Physics Qual Exam 2010-11 Day One

General Physics I Casimir Eect

1. Consider two metallic plates of area A separated by a distance of L. The electromagnetic elds uctuate inside the vacuum region between the two metallic plates, and are constrained by the standard boundary conditions. The zero point energy associated with the vacuum uctuations leads to a net attractive force between the two metallic plates at zero temperature. This force from nothing is called the Casimir eect. In the limit of large area A, consider the zero point energy of the vacuum per unit area (A, L) E/A, which can depend on fundamental constants such as e, , c etc. Using your physical intuition and dimensional analysis, determine (A, L) up to a numerical factor. 2. From the derivative of (A, L) with respect to L, determine the force per unit area p0 (A, L) between the two plates. Taking L = 1m = 106 m, estimate p0 (A, L) in units of Pascals. 3. Now estimate the pressure pT of a photon gas conned in a box with volume A L at temperature T , up to a numerical factor. Express the ratio p0 /pT in terms of the relevant variables in the problem, and estimate its value for T = 1K, and L = 1m = 106 m as before.

Quantum Mechanics I Neutron Interferometry

In 1975, Collela, Overhauser and Werner measured the acceleration due to gravity g = 9.8 m/s2 using a neutron interferometer. A schematic illustration of the device is shown below (taken from the original paper). The mass of the the neutron is mn = 1.67 1027 kg = 939 MeV/c2 and h = 6.63 1034 J s = 4.14 1015 eV s. 1. A neutron beam is incident on a perfect crystal Si slab, with a lattice spacing of 1.920 . Estimate the Bragg diraction angle of the beam for an incident A neutron beam of energy 20 meV. 2. Three successive Bragg gratings are used to form a neutron interferometer in the so-called LLL conguration. Assume the interferometer is oriented with the input neutron beam (which runs parallel to segment AB in the diagram) along a horizontal axis with the Bragg reected beams in a vertical plane. A sketch of the paths in this orientation is given in the second gure below. Gravitational potential energy aects the de Broglie wavelength of the neutron. Estimate the phase shift between the two interfering paths induced by gravity with acceleration g. Assume d = 35 mm, and neglect contributions to the phase shift associated with propagation through the Si slabs. 3. Assume the interferometer runs with a total input ux of 103 neutrons per second, that each grating is 30% ecient (e.g. that the diracted ux is 30% of the incident ux for each grating), and that the detectors are ideal (1 count for each incident neutron). Estimate the statistical uncertainty in determination of g after 1 hour of data collection.

Figure 1: Schematic illustration of a neutron interferometer. From Collela, Overhauser, Werner, PRL 34, 1975. d is separation between successive Bragg diraction gratings. C1, C2 and C3 are neutron detectors. The entire interferometer structure can be rotated through an angle about an axis dened by segment AB, which is assumed to be horizontally oriented.

Figure 2: Sketch of paths in previous conguration

Special Relativity

Show that when two particles of energy E1 , E2 and masses m1 , m2 , collide with momenta p1 , p2 , the center of momentum frame energy is ECM = (E1 E2 p1 p2 + m2 + m2 )1/2 2 1 Estimate the total energy available in the center of momentum frame when: 1. Protons of energy 7 TeV collide head on at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. 2. Gold (Au) nuclei with kinetic energy per nucleon of 100 GeV/n are accelerated at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider at Brookhaven and collide head on. 3. Ultra High Energy Cosmic Ray protons with energy 0.5 ZeV collide with stationary nucleons inside nitrogen nuclei in our atmosphere. 4. What would be the answer to (2) if the beams were perpendicular? 5. What is the minimum energy a cosmic ray must have to create a pion when it collides with a 1 meV microwave background photon? 6. The largest energy cosmic ray collision on our past light cone back to the time when the rst galaxies formed probably involved 100EeV center of momentum frame energy. Are you worried that the Earth might be destroyed by collisions at particle accelerators? (1GeV= 103 TeV= 106 PeV= 109 EeV= 1012 ZeV. Nucleon mass: mN = 0.94GeV. Pion mass: m = 0.14GeV. Gold Atomic weight: A(Au)= 197.) (1)

Classical MechanicsCentral Force Motion

1. Consider the motion of a test particle of mass m moving under the inuence of an attractive k/r2 central force, where (r, ) are polar coordinates in the plane of motion. Use the conservation laws for this system to write down an explicit equation for dr/d. This equation can be integrated to yield cos = l2 /kmr 1 1 + 2El2 /k 2 m , (2)

where E and l are the energy and angular momentum of the particle, respectively. 2. Deection of starlight during a solar eclipse: The gravitational eld of the Sun deects the trajectory of light, according to both Newtons and Einsteins theories of gravity. Use the Newtonian theory and make the assumption that a photon behaves like a particle of mass m with energy mc2 /2 to nd a formula for the deection angle 1. Express your results in terms of the impact parameter d, and G, c, MSun . The general relativity result is twice this answer. (See Figure 3) 3. Ellipse/parabola: The trajectory of a particle launched to a small altitude from the surface of the Earth is really part of an ellipse, not the parabola you learned about in high school. You will now show that it is well approximated by a parabola. (a) Using the coordinate system dened in Figure 4, consider a particle launched from the ground with speed v0 , elevation angle 0 , and gravitational acceleration g. Using high school physics, nd the parameters (a, b) for the parabolic trajectory, y = ax2 +b. (This is high school physics, so no partial credit!) (b) Express cos and r in terms of x, y. (c) Show that eqn(2) reduces to the parabola under the appropriate approximations. (Note that 1 + = 1 + /2 2 /8 + ...).

Figure 3: Figure for Classical Mechanics, Part 2

Figure 4: Figure for Classical Mechanics, Part 3