F4055 Experimental foundations and basic concepts of quantum mechanics

Faculty of Science
Spring 2022
Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 3 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
Teacher(s)
doc. RNDr. Aleš Lacina, CSc. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
doc. RNDr. Aleš Lacina, CSc.
Department of Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics – Physics Section – Faculty of Science
Supplier department: Department of Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics – Physics Section – Faculty of Science
Prerequisites
Mastering mechanics, electricity and magnetism on the level of fundamental university cource of these disciplines (F1030/F1040; F2050/F2070)
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is offered to students of any study field.
Course objectives
* to give basic information about properties and behaviour of objects of microcosm,
* to give information about the way of overcoming the physical crisis at the turn of 19th/20th centuries,
* to prepare students for the best mastering the unusual ideas of quantum mechanics
Learning outcomes
At the end of this course, students should be able to:
* understand and explain crucial experiments for the development of physical description of microcosm,
* understand and explain basic concepts and ideas of quantum mechanics.
Syllabus
  • 1. Physical world and its description (reality, abstraction, model; concepts of structure of matter and their development; macroscopic and microscopic theories and their verification; objects of macrocosm - particles and waves).
  • 2. Electromagnetic radiation - particles ? waves ? photons (historical development of views on nature of light; blackbody radiation, the quantum hypothesis; photoelectric emission, Compton effect).
  • 3. Atomic structure (historical development of views on the atom; the discovery of the electron; early models of the atom; scattering experiments, the discovery of the atomic nucleus).
  • 4. The old quantum theory (the planetary model of the atom, problem of its stability; the Bohr's model of the hydrogen atom, the Bohr-Sommerfeld's model of the atom; the Mendeleev periodic system).
  • 5. Atomic spectra (emission and absorption optical spectra of the atom; emission and absorption X-ray atomic spectra; spectral analysis; interaction of radiation with periodic structures).
  • 6. The wave-particle dualism and its physical interpretation (the de Broglie's hypothesis, Davisson-Germer's and Thomson's experiments; Young's double slit experiment with classical particles, waves and microobjects).
  • 7. Fundamentals of wave /quantum/ mechanics (the wave function and the vector of state; the superposition principle and its physical meaning; wave packet; Heisenberg's uncertainty principle for position and momentum; measurement in microcosm; Schroedinger equation and its solutions in the case of stationary fields, a simple quantum mechanical description of severel real situations; the relation of classical and quantum mechanics).
Literature
  • BEISER, Arthur. Úvod do moderní fyziky. Translated by Josef Čada. Vyd. 2. Praha: Academia, 1978, 628 s. info
  • ZAJAC, Rudolf, Ján PIŠÚT and Juraj ŠEBESTA. Historické pramene súčasnej fyziky, Zv. 2 (Historical sources of contemporary physics, Vol. 2). Bratislava: Univerzita Komenského, 1997. info
  • HAJKO, Vladimír a kol. Fyzika v experimentoch. Bratislava: Veda, 1988. 427 s.
  • TRIGG, George L. Rešajuščije eksperimenty v sovremennoj fizike. Edited by I. S. Aleksejev, Translated by A. V. Davydov - G. V. Daniljan. Moskva: Mir, 1974, 159 s. info
  • PIŠÚT, Ján, Ladislav GOMOLČÁK and Vladimír ČERNÝ. Úvod do kvantovej mechaniky. 2. vyd. Bratislava: Alfa, 1983, 551 s. info
  • PIŠÚT, Ján and Rudolf ZAJAC. O atómoch a kvantovaní. 2. dopl. vyd. Bratislava: Alfa, 1988, 319 s. info
  • POLKINGHORNE, J. C. Kvantový svět. Vyd. 1. Praha: Aurora, 2000, 159 s. ISBN 8072990179. info
  • DANIN, Daniil Semenovič. Pravdepodobnostný svet. Bratislava: Alfa, 1986. info
Teaching methods
lectures and class discussion
Language of instruction
Czech
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2023, Spring 2024, Spring 2025.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2022, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/sci/spring2022/F4055