Columbia University Department of Physics QUALIFYING EXAMINATION Wednesday, January 14, 2009 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM Modern Physics Section 3. Quantum Mechanics Two hours are permitted for the completion of this section of the examination. Choose 4 problems out of the 5 included in this section. (You will not eam extra credit by doing an additional problem). Apportion your time carefully. Use separate answer booklet(s) for each question. Clearly mark on the answer booklet(s) which question you are answering (e.g, Section 3 (QM), Question 1; Section 3 (QM) Question 5, etc.) Do NOT write your name on your answer booklets, Instead clearly indicate your Exam Letter Code. You may refer to the single handwritten note sheet on 8% x 11" paper (double-sided) you have prepared on Modern Physics, The note sheet cannot leave the exam room once the exam has begun. This note sheet must be handed in at the end of today's exam. Please include your Exam Letter Code on your note sheet. No other extraneous papers or books are permitted, Simple calculators are permitted. However, the use of calculators for storing and/or recovering formulae or constants is NOT permitted. Questions should be directed to the proctor. Good luck! Section 3 Page | of 61, An electron beam is prepared by heating a filament, subjecting the emitted electrons to a potential difference Vo, and using a series of electrostatic lenses to guide the electrons on a trajectory parallel to the x-axis. A steel plate with two slits parallel to the y-axis is located at c= 0. The distance between the slits is d. The electrons are detected on a sereen located at r= X > d. The screen is free to move along the 2-axis. On the screen ‘we observe an interference pattern. In principle, itis possible with this setup to determine through which slit the electron traveled. How? Does this destroy the interference pattern? Section 3 Page 2 of 62. A beam of excited hydrogen atoms is prepared in the 2S state and passed between the plates of a capacitor in which a uniform electric field & exists overa distance L (see figure). The hydrogen atoms have velocity v and move parallel to the x axis in the +2 direction; the electric field is directed along the 2 axis. Assume that all n = 2 states of hydrogen are degenerate in the absence of the E-field (i.e. neglect hyperfine splittings). In the presence of the E-field, certain of the states will mix. You may neglect coupling to states of n #2. (@) Which of the n=2 states are mixed by the E field to first order in E? Justify your statements by symmetry or other arguments. (b) Write the Hamiltonian describing the time evolution of the n=2 Je states for 0 d, which is free to move along the z-axis. On the sereen we ob- serve an interference pattern. In principle, it is possible with this setup to determine through which slit the electron traveled. How? Does this destroy the interference pattern? Solution To br able to distinguish the interference pattern ou the screen we need to be able to measure its position with precision better than the distance between the peaks, <0 LAX AX ' Pe Od Ind where py is the electron’s momentum and a is a positive number smaller than 1. Let us take a = 1/3, When an electron hits the screen at a point = 7 -td/2, its momentum. vector is not parallel with the a-axis so it will transfer momentum to the sereen which is free to move along the s-asis, Let 6, be the angle between the top slit and the point at = = (2 ~a/2/X co) then the momentum transfered to the screen if the electron passed through slit 1 is g; & —po#h (since & is small). Similarly, gz = —poty with & ~+ d/2)/X. So if we can measure the momentum of the screen along the ‘axis well enough Lo distinguish gy from q we can determine through which it the electron passed. To do that, our resolution on the momentum needs to be Arnone < igh 49) = bao @ x with } a mumber less than oue. Let's again take 1/3. To see the interference pattern and determine which slit the electron went through we need UX dh CposFinom < AS pyee = ab. ) be rere map) a and we see that this violates the uncertainty principie.Ahill’s See Gm foblim # > Millis Quals 08 Quantum Solution (a): Label the » fs as 28. 2P. 2P,. 2P.. The perturbing potent is Vér.gia) = Es. s0 over the scale of the atom is a constant term (shifting novela) atid Germ ond sneer retletion iy 2. Rotation invariance absent srvsnes Hat 2P2 aed 273, tua se Ta perturbation theresa id 2P. On this tine the pot = Bzo+ B= ~ 20) In the basis (25,272,2P,2P)) the Hamiltonian is Bm MoE OO Do Fo Douek with E 0 and a E [ee feos [er adopting imensiouless coorsinntes we Sine uf f° jee EB ee se bey a (0 Te Seon ee = oy(PS> ARF >) th emg The ita sate 28 2 ee» en»). ot ae ve &F*(cos( MOI28 > +sin{MO)2P. >) ole) Moy > te {4) The beam has probability oas(A/L/e}# to beim the 28 state and sin M/E)? to-be in the 2° state and no probability to be in any of the other states,Seas Am (abymt 2 pnilis Millis Quals 08 Possibly Useful InformationPintn bm Séc 3 Onli # 3 Sola Maguey mum Ta geal, deoguadsic pulrrbchen in ecch drguwek svrrpote, bul hue Simple, For gpven N= Na Ny Ny Le N Nez ° fo Weve Nea i creel ce) CN Cm Le EN bm? = 0 ame CO even (ewe dk b 8) or aka ANE > BAN Gm Mowe sume pasty eh. eof bol Vea 1 pondy add B) Since SN, mL Yea LN, Crm 9 Byam 2 Plbarbchan commutes wile Ly Can che tse Yon = Yen + Yoo ~~ oe Wee eay le 0 Bat fem> 2 ioe 2 Ime kim? daavnele ec) N=2 he £7 02 Wegoer = Eekout Th KO mL. [Om > #O only f WME On Oe yesh len cr tne Or) A) For N= 3 > €- 4,5, bal Moo doer ol cogmel del wila oo = con esl C21 b bso sepaelely ) = O = no eaergy shill from Hpere a) Wigner ~ Eekart 40 (me sndegerdea) s LBV altima = ae Clebsck Gordan evel] O, m-depeadirt =m depeder eoetsy shift fr boBog io Lowest leek Cee nyo ) bees E=% ke chon =) “Kite aos yew 6 = Spl “he fo ~ Gites) ee ———————_—_T - greet s tte des M=2B1 1,1 Es thin CH Sp. 4? bosens, a west shte -~&* re Spr 7A > Fore apts atthe Ben eck Pan my me 2? greed 9 Inte kes = 0,0,20,) ses lB tw 3Cec 0) OW) foblin $F Zelerbisey MODERN PHYSICS ~ QUANTUM MECHANICS Polarizability. SOLUTION. >i where fa) Frou Ey, (1). i falls that ce teld shits se eb posit the oscillator to 24, and shits the spectram as a whole by (~e28#/(2m2)), ') The induced dipole moment along is given by the displacement a Wd) = eer whieh corresponds to the polarizability @