Physics 225 Assignment #1 Solutions Due April 13, 2008

1. Statistics

(1) Let’s call the results of 13 measurements to be set X, where X = { xi | i =

1, 2, · · · , N = 13 } , or X = { x1 = 1, x2 = 2, x3 = 3, x4 = 3, x5 = 3, x6 =
4, x7 = 5, x8 = 6, x9 = 6, x10 = 6, x11 = 6, x12 = 6, x13 = 10 } . Hence the
mean of the measurements is,
N
1 X 61
X= xi = = 4.692 .
N i=1 13

(2) The mode of the measurements is 6, since it was measured 5 times.

(3) The median of the measurements is simply x7 or 5.
(4) The variance of the measurements is defined as,
N
1 X 868
V ar(X) = (xi − X)2 = = 5.136 .
N i=1 169

(5) The standard deviation of the measurements is

q q
σ= V ar(X) = 868/169 = 2.266 .

(6) The probability that 6 was measured is 5/13.

Since the 13 measured systems were randomly taken from a larger collection of iden-
tical systems, we could expect that,

(1) the estimate of the mean for the larger collection of systems is still 4.692 ;
(2) the uncertainty is
σ
σx = ± √ = ± 0.629 .
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2. Modified Bohr Atom

(1) For n de Broglie wavelengths precisely spanning the circular orbit around the
Hydrogen nucleus, it is expressed equivalently as Bohr’s quantization condition,

L = mvr = nh̄ , n = 1, 2, 3, · · · .

The force due to the potential is,

∂V rk−1
F =− = − V0 k k ,
∂r R

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 which plays the role of centripetal force. Hence,

rk−1 m v2  r k
|F | = V0 k = or m v 2 = V0 k .
Rk r R
Combining with Bohr’s quantization condition, we find
! 1
h̄2 Rk k+2
2
r= n k+2 , n = 1, 2, 3, · · · .
k m V0

(2) The total energy is simply

 r k 1  k  r k
E = V + K = V0 + m v 2 = V0 1 + .
R 2 2 R
Replace r by the relation we found in part(1), we conclude that the allowed
energies of the system are
! k
 k h̄2 k+2
2k
E = V0 1+ n k+2 , n = 1, 2, 3, · · · .
2 k m V0 R 2

3. Kinematics
The nitrogen nucleus is initially at rest, after emitting a photon, it has momentum
with the same magnitude but in opposite direction as the photon’s, due to conserva-
tion of momentum in the emission process. Since the photon’s rest mass is zero, its
energy-momentum relation is simply

E γ = pγ c ,

where Eγ and pγ are photon’s energy and momentum respectively. Hence the mo-
mentum of nitrogen nucleus pn after emission is
Eγ
pn = pγ = = 6.2 M eV /c = 3.3 × 10−21 kg m/s .
c
After emission the total energy of nitrogen nucleus is, therefore,
q q p
En = m2n c4 + p2n c2 = m2n c4 + Eγ2 = 13144.82 + 6.22 ' 13144.8 M eV .

Its kinetic energy is

q p2n (6.2 M eV /c)2
Ek = En −mn c2 = m2n c4 + p2n c2 −mn c2 ' = = 1.466 KeV .
2mn 2 × 13144.8 M eV /c2

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4. Compton Scattering
The energy of electron is Ee = γ me c2 , where me = 0.511 M eV /c2 the rest mass of
electron. Here Ee = 100 M eV , which gives us γ = 195.69 or vc = 0.999987. Hence
the collision is an ultra-relativistic process. We also know that the energy of electron
could be expressed as q
Ee = m2e c4 + p2e c2 ,
where pe is its momentum. The smaller the momentum, the smaller the energy. If
we want the energy loss to be maximum, we actually would try to find the smallest
momentum of the electron after collision. Therefore they should collide head-on and
the photon is bounced backward. For convenience, we consider the collision in the
frame S 0 where the electron is initially at rest. Say this frame is moving in the positive
x direction of the rest frame of laboratory S, with velocity v = 0.999987c . Then the
electron will see the photon with wavelength as, due to Doppler shift,
s
1 − v/c
λi = λ0 = 7.649 × 10−6 m .
1 + v/c
Before the collision, the momentum of electron is zero and that of photon −pγi = − λhi .
After the collision, the momentum of electron is −pef and photon pγf = λhf . Here
we implied that we also chose the electron’s “heading” direction as the positive x0
direction of frame S 0 . According to conservation of momentum in the collision process,
we have
−pγi = −pef + pγf or pef = pγi + pγf .
According to the Compton scattering equation
h
λf − λi = (1 − cos θ) ,
me c
since the photon is bounced back or θ = π, we have
2h
λf = λi + = 4.8 × 10−12 + 7.649 × 10−6 ' λi .
me c
Therefore the momentum of electron becomes
h h 2h 2 × 4.136 × 10−15 eV · s eV
pef = + = = −6
= 0.324
λi λf λi 7.649 × 10 m c
in the negative x0qdirection. But the rest mass of electron is 0.511 M eV , then its final
energy is Eef = m2e c4 + p2ef c2 ' me c2 . By Lorentz transformation back to frame
S, we have electron’s final energy,
Ee0 Eef v
=γ( − pef ) or
c c c
Ee0 = γ (Eef − v pef ) ' γ me c2 − γ c pef = Ee − γ c pef .
Finally the maximum energy loss is
∆Ee = Ee0 − Ee = −γ c pef = −195.69 × 0.324 eV = 63.4 eV .

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5. Photo-electric Effect
Simply use the relation Eemax = h ν − EB , where ν is the frequency of incident light
and EB the work function of potassium, we could find
hc
EB = − Eemax = 3.54 − 1.6 = 1.94 eV .
λ

6. Probability Amplitudes

(1) Notice that two probability amplitudes ψ1 and ψ2 contribute to the probability
amplitude ψ of finding a particle at point X or ψ = ψ1 + ψ2 . Therefore the
probability of finding a particle at point X is simply

P = |ψ|2 = |ψ1 + ψ2 |2 = |ψ1 |2 + |ψ2 |2 + ψ1∗ ψ2 + ψ1 ψ2∗

Plug in the expressions for ψ1 and ψ2 and rearrange the equation a little bit, we
find √
P = η12 + η22 + 2 η1 η2 [sin(ω2 − ω1 )t + cos(ω2 − ω1 )t]
(2) For η1 = 1, η2 = 2, ω1 = π4 , and ω2 = π2 ,
π
P = 5 + 4 sin (t + 1) .
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Its plot is shown in the figure below.

P vs t

10

P 5

0
0 10 20 30 40

(3) Now if we can distinguish the trajectories, the probability of finding a particle
at point X will become

P = |ψ1 |2 + |ψ2 |2 = η12 + η22 .