QuantumMechanicsIII

Thefollowingquestionsarefromrecentfinalspapers,andaregenerallyalittleeasierthanthelecture
courseproblems.Atsomepointitwouldalsobeworthyourwhiletoworkthroughthelecturecourse
problems.Thesewillgiveyoulotsofpracticeandwillreallyfamiliariseyouwiththetopic.

QUESTION1

a)

b)

c)

d)

TheSchrodingerequationforaparticleconfinedtoaringofradiusrandsubjecttoaconstant
potentialVmaybewrittenintheform:
h 2 d2

=E

+V
2
2I d

whereIisthemomentofinertiaoftheparticle.Showbydirectsubstitutionthat=Neimisa
solutionoftheSchrodingerequation(whereNandmareconstants)and,byapplyingtheboundary
conditions,determinethequantisedvaluesofenergy.

^ witheigenvalue,showthattheexpectationvalueof
IfisaneigenfunctionoftheoperatorW
thatoperatorisequalto.

Alinearcombinationoftheform'=Aei+Bei,whereAandBarenonzeroconstants,isa
solutionoftheSchrodingerequationabove,andisaneigenfunctionofthelz2operator,butisnot
aneigenfunctionofthelzoperator(lz=ih d/d).
i)
ii)

Determinetheexpectationvalue,<lz2>,forthefunction.
Showthatthenormalizationintegralforisequalto2(A2+B2)

iii)

DeterminetheratioofthecoefficientsA/Biftheexpectationvalue<lz>=h /3.

Whatwouldbethequantummechanicaluncertaintyinthemeasurementoflz?
Whenanelectronconfinedtoaringinteractswithradiationpolarisedinthexdirection,the
transitiondipoleoperatorisoftheform

=0cos()[=o(ei+ei)]

Showthattheintegral
2

im i im'
e e d

isequaltozerounlessm=m1,andhencededucethattheselectionrulesfortransitionsinducedby
thisradiationbetweenthestatesoftheelectronconfinedtotheringarem=1.

QUESTION2

WhatismeantbythetermHamiltonianoperator,andwhyisthisoperatorimportantinquantum
mechanics?

Aonedimensionalparticleisconfinedtoaregion0<x<Lofzeropotentialenergy,byinfinitepotential
barriersatx=0andL.

a)
WritedowntheHamiltonianfortheparticle,andsolvefullytheSchrodingerequationforthe

energylevelsandwavefunctionsofthesystem.

b)
Comparebrieflythepredictedbehaviourofthequantumsystemwithitsclassicalcounterpart.

c)
Howwouldtheenergylevelsbemodifiedifthepotentialfor0<x<Lwasanonzeroconstant,V0?

d)
Writedownthecorrespondingexpressionfortheenergylevelsofatwodimensionalparticle

confinedtothezeropotentialregion0<x<L1/2and0<y<L2/2.Underwhatconditionsdoes

degeneracyoccur,andwhatpropertyofthesystemdoesthisreflect?

QUESTION3

a)

b)

c)

Whatismeantbythestatement:isaneigenfunctionoftheHamiltonianwitheigenvalueE?

Explainbrieflywhythedeterminationofeigenfunctionsandeigenvaluesisimportantinchemistry.

TheHamiltonianforthebendingvibrationofCO2canbewritten:

d)

2
2
2
^ = h +1 + 12 +1kR2
H
2
2m R R R R f2 2

wherethecylindricalcoordinates(R,)describethedisplacementofthecarbonatomfromthe
symmetryaxis.Showthat=Aexp(bR2)isaneigenfunctionoftheHamiltonian,andfindthe
correspondingeigenvalue.

Givereasonsforbelievingthatthisisthegroundstateand,fromyourknowledgeofmolecular
vibrations,whatwouldyouexpectfortheenergy,degeneracyandwavefunctionofthefirstexcited
state?