Massachusetts Institute of Technology Department of Physics Physics 8.

04 February 26, 1996

Quantum Physics I, Spring 1996

Agenda and readings for the week of Feb. 20:
(Note: The abbreviations for the readings are RH = Resnick and Halliday, K = Kroemer, FT = French and Taylor, CN = class notes given out after lecture (also appears on web after lecture).) |, 02/20: This Tuesday we run the Monday schedule. L5, 02/22: Intro to HUP cont'd; Applications of HUP: Box, SHO, H-atom; Atomic Spectra, Franck Hertz, Bohr Model

Readings: CN \HUP," RH 4.7,7.4,7.6

Problem Set 2
(Due Friday, February 22 at 5:00 pm sharp.) Work requested of the students is highlighted by either a question mark (?) or underlining.

1 Computer assignment
To gather more calibration data and get an updated list of students transfering in, please send email to muchomas@mit.edu with the subject heading \8.04s96". In the body of the letter please send on just one line with a) your name, b) an estimate of the number of hours you spent working on this problem set, c) your major eld of study, and d) your graduating class. Below is an example: To:muchomas@mit.edu Subject:8.04s96 ------Pat Shmoe, 10 hrs, Chemistry U'98

2 Compton Scattering/Photon Momentum

At what average rate would a hydrogen atom have to scatter visible (lambda 5000A) photons directed at it from below in order to suspend it against the earth's gravity? (Assume that the atom scatters each photon in a random directions.) Explain why you may ignore the Compton shift in solving this problem. How much net momentum is transfered to the atom from the photons during each minute on average? By what percentage do we expect the actual momentum transfer in each minute to deviate from the average value? If, instead, we intend to suspend a tank of mass m = 10; 000kg where the bottom of the tank is a perfect re ecting mirror, how many photons per second must we send at the tank? What power (in Watts) is needed to produce such a beam? 1

2.1 Photon Momentum

2.2 Compton frequency shift

Do problem RH 5.39p (p. 192).

3.1 de Broglie wavelengths for di erent particles 3.2 Interference of de Broglie waves

3 de Broglie Waves and interference e ects

Do problems RH 6.1p, 6.6p and 6.7p (starting on p. 226). Also, what is for a 70 kg professor running at 10 m=s toward 6-120 at 2:05 pm on a snowy day? Do problems RH 6.24p and 6.25p (p. 228).

4 Wave packets/Stationary Phase

In this problem we verify in an explicit example the results obtained in class through the Method of Stationary Phase. Consider a wave packet given by (x; t) = =
Z Z

1 1

dk A(k)ei (k) ei(!(k)t kx)

1=4 3

dk 4

2(

k k0 )2 eikx0 ei( 2h k2 t kx) : m

Write down explicitly and sketch the form of the functions (k) and A(k). Explain how the functions (k) and k0 have the same interpretation as given in lecture.

4.1 Getting to the form from the stationary phase argument 4.2 Doing the integral:

By completing the square in the exponent and using the result

I (y )
show that (x; t) = q
1
1 4

p e (x+iy)2 dx = = : (
(x

iht (1 m ) (The notation exp(x) just means ex).

exp

xo )2

1 m

ik0 (x xo ) + ihk0 t 2m : iht

2

4.3 Sketching the Result

Make a sketch of both the real and imaginary parts of (x; t). Indicate on your sketch such features as the wavelength and envelope of the oscillations.

Locate (and explain how you located) the position of the maximum of the envelop as a function of time xmax (t). Show explicitly for this case that the result we demonstrated in class

4.4 Verifying the results of stationary phase

xmax (t) = 0 (k0 ) + @! t: @k k0

is correct.

5 de Broglie Hypothesis
In lecture, we considered the correspondence between particles moving in free space according to an energy function E (p) and wave-packets propagating under a dispersion relation given by = E=h and p = h . In this problem you will consider the same correspondence but for a particle in a system with potential energy. Consider a particle whose energy is given by

H = (mc2 )2 + (cp)2 + V (x)

(1)

Written this way, as a function of the momentum p, the energy function of the particle has a special name. It is known as the \Hamiltonian," and so we call the energy here \H" instead of the more familiar \E". Imagine that an external force F ext (t) is applied to this particle in this system in such a way that the momentum of the particle as a function of time is given by p(t). a) Use conservation of momentum to determine dp (t) in terms of the force acting on the particle dt ext (t), the position of the particle x(t) and the potential function V (x). F b) Use conservation of energy to balance the change in energy H of the particle against the rate at which the external force does work F ext v, where v(t) x(t). Show that _

x = @H : _ @p
Is this relation true even when the external force is zero? c) Show that when the external force is zero we also have,

(2)

p = @H : _ @x

(3)

Eq. (2) and Eq. (3) taken together are known as the canonical equations of Hamilton, and are studied in detail in 8.033/8.06. d) Now consider a wave-packet description of the same particle. So long as the wavelength of the waves are much smaller than the scales over which V (x) varies, we can imagine a very localized wave-packet in place of our particle. Around each location in space x where the packet can be centered, there then can be a di erent local dispersion relation !(k; x). Given the function !(k; x), what velocity we would associate with a wave-packet centered about wave number ko and position xo ? e) For motion of the particle in the wave-packet description to be consistent with the motion determined in the particle description (Eq.'s (2-3)), what must be the form for !(k; x) in terms of V (x) and k? Show that we have again the same correspondence as in class, H $ h = h!=2 and p $ h= = hp=2 : f ) What local dispersion relation would you need to make a wave-packet accelerate just like a particle subjected to a constant force? 3