MAT1723/APM421: Foundations of Quantum Mechanics

Instructor

name: Robert Jerrard
office: 6262 Bahen
phone: (416) 946-5441
fax: (416) 978-4107
e-mail: rjerrard at math dot toronto dot edu
department mailing address: Department of Mathematics, University of Toronto Toronto, Ontario M5S 2E4, Canada
office hours: Tuesday 4:10-5 pm, Thursday 3:10-4pm. or by appointment

New!

The handout "APM421/MAT1723 incomplete lecture notes" can be downloaded here. This was updated most recently on December 13, and may be further updated shortly.
A small handout, "About the Final Exam" can be downloaded here.
A fourth homework assignment, which will not be collected, can be downloaded here.

no longer new

The first homework assignment, due October 6, can be downloaded here.
The second homework assignment, due October 25, can be downloaded here.
The third homework assignment, due November 10, can be downloaded here.

Text

There is no required textbook for the course. Parts of the class will loosely follow Mathematical Concepts of Quantum Mechanics , by Stephen J. Gustafson and Israel Michael Sigal. The instructor will sometimes make available notes, when covering topics not addressed in the book of Gustafson and Sigal.

Marking Scheme.

Marks will be based on written assignments, one Midterm Exam, and a Final Exam. The marking scheme is summarized in the following table.

what when percentage of final course mark
homework roughly every other week 20%
Midterm Exam to be announced 30%
Final Exam to be announced 50%

Assignments for the course will be posted as they appear on the web site http://www.math.toronto.edu/rjerrard/1723/assignments.html.

Course Outline

The course will cover the following topics:
  1. a brief review of classical mechanics
  2. formulations of quantum mechanics: states and observables
  3. the uncertainty principle
  4. Hilbert space
  5. Schroedinger operators
  6. path integrals
  7. other topics as time permits