Physics

The United Nations declared 2025 the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology in recognition of the centenary of the advent of quantum mechanics, marked amongst others by the seminal paper of Werner Heisenberg in Zeitschrift für Physik that translated to "On quantum-theoretical reinterpretation of kinematic and mechanical relationships". Quantum physics is one of the most intriguing topics that emerged in Physics in the early 20th century and gave rise to what is referred to modern physics. Being familiar with a continuous world, the ideas of quantum physics such as the quantization, the superposition, or even entanglement are all new and non necessarily intuitive concepts. Nevertheless, quantum physics de- scribes a world that is around us: atoms, molecules, materials and more obey the laws of quantum physics and lead to macroscopic values that we experience more frequently. What is then quantum mechanics? Some view quantum mechanics as a set of mathematical tools that are used to understand quantum physics.

In this course, we will present and discuss some fundamental topics of quantum mechanics starting from some initial ideas of modern physics with relativity and the breakdown of classical physics. We will look at the Schrödinger equation, one of the central equations of quantum mechanics, and its solution for several textbook cases, culminating with a presentation of the hydrogen atom. Along the way we will uncover many rules of this field and make use of your prior exposure to wave and optics, but also your knowledge of linear algebra and calculus to tackle problems.