Proseminar: Advanced topics in Quantum Mechanics

Spring Semester 2019, ETH Zurich

This proseminar aims to:

• Discuss advanced topics in quantum mechanics and intproduce you to quantum field theory.
  
• Introduce you to realistic research questions. 
• Provide an opportunity to get feedback on your presentation/understanding of physics from a community of peers. 

LECTURER: Prof. Babis ANASTASIOU

Lecture Hall & time: HIT F12, Monday 09:45-12:00 

Each topic will be presented in an 1 hour long seminar. The presentation will consist of an introductory part which describes the general idea of the topic and the main objectives (~10 minutes), a main exposition (~30 minutes) and a technical calculation (~20 minutes).  The finalised slides of the talk will need to be approved by the tutor and Prof. Anastasiou one week before the seminar. A written report in the format of a scientific article (author list, abstract, introduction, main part, conclusion and references) is expected to be produced within three weeks from the date of the seminar. The tutors will help in the preparation of their students in personalised meetings to be arranged mutually. As a minimum, eight tutor-student meetings are obligatory. The first meeting should take place at least two months before the seminar date.       

Tutors:

• Dr Blagoje Oblak
• Dr Daniel Medina
• Dr Wellington Galleas
• Dr ClémentTauber
• Dr Pietro Longhi
• Dr Hagen Münkler
• Dr Yuxiang Yan
• Dr Marc Serra Garcia
• Dr Mao Zeng
• Dr Nicolas Deutschmann 
• Dr Ralph Silva

Topics:

1. Entanglement, Ladina Hausmann (Silva), 25 February
2. Interpretations of Quantum Mechanics, Sebastián Guerrero Soriano (Silva), 25 February
3. Interpretations of Quantum Mechanics, Pascal Schweizer (Silva), 4 March
4. Quantum Computing, Roman Gruber (Yan), 4 March
5. Quantum Computing, Jona Bühler (Yan), 11 March
6. Path Integral in Quantum Mechanics, Silvan Aepli (Serra Garcia), 11 March
   
7. Solitons, Elias Zapusek (Serra Garcia), 18 March
8. Instantons, Valentino Huang (Serra Garcia), 18 March
9. Perturbation Theory with Path Integrals in QM, Anian Altherr (Longhi), 25 March
   
10. Lagrangian and Hamiltonian / Symmetries for classical fields, Linus Geiser (Zeng), 25 March
11. Chaotic Systems, Edoardo Berardo (Tauber), 1 April
12. Klein-Gordon and Dirac Equations, Ivan Ilak (Longhi), 1 April
    
13. Klein-Gordon Canonical Quantisation, Richard Freiherr von Eckardstein (Longhi), 8 April
    
14. Klein-Gordon Path Integral Quantisation, Yaniv Donath (Galleas), 8 April
    
15. Canonical Quantisation of Electrodynamics (free hoton field), Dominic Horn (Galleas), 15 April
    
16. Canonical Quantisation of the Dirac Field, Chrishon Nilanthan (Galleas), 15 April
    
17. Path Integral Quantisation of Fermions, Simon Huser (Medina), 29 April
18. Path Integral Quantisation of Electrodynamics (free photon field), Dominic Inauen (Medina), 29 April
    
19. Geometric Optics from Quantum Mechanics, Silvan Koch (Deutschmann), 6 May
20. Feynman Diagrams and Cross-Sections for Scalar Field Theories, Patrick Mijatovic (Medina), 6 May
21. Gauge-Symmetry and QED, Jonas Wyss (Münkler), 13 May
22. Feynman Rules for QED, Jonas Odermatt (Münkler), 13 May
23. Scattering Processes in QED, Kuno Knapp (Münkler), 20 May
24. Renormalisation of QED, Mattia Humbel (Oblak), 20 May
25. The Higgs Model, Raphael Leu (Oblak), 27 May

REFERENCES

1. Lectures on Quantum Mechannics, S. Weinberg, 2nd edition
   
2. Quantum Computing: a gentle introduction, E. Rieffel and W. Polak
3. The cellular automaton interpretation of Quantum Mechanics, Gerard 't Hooft
4. QED the strange theory of light and matter, R. Feynman
5. Quantum Mechanics and Path integrals, R. Feynman and AR Hibbs
6. Gauge theories of the Strong, Weak and Electromagnetic Interactions, Chris Quigg, 2nd edition
7. Aspects of Symmetry, S. Coleman
8. The Essence of Chaos, Edward N. Lorenz
   
9. external pageThe Chaos Hypertextbookcall_made
10. Quarks and Leptons, F. Halzen and A. Martin