Book for this class; brief outline of what we will cover next.

BTW, there is a book for this class which is Griffiths QM (the same one used in 139a). We will be starting with material similar to Chapter 6 and then Ch 7, i.e., perturbation theory, H-atom fine structure, and variational calculations (that is, calculations of ground states and g.s. energies based on the variational principal). [Ground states are quite important. The idea of a finite kinetic energy ground state (as in the H atom, etc.) is basically a quantum concept with no classical analogue that I am aware of. ]

Regarding perturbation theory, note that there are two very different kinds of perturbation theory, one for non-degenerate states and one for when degenerate states are coupled to each other by a weak interaction term (a perturbation). The lifting of degeneracy and the 0-th order effect on the states is very important and somewhat distinct from the relatively continuous changes that occur in non-degenerate perturbation theory.

Make sure you have a clear idea what degeneracy means in this context.

Homework 1 and welcome to 139b

Hi. This is your first Homework assignement. Welcome to Physics 139b.