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Browse materialsMIT 8.04 · Spring 2016

Quantum Physics I

Art: The drawing seems to be signed 'Laplante' in the…, Andreas Cunaeus discovering the Leyden jar, before 1886 · Public domain

Instructor: Prof. Barton Zwiebach
Term: Spring 2016
Level: Undergraduate
What's inside: 121 videos · 1 exam · 21 lecture notes · 133 other files · 8 web pages
Materials open: Videos here · files on MIT OCW

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8.04 · Spring 2016 · Study here (this version)
8.04 · Spring 2013 · Study here

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About this course

Source: MIT OpenCourseWare 8.04 Quantum Physics I, Spring 2016, Prof. Barton Zwiebach — original course page on ocw.mit.edu ↗. License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Study order: MIT's own listing order, section by section. Taken from MIT's published course files, downloaded from ocw.mit.edu on September 23, 2026. How RedLectern is built.

Materials are grouped the way MIT organized them. A verified, course-wide order has not been established here.

Before you start

Prerequisites are not listed here. Check MIT's own syllabus for this course.

This course’s cited books, in our reading lists: Introduction to Quantum Mechanics · Principles of Quantum Mechanics · Introduction to Quantum Mechanics · Principles of Quantum Mechanics

How this course was organized

What's here, and what isn't

MIT's own materials here did not support a verified, course-wide order, so they are grouped by section instead.

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Materials by section

Grouped by section, as MIT organized them. Not sequenced or ordered.

Lecture Notes

20 files

Video Lectures

115 videos in this section

Basic Concepts

44 videos

Quantum Physics in One-dimensional Potentials

45 videos

One-dimensional Scattering, Angular Momentum & Central Potentials

26 videos

Assignments

10 files

Exams

Other materials from this course

6 videos

121 video transcripts

MIT OpenCourseWare, Prof. Barton Zwiebach, 8.04 Quantum Physics I, Spring 2016.

License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · Edition: Spring 2016 · Open the original course on OCW ↗

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Quantum Physics I

Before you start

What's here, and what isn't

Not included here

Materials by section

Lecture Notes

Video Lectures

Basic Concepts

Quantum Physics in One-dimensional Potentials

One-dimensional Scattering, Angular Momentum & Central Potentials

Assignments

Exams

Other materials from this course

Lecture 1: Introduction: Basic features of quantum mechanics: Linearity, complex numbers, nondeterministic, superposition, entanglement.

Lecture 2: Two-slit experiments. Mach-Zehnder interferometer. Elitzur-Vaidman bombs.

Lecture 3: Photoelectric effect. Compton Scattering. de Broglie wavelength.

Lecture 4: Galilean transformation of de Broglie wavelength. Wave-packets and group velocity.

Lecture 5: Matter wave for a particle. Momentum and position operators. Schrödinger equation.

Lecture 6: Interpretation of the wavefunction. Probability density, probability current. Current conservation. Hermitian operators.

Lecture 7: Expectation values of ˆx. Wave-packets and uncertainty. Time evolution of wave-packets. Shape changes. Fourier transforms and Parseval Theorem.

Lecture 8: Momentum expectation values. General definition of expectation values of Hermitian operators. Time derivative of expectation values (Ehrenfest theorem). Commutators.

Lecture 9: Hermitian operators as observables: Real eigenvalues orthogonal eigenfunctions. Measurement postulate. Uncertainty defined. Uncertainty relation stated.

Lecture 10: Stationary states. Boundary conditions for the wavefunction. Particle on a circle.

Lecture 11: Infinite square well. Basic properties of one-dimensional potentials. The finite square well.

Lecture 12: Turning points, semiclassical approximations, qualitative features of the wavefunction.

Lecture 13: Numerical solution by the shooting method.

Lecture 14: Delta function potential. Discussion of the node theorem. Setup for the simple harmonic oscillator: Differential equation.

Lecture 15: Analysis of the differential equation: Hermite polynomials. Algebraic solution of the harmonic oscillator with creation and destruction operators.

Lecture 16: Scattering states continued. Reflection and transmission coefficients. Constructing wave packets. Finding a particle in the forbidden region?

Lecture 17: Ramsauer Townsend effect. Finite square well, resonant transmission. Scattering in 1D by finite range potentials.

Lecture 18: 1D Scattering and phase shifts. Example. Levinson’s theorem.

Lecture 19: Resonances and Breit-Wigner distribution. The complex k-plane

Lecture 20: Central Potentials and Angular momentum. Algebra of angular momentum. Simultaneous eigenstates of Lz and L². Legendre polynomials.

Lecture 21: QAssociated Legendre polynomials. Radial equation. Begin Hydrogen atom. 2-body problem and separation of variables.

Lecture 22: Scales in the hydrogen atom. Differential equation: behaviors at infinity and at zero. Series solution. Energy quantization.

Lecture 23: Energy levels diagram for hydrogen. Virial theorem applied. Circular orbits and eccentricity.

Lecture 24: More on orbits and turning points. The simplest quantum system and discovering spin