Results for PHYSICS 65: Quantum and Thermal Physics

This course introduces the core ideas of modern physics that enable applications ranging from solar energy and efficient lighting to the modern electronic and optical devices and nanotechnologies that sense, process, store, communicate and display all our information. Though the ideas have broad impact, the course is widely accessible to engineering and science students with only basic linear algebra and calculus through simple ordinary differential equations as mathematics background. Topics include the quantum mechanics of electrons and photons (Schrödinger's equation, atoms, electrons, energy levels and energy bands; absorption and emission of photons; quantum confinement in nanostructures), the statistical mechanics of particles (entropy, the Boltzmann factor, thermal distributions), the thermodynamics of light (thermal radiation, limits to light concentration, spontaneous and stimulated emission), and the physics of information (Maxwell's demon, reversibility, entropy and noise in physics and information theory). Pre-requisite: Physics 41. Pre- or co-requisite: Math 53 or CME 102.

(Third in a three-part advanced freshman physics series: PHYSICS 61, PHYSICS 63, PHYSICS 65.) This course introduces the foundations of quantum and statistical mechanics for students with a strong high school mathematics and physics background, who are contemplating a major in Physics or Engineering Physics, or are interested in a rigorous treatment of physics. Quantum mechanics: atoms, electrons, nuclei. Quantization of light, Planck's constant. Photoelectric effect, Compton and Bragg scattering. Bohr model, atomic spectra. Matter waves, wave packets, interference. Fourier analysis and transforms, Heisenberg uncertainty relationships. Schrödinger equation, eigenfunctions and eigenvalues. Particle-in-a-box, simple harmonic oscillator, barrier penetration, tunneling, WKB and approximate solutions. Time-dependent and multi-dimensional solution concepts. Coulomb potential and hydrogen atom structure. Thermodynamics and statistical mechanics: ideal gas, equipartition, heat capacity. Probability, counting states, entropy, equilibrium, chemical potential. Laws of thermodynamics. Cycles, heat engines, free energy. Partition function, Boltzmann statistics, Maxwell speed distribution, ideal gas in a box, Einstein model. Quantum statistical mechanics: classical vs. quantum distribution functions, fermions vs. bosons. Prerequisites: PHYSICS 61 & PHYSICS 63. Pre- or corequisite: MATH 53 or MATH 63CM or MATH 63DM.