PHYSICS 115C
Quantum Mechanics
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Enforced requisite: course 115B. Matrix mechanics. Addition of angular momentum. Time-independent and time-dependent perturbation theory. Fermi Golden Rule. Applications. Scattering theory. Letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2018 - Professor Sudip Chakravarthy was a good lecturer, and I personally enjoyed taking this whole series with him. He does have a strong passion for the course material and an occasional sense of humor. He's patient with students and takes all questions seriously, and he's very much approachable whether in class or OH. He tended to include at least some conceptual content in previous quarter exams. For 115C, he emphasized that the quarter was focused more on applications. As always, make sure to carefully study all the homework problems as test questions are often similar to an extent. SELLING study/test materials (Spring 2018) for this course including past exams (midterm) and a cheat sheet as well as HW solutions. uclastudent17@gmail.com
Spring 2018 - Professor Sudip Chakravarthy was a good lecturer, and I personally enjoyed taking this whole series with him. He does have a strong passion for the course material and an occasional sense of humor. He's patient with students and takes all questions seriously, and he's very much approachable whether in class or OH. He tended to include at least some conceptual content in previous quarter exams. For 115C, he emphasized that the quarter was focused more on applications. As always, make sure to carefully study all the homework problems as test questions are often similar to an extent. SELLING study/test materials (Spring 2018) for this course including past exams (midterm) and a cheat sheet as well as HW solutions. uclastudent17@gmail.com
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2022 - It's a difficult class, but the professor manages to illustrate how cool the content is (most of the time). The midterm was very easy, the homework was moderately easy, and the final was brutal. I don't think the curve was super nice, I was significantly above average on both tests and my homework was >95%, but I still didn't get an A. If you supplement the course with online lectures and any pair of QM textbooks, you're going to understand the content. We covered time-independent degenerate and non-degenerate perturbation theory, the variational principle, the WKB approximation, time-dependent perturbation theory, Fermi's golden rule, absorption and emission of radiation, the adiabatic approximation, Berry's phase, pure and mixed states, and the EPR paradox. Basically everything from Griffith's except the chapter on scattering. The professor wanted to talk about topics of personal interest like quantum computing and superconducting qubits, but we didn't have time.
Winter 2022 - It's a difficult class, but the professor manages to illustrate how cool the content is (most of the time). The midterm was very easy, the homework was moderately easy, and the final was brutal. I don't think the curve was super nice, I was significantly above average on both tests and my homework was >95%, but I still didn't get an A. If you supplement the course with online lectures and any pair of QM textbooks, you're going to understand the content. We covered time-independent degenerate and non-degenerate perturbation theory, the variational principle, the WKB approximation, time-dependent perturbation theory, Fermi's golden rule, absorption and emission of radiation, the adiabatic approximation, Berry's phase, pure and mixed states, and the EPR paradox. Basically everything from Griffith's except the chapter on scattering. The professor wanted to talk about topics of personal interest like quantum computing and superconducting qubits, but we didn't have time.
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Most Helpful Review
Had Tomboulis for 115A,B, & C, and I'm grateful. Yes, his lectures are dry, but they are damn good, with plenty of examples to enforce understanding. You might get lost on a derivation or two, but no worries he will never EVER test you on them, and anything you could possibly need to know if provided in the equation sheets on the front of every exam. Also, go to his office hour. I didn't until halfway through B, and I was shocked when I did go. He may be uncomfortable lecturing in front of a large audience, but 1 on 1 he is very personable and perfectly willing to help.
Had Tomboulis for 115A,B, & C, and I'm grateful. Yes, his lectures are dry, but they are damn good, with plenty of examples to enforce understanding. You might get lost on a derivation or two, but no worries he will never EVER test you on them, and anything you could possibly need to know if provided in the equation sheets on the front of every exam. Also, go to his office hour. I didn't until halfway through B, and I was shocked when I did go. He may be uncomfortable lecturing in front of a large audience, but 1 on 1 he is very personable and perfectly willing to help.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2020 - VVV is I think the best QM professor at UCLA. His tests are tough but fair and with lots of extra credit opportunities. His grading scale is also very generous, so as long as you do the homeworks and score about average on exams you should be fine. The material is also really interesting and useful in any field. Its all just ways to approximate differential equations that can't be easily solved. If you have the chance to take it with vvv you definitely should
Winter 2020 - VVV is I think the best QM professor at UCLA. His tests are tough but fair and with lots of extra credit opportunities. His grading scale is also very generous, so as long as you do the homeworks and score about average on exams you should be fine. The material is also really interesting and useful in any field. Its all just ways to approximate differential equations that can't be easily solved. If you have the chance to take it with vvv you definitely should
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