 
Hello.
I'm Barton Zwiebach,
professor of physics at MIT.
I will be teaching 8.05x, the
online version of our 8.05
course on quantum
mechanics at MIT.
This is a course
designed to take students
with some basic grounding
in quantum physics
to the next level.
I love teaching this course
because it shows the power
and elegance of
quantum mechanics.
Quantum mechanics is
powerful because it describes
in an economic way
a lot of nature,
from the physics of
atoms to that of stars.
It is also elegant
because it has
a solid mathematical foundation.
You will see that as we delve
into the fascinating subject
of complex vector spaces and
the operators that act on them.
You should take this
course if you're
excited about quantum
mechanics and already know
some of its basics.
Here we will help you
master quantum mechanics.
We will give you the tools
to do quantum mechanics.
We will be looking closely
at spin 1/2 systems.
These systems have great
practical applications.
For example, MRI machines use
spin 1/2 particles dancing
to the tune of magnetic
fields to look deep
inside the human body.
Spin 1/2 systems also
show the deep mysteries
of quantum mechanics in the
properties of entanglement
or teleportation.
The principle of
superposition and entanglement
may one day be harnessed for
the use of quantum computation.
You will also be learning
about angular momentum
and about the addition
of angular momentum.
The concept of
symmetry will play also
an important role as it is
used to understand and solve
quantum systems, especially
those having degeneracies.
Thank you for your interest in
8.05x and I hope you will join
us in this course.
 
