Cornell University

Department of Physics

Phys 214 November 25, 2003

Waves, Optics, and Particles, Fall 2003

Homework Assignment # 11

(Due Thursday, December 4 at 5:00pm sharp.)

Agenda and readings for the week of December 1:

Skills to be mastered:

• Understand the wave nature of particles, be able to compute de Broglie wavelength for a particle of known energy, momentum or velocity

• Use the particle-wave correspondence to predict the results of simple scattering and ``diffraction'' experiments with electrons

• Understand and apply Heisenberg's uncertainty principle

• Understand the motion of a particle in a box from quantum mechanical point of view

• Be able to solve Schr $\ddot{\rm o}$dinger's equation for one-dimensional problems

• Use Schr $\ddot{\rm o}$dinger's equation and Feynman's ``sum over histories'' approach to study particle motion in one-dimensional potentials

Lectures and Readings:

Readings marked YF are from the text Young and Freedman, University Physics, 10th edition. Readings marked LN are from the course lecture notes to be found at http://www.muchomas.lassp.cornell.edu/P214.

• Lec 26, 12/02 (Tue): Schr $\ddot{\rm o}$dinger's equation and its solutions.
  Readings: YF 42-1, 42-2, 42-3, 42-4. LN ``Quantum III: Particle in a box ...,'' Secs. 1.1-1.6; LN ``Quantum IV: Scattering Theory,'' Sec. 4.

• Lec 27, 12/04 (Thu): Three Nobel Ideas
  Readings: LN ``Feynman diagrams, ...,'' Secs. 3.4, 3.5, 4, 5.

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