
Scattering theory: Born approximation, S-matrix & T-matrix; resonant scattering, bound states
Time-dependent perturbation theory – convergent & divergent expansions
(5) SEMICLASSICAL APPROXIMATIONS
Classical & Quantum orbits; trace formulae; quantum chaos
Tunneling and other non-perturbative effects; spin tunneling & topological phase
(6) QUANTUM INFORMATION & QUANTUM COMPUTING
Bell states revisited. GHZ states. Separability and quantum teleportation
QBits & CBits. The Feynman computer. Gate quantum computation. Adiabatic quantum computation
Grover and Shor algorithms. Quantum cryptography & quantum communication
Errors and Decoherence. Quantum error correction
Quantum computation – current progress (theory, experiment, and industry)
SOME USEFUL BOOKS (There are many more)
F. Laloe — Do we really understand Quantum Mechanics?
J. S. Bell — Speakable & Unspeakable in Quantum Mechanics
A. B. Migdal — Qualitative Methods in Quantum Theory
R. P. Feynman & A. R. Hibbs — Quantum Mechanics & Path Integrals
L. S. Schulman — Techniques & Applications of Path Integrals
N. D. Mermin — Quantum Computer Science: an Intro
M. A. Nielsen & I. L. Chuang — Quantum Computation & Quantum Information