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I recently signed up for a Graduate Quantum Mechanics class at my University for the Fall of 2021 and after doing some review of the notes that the professor made available to me, I'm afraid I will be a little overwhelmed in the class. This is my first class in Quantum Mechanics although I have taken Modern Physics (giving me some very non-formal introduction to Quantum Mechanics) and wanted to know what are the best resources for some self-study during the summer before I start the class. I'm interested in learning the notation, and motivation behind QM while hopefully gaining some fluency in the Linear Algebra that will be involved.

Qmechanic
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Azerack
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  • No firm recommendations, but skim a super-simple undergraduate QM text, and brush up on your linear algebra and PDEs. Much of the culture shock students face in QM is not so much its weirdness, but the mathematical techniques they often learn in QM courses, these days... a waste of focus. – Cosmas Zachos May 25 '21 at 16:12
  • Possible duplicates: https://physics.stackexchange.com/q/33215/2451 and links therein. – Qmechanic May 25 '21 at 16:22
  • Doesn't the course come with its own material and recommendations? – my2cts May 25 '21 at 17:13
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    I think that you are likely to regret this. You could risk failing the graduate course. In general, undergraduates should take undergraduate courses. Physics curricula are designed the way they are designed for good reasons which you do not yet understand. If you are interested in the graduate course, ask if you can monitor it rather than actually taking it. – G. Smith May 25 '21 at 17:55
  • Most graduate students find a graduate course on QM challenging and they would have completed an entire B.Sc.'s worth of QM before that. That's at least two years of solid QM and math and electromagnetism that you won't have even if you study all summer. I really suggest following the advice by @g-smith . – StephenG - Help Ukraine May 25 '21 at 19:35
  • Responding to all the comments: 1st Thanks for the topic recommendations. I took linear algebra last year and PDES just this semester, but I will definitely keep reviewing. 2nd Thank you so much for that thread. I think that has all the recommendations I will need! 3rd I signed up for it because I've been a little underwhelemed at my University with the physics classes and wanted to challenge myself. I have plenty of time to review this summer and I know I probably won't get an A but its still worth it. 4th The professor does have atextbook but I wanted to see if there were better options :D – Azerack May 25 '21 at 22:49
  • 5th I think I will be OK. I know the professor and am currently doing research with a colleague of his on Quantum Computing and Machine Learning which should definitely give me good prep for the class. I take your comments sincerely though and will do my best to self-study before the class. I have been fairly underwhelmed with the level of my physics classes in Undergrad and I've heard from faculty and students alike that a Graduate level course at my University (SUNY Binghamton) are at the same level as Undergraduate courses in more prestigious schools. – Azerack May 25 '21 at 22:53
  • 6th I have actually taken all the pre-required math for the graduate courses. Linear Algebra, Vector Calculus, Ordinary Differential Equations, and PDEs. I have also taken the first semester of the electrodynamics course at my school and will be taking the second semester concurrently with QM. Part of my reply to your comment is already in the previous response I made so you can check that out there :D @StephenG – Azerack May 25 '21 at 22:56
  • I've heard from faculty and students alike that a Graduate level course at my University (SUNY Binghamton) are at the same level as Undergraduate courses in more prestigious schools Presumably you know your own school, but I would check e.g. the professor's recommended book against the content of 3rd and 4th year B.Sc. course to be sure. A bad experience can put even very enthusiastic students off and we'd all hate that to happen you. – StephenG - Help Ukraine May 26 '21 at 02:09
  • @StephenG That is great advice! And I sincerely hope that I am not put off of QM by making this decision. The recommended book for the UG class (both semesters of QM are taught in 4th year) is Townsend's "Modern Approach to Quantum Mechanics". The textbook for my Graduate QM class is Sakurai & Thompson's "Modern Quantum Mechanics". Can you share anything you know about the two that might be of use to me? Thank you so much for your help. I had never used Physics Stack Exchange before and I'm pleasantly surprised by the thoughtfulness in the comments of people like yourself. – Azerack May 26 '21 at 04:40
  • I am not familiar with Townsend but haven't heard anything bad about. The "Modern Quantum Mechanics" that's pretty much standard reading everywhere is by Sakurai and Napolitano and I am not aware of one with a Thompson as co-author/editor. Experience has taught me that none of these books quite works alone and everyone responds to different approaches. You do have the advantage of being able to search our past questions here and elsewhere online for answers about many concepts so I expect you'll become a regular. :-) – StephenG - Help Ukraine May 26 '21 at 05:33
  • @StephenG It was almost 1am for me yesterday and I completely misread the co-author for Sakurai's Modern Quantum Mechanics. You are absolutely right. My copy of that book is arriving today and I also own a copy of Griffith's Quantum Mechanics that I will definitely use as a supplement. I will certainly use Stack Exchange more often! I've also been trying to answer questions that I am capable of answering in order to give a little bit back :D My plan right now is to watch Feynman's Lectures and then move to reading Sakurai/Griffiths and do practice problems there. Thank you again. – Azerack May 26 '21 at 14:43

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