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Jan. 18th, 2006
Grad School: Prelim day 2
Jan. 18th, 2006 02:07 pmDone with the prelim! At least for now. Afterwards Kris and I held up our beers to cheers of, "to no more prelims!" Today went really well. Of course, it's a complete mystery what the standard for passing will be (to be decided in a smoke-filled/smoke-free [depending on whom you ask] room on Friday), but I feel very good about how I did.
The first question was a straightforward uncertainty principle / variational method calculation, the second... I don't even remember the second question! [Looks at notes] The second question was time dependent perturbation theory, and may have actually been the first and only time dependent perturbation theory question I've ever solved, rederiving the relevant equation on the exam based on a memory of reading Dirac's book a couple days ago. That one also involved some raising/lowering operators, etc. Third question was a very Hagen-esque one about a system of two spin 1/2 particles. Unable to see Hagen's doubtlessly two-line proof I worked out the thing with all the matrices. It didn't quite work out but I think I will receive substantial points for the effort. Then two stat mech questions which I clobbered, adding "I [heart] Stat Mech" for emphasis.
Special thanks to everyone who offered encouragement, baked lemon squares, sent nice emails or text messages, etc, that was awesome of you and I appreciate it tremendously. And now, to go get some food. Once again, you can take a look at today's questions, if you want.
The first question was a straightforward uncertainty principle / variational method calculation, the second... I don't even remember the second question! [Looks at notes] The second question was time dependent perturbation theory, and may have actually been the first and only time dependent perturbation theory question I've ever solved, rederiving the relevant equation on the exam based on a memory of reading Dirac's book a couple days ago. That one also involved some raising/lowering operators, etc. Third question was a very Hagen-esque one about a system of two spin 1/2 particles. Unable to see Hagen's doubtlessly two-line proof I worked out the thing with all the matrices. It didn't quite work out but I think I will receive substantial points for the effort. Then two stat mech questions which I clobbered, adding "I [heart] Stat Mech" for emphasis.
Special thanks to everyone who offered encouragement, baked lemon squares, sent nice emails or text messages, etc, that was awesome of you and I appreciate it tremendously. And now, to go get some food. Once again, you can take a look at today's questions, if you want.