Phys 402 Syllabus, Fall 2018

Class meetings: MW 10:00-11:50pm, in Toll 1201

Professor: Ted Jacobson, jacobson_at_umd.edu, Room 3151 PSC, 301-405-6020
Office hours: After class, by appointment, or try dropping by.

TAs: Batoul Banihashemi, baniha_at_umd.edu, Siddhartha Harmalkar, sharmalk@umd.edu

Textbook: Introduction to Quantum Mechanics, 3rd ed., David Griffiths and Darrell Schroeter (Cambridge University Press)

Course web site: http://www.physics.umd.edu/grt/taj/402a /. Course plan, homework, supplements and notes will be posted.

Piazza course web forum https://piazza.com/umd/fall2018/phys402/home I strongly encourage everyone to make use of Piazza to ask questions and look for discussions. It extends the learning out of the classroom and out of individual study groups to the whole class, and it's active any day and hour. Please note that you may want to change your Piazza settings to receive notices more often. You can choose to get notices whenever something is posted, or to be sent a digest after a specified amount of time.

E-mail: Students are responsible for making sure I have their correct email address and checking their email daily. Important messages will sometimes be sent to the class by email or via piazza.

+ Please make sure you include your name and the homework and course numbers, and staple the pages together. Late homework accepted only under dire circumstances: if you know it will be impossible to turn in an assignment on time, you must discuss this with me in advance of the due date. Medical reasons accepted only with a doctor's note.

+ You are allowed and encouraged to discuss homework with others, use Piazza, ask the professor or TAs for guidance, and consult other sources.

+ However, it is forbidden to make use of a classmate's solutions, or previously written solutions you might find. The write-up you turn in should be your own formulation, and should reflect your own understanding, and you should be prepared to explain and defend it in detail on your own. Violation of this policy would leave you without a solid comprehension of the material and ill-prepared for exams, and would be a violation of the UMD Code of Academic Integrity. See Academic Honesty section below for consequences of violation.

+ Each student must turn in Homework 0 with a signature, showing that the syllabus and homework policies have been read and understood.

Exams Midterm (likely date, Wed. Oct. 17), and Final Exam (Tuesday, Dec. 18, 08:00am-10:00pm). If you know ahead of time that you must miss an exam, you must discuss me as early as possible, before the exam, and provide documentation when relevant.

Grading: The baseline grade weights are 25% for homework, 35% for mid-term, and 40% for the final exam. To accommodate variations in students and extenuating circumstances, for each student the weights for the lowest and highest components will be decreased and increased by 5%, respectively. The lowest homework score will be dropped. The letter grades corresponding to numerical scores will be determined after reviewing the class performance, consistent with the grade definitions indicating mastery of the material: A: excellent, B: good, C: adequate, D: borderline.

Academic honesty: The University of Maryland, College Park has a nationally recognized Code of Academic Integrity. This Code sets standards for academic integrity at Maryland for all undergraduate and graduate students. As a student you are responsible for upholding these standards for this course. It is very important for you to be aware of the consequences of cheating, fabrication, facilitation, and plagiarism. For more information on the Code of Academic Integrity or the Student Honor Council, please visit http://www.shc.umd.edu