F4055 Experimental foundations and basic concepts of quantum mechanics

Faculty of Science
Spring 2021
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. 628 s. 1978. 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. 159 s. 1974. info
  • PIŠÚT, Ján, Ladislav GOMOLČÁK and Vladimír ČERNÝ. Úvod do kvantovej mechaniky. 2. vyd. Bratislava: Alfa. 551 s. 1983. info
  • PIŠÚT, Ján and Rudolf ZAJAC. O atómoch a kvantovaní. 2. dopl. vyd. Bratislava: Alfa. 319 s. 1988. info
  • POLKINGHORNE, J. C. Kvantový svět. Vyd. 1. Praha: Aurora. 159 s. ISBN 8072990179. 2000. info
  • DANIN, Daniil Semenovič. Pravdepodobnostný svet. Bratislava: Alfa, 1986. info
Teaching methods
lectures and class discussion
Language of instruction
Czech
Further Comments
Study Materials
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2020, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024, Spring 2025.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2021, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/sci/spring2021/F4055