I must duly acknowledge that some of the materials are drawn freely from my undergraduate lecture notes. Where the explanations in the notes are unclear, or too brief, to the point where the actual derivations become difficult for some students, I attempt to make this clearer by explaining using my own reasoning. It should be noted, however, that any mistakes herein are mine and mine alone. Please send any suggestions and/or corrections to xinglong.zhang@cuhk.edu.hk.
Chemistry
The following gives a brief introduction to electronic structure theory and quantum chemistry (taken from Chapter 1 of my Ph.D Thesis).
Oxford University Year 1 Physical Chemistry Notes:
- Use of Thermodynamic Square
- Thermodynamics Quick Summary
- A Rather Quick Introduction to Quantum Mechanics
Oxford University Year 2 Physical Chemistry Notes:
The following are some short notes that attempt to highlight some concepts or derivations that are not usually covered in a lecture setting or in some cases, not directly required for undergraduate examinations.
- Hermitian Operators
- Variational Principle
- Secular Equations
- Huckel Theory for Special Systems
- Molecular vibrations and its resemblance to Huckel problems
Mathematics
The following notes on applied mathematical topics are much longer. It is hoped that these notes on their own are accessible for anyone with an A level knowledge wishing to learn more about these topics.
