BIRLA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENCE, PILANI

COMPREHENSIVE EXAMINATION (Closed Book)

I Semester 2013-14
DATE: 10-12-2013 Max Marks: 100
COMPUTATIONAL PHYSICS (PHY F313)

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1. Derive the Newton Raphson method [5]. Find out the root of the equation f (x) = ex ln x − x2 . Check your results with
two guesses, one between 2 & 5, other one between 5 & 7. Comment on the results. (Max 5 iterations) [10]

2. (a) Derive the Numerov algorithm to solve a differential equation [10]

d2 y
+ k 2 (x)y = S(x).
dx2

(b) Consider an electron that is bound in an anharmonic potential, V (x), so that φ(x) → 0 with |x| → ∞. The eigen-
values can be found out by solving one dimensional Schrödinger equation by shooting method. How Numerov algo-
rithm in combination with any root searching algorithm can be used solve the problem by shooting method to find
out the eigenvalues? Work out all the necessary equations. [10]
(c) Write the psuedo code which can execute the steps in part(b). [5]

3. In the Monte Carlo method;

(a) How the errors are estimated in the calculated value of any integral? [2]
(b) This is a set of 10 random numbers,
rand[i] = {0.840188, 0.394383, 0.783099, 0.798440, 0.911647, 0.197551, 0.335223, 0.768230, 0.277775, 0.553970}.
R1 √ R1 2
Use this set to evaluate an integrals I1 = 0
4 1 − x2 , [3] I2 = 0 e−x dx [3]. Show the numbers in each step.
(c) Find out the error in the above integrals for one set of calculation. What kind of error this is? [2x5]
(d) Find out an expression which shows that errors in this method decreases with the number of sample point. [7]
(e) Find out how the canonical average hf i reduces to arthimetic mean when random points are samples using Metropo-
lis algorithm. [5]

4. Consider the standing waves that forms in a string that has both the ends fixed (x = 0, x = L). The wave equation is,

∂ 2 u(x, t) 2
2 ∂ u(x, t)
− c =0
∂t2 ∂x2
(a) Using finite difference method, find out the iterative equation (in terms of time) that will be used to find the solu-
tions. [10]
(b) State the difference between accuracy and the stability of the results. [5]
(c) Find out the condition for the stability of the results for the string problem. [10]

5. The motion of the simple pendulum can be represented by the equation,

d2 θ
= −g sin θ (m = l = 1)
dt2
Formulate the problem in terms of elliptical integral of first kind that can be used to find the time period of the pendulum
for any value of θ. [5]

=============================*BEST OF LUCK*=============================