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Quantum Physics III — Video Lectures

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

About this course

Source: MIT OpenCourseWare 8.06 Quantum Physics III, Spring 2018, Prof. Barton Zwiebach — original course page on ocw.mit.edu ↗. License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Study order: this unit's sessions in MIT's listing order. Taken from MIT's published course files, downloaded from ocw.mit.edu on September 23, 2026. How RedLectern is built.

Instructor: Prof. Barton Zwiebach
Term: Spring 2018
Level: Undergraduate
What's inside: 100 videos
Materials open: Videos here · files on MIT OCW

Other versions of this course

8.06 · Spring 2018 · Study here (this version)
8.06 · Spring 2016 · Study here
8.06 · Spring 2005 · Study here

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Quantum Physics III — Video Lectures

L1.1 General problem. Non-degenerate perturbation theory

L1.2 Setting up the perturbative equations

L1.3 Calculating the energy corrections

L1.4 First order correction to the state. Second order correction to energy

L2.1 Remarks and validity of the perturbation series

L2.2 Anharmonic Oscillator via a quartic perturbation

L2.3 Degenerate Perturbation theory: Example and setup

L2.4 Degenerate Perturbation Theory: Leading energy corrections

L3.1 Remarks on a "good basis"

L3.2 Degeneracy resolved to first order; state and energy corrections

L3.3 Degeneracy resolved to second order

L3.4 Degeneracy resolved to second order (continued)

L4.1 Scales and zeroth-order spectrum

L4.2 The uncoupled and coupled basis states for the spectrum

L4.3 The Pauli equation for the electron in an electromagnetic field

L4.4 Dirac equation for the electron and hydrogen Hamiltonian

L5.1 Evaluating the Darwin correction

L5.2 Interpretation of the Darwin correction from nonlocality

L5.3 The relativistic correction

L5.4 Spin-orbit correction

L5.5 Assembling the fine-structure corrections

L6.1 Zeeman effect and fine structure

L6.2 Weak-field Zeeman effect; general structure

L6.3 Weak-field Zeeman effect; the projection lemma

L6.4 Strong-field Zeeman

L6.5 Semiclassical approximation and local de Broglie wavelength

L7.1 The WKB approximation scheme

L7.2 Approximate WKB solutions

L7.3 Validity of the WKB approximation

L7.4 Connection formula stated and example

L8.1 Airy functions as integrals in the complex plane

L8.2 Asymptotic expansions of Airy functions

L8.3 Deriving the connection formulae

L8.4 Deriving the connection formulae (continued) logical arrows

L9.1 The interaction picture and time evolution

L9.2 The interaction picture equation in an orthonormal basis

L9.3 Example: Instantaneous transitions in a two-level system

L9.4 Setting up perturbation theory

L10.1 Box regularization: density of states for the continuum

L10.2 Transitions with a constant perturbation

L10.3 Integrating over the continuum to find Fermi's Golden Rule

L10.4 Autoionization transitions

L11.1 Harmonic transitions between discrete states

L11.2 Transition rates for stimulated emission and absorption processes

L11.3 Ionization of hydrogen: conditions of validity, initial and final states

L11.4 Ionization of Hydrogen: Matrix Element for Transition

L12.1 Ionization Rate for Hydrogen: Final Result

L12.2 Light and Atoms with Two Levels, Qualitative Analysis

L12.3 Einstein's Argument: the Need for Spontaneous Emission

L12.4 Einstein's argument: B and A coefficients