Final exam problem 1:

Take home final exam problem. You may choose between:

a) Find an article in a journal or a chapter in a book about some topic directly related to quantum mechanics, and summarize/discuss it in your own words. (Examples are found below )

(For your essay, approximately one page should be sufficient.)

If the article is technical in nature, an equation or two is o.k., but try to keep your discussion primarily descriptive and explanatory. If the article is philosophical in nature, try to connect it to what we've learned this semester. It is important that I see some rigorous and independent thinking in your essay - plagiarism or mindless summary is not acceptable! Rather than just summarizing, you may use an article as a "jumping off point" to discuss your own ideas/understanding of some interesting quantum topic, that's great. (Keep the topic simple, 1 page is not a lot!)

If the article is short (6 pages or less), please photocopy it and turn it in to me. If it is much longer, just copy the first page, and in either case be sure to include the complete reference so I can go look it up myself if I want to.

or

If you prefer to purely exercise your own creativity instead of summarizing or understanding someone elses, write your one page essay about what the world would be like if Planck's constant had turned out, say 35 orders of magnitude larger than it is. Be descriptive, try to think of as many consequences as you can.

or

If you wish to exercise your technical skills rather than your philosphical/interpretational ones, you may do Gas. problem 12-10 as a "take home" exam problem, and bring your solution in with you to the final. (I warn you that this will take much more than 1 page, though!) Your solution should include the complete derivation of the radial wave function in spherical coordinates, and a discussion of the energy levels and their degeneracies, like we did in class (and class notes ) for the hydrogen atom.

Some possible examples of articles: (If you have any doubts about an article's suitability, please ask me about it ahead of time!)

Quantum Optics ("Quantum seeing in the dark", Sci. Am, Nov '96, p. 72)

Quantum Dots. (Scientific American, Dec 96??)

Schrodinger's Cation (Sci. Am, Jun 96??)

White dwarves and neutron stars (Gasiorowicz Ch. 9)

EPR Paradox (Einstein's final attempt to prove quantum mechanics must be wrong) (See J.J. Sakurai's textbook, Modern Quantum Mechanics, Ch. 3.9. Also Feynman's Lectures, Volume III, Ch. 18-3 discusses this)

Almost any chapter from Feynman's lectures, Vol. III would make a good choice. E.g. the 2 slit experiment and the fundamental mystery of quantum mechanics. (Feynman's Lectures, Vol. III, first chapter(s), and also his video (on reserve in the library), "The Character of Physical Law")

General philosophy of quantum mechanics ("Where does the Weirdness Go" by David Lindley) (A fun book, by the way, recommended holiday reading material if you don't choose it here!)