Ph217: Quantum Physics

Some failures of classical Physics

JW Kondoro 1
 Importance of Quantum Mechanics

(a) The development of the understanding of semiconductors

through Quantum mechanics led to the development of
transistor material

(b) QM led to developing of semiconductor heterostructures used

in high-speed- and opto- electronics a as well as the invention of
the integrated circuit.

(c) QM → the understanding of atoms, molecules and interactions

(d) QM is the basis of our understanding of all natural phenomena

including those traditionally treated in chemistry, biology, etc.
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 BEFORE “THE DISCOVERY” OF QM

(a) At the end of the nineteenth century, classical physics appeared to

explain all physical phenomena.

(b) To understand the motion of material bodies, the laws of Newtonian

Mechanics and their relativistic analogues were sufficient

(c) The Maxwell’s equations and their relativistic analogues were

sufficient to describe radiation. The Lorentz could describe the
interactions between radiation and matter

(d) This set of laws which together constitute classical physics had
brought physics to a point which could be considered satisfactory, in
view of the experimental data available at the time
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 SOME FAILURES OF CLASSICAL PHYSICS

Some of the phenomena that could not be explained by

classical physics

(a) Blackbody radiation

(b) Photoelectric Effect

(c) Compton Effect

(d) X-ray spectra

(e) Stability of electronic orbits in atoms, etc.

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 Blackbody radiation

(a) Any substance (solid, liquid or gas) emits radiation according to its
absolute temperature.

(b) The efficiency at which radiation is emitted varies with the substance.

(c) At any temperature, there is an upper limit to how much radiation can
be emitted.

A blackbody is a hypothetical body that:

(i) Emits radiation at the maximum intensity possible for every

wavelength

(ii) Completely absorbs all incident radiation (hence the term "black").
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 Some experimental facts about blackbody radiation

(a) The blackbody spectrum depends only on the temperature of the

object, and not on what it is made of. All substances emit the same
blackbody spectrum if their temperatures are the same.

(b) As the temperature of an object increases, it emits more blackbody

energy at all wavelengths.

(c) As the temperature of an object increases, the peak wavelength of the

blackbody spectrum becomes shorter (bluer). For example, blue stars
are hotter than red stars.

(d) The blackbody spectrum always becomes small at the left-hand side
(the short wavelength, high frequency side).
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 The explanation of classical physics

(a) Light is an electromagnetic wave that is produced when an

electric charge vibrates.

(b) Heat is just the kinetic energy of random motion. In a hot

object, electrons were expected to vibrate in random
directions and produce light as a result.

(c) A hotter object meant more energetic vibrations and so more

light was supposed to be emitted by a hotter object.

(d) But classical physics could not explain the shape of the
blackbody spectrum.
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(e) The electrons in a hot object can vibrate, ranging from very few
vibrations per second to a huge number of vibrations per
second.

(f) Classical physics said that each frequency of vibration should

have the same energy.

(g) Since there is no limit to how high the frequency can be, there
is no limit to the energy of the vibrating electrons which meant
that, there was no limit to the energy of the light produced by
the electrons vibrating at high frequency

(h) WRONG!! Experimentally, the blackbody spectrum is small at

the left-hand side (short wavelength, high frequency).
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Rayleigh-Jeans vs Planck

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 DISCOVERLY OF QUANTUM MECHANICS

(a) Max Planck proposed that the classical idea that each frequency of
vibration should have the same energy was wrong.

(b) The energy of electrons that vibrate with different frequencies is not
shared.

(c) The energy comes in clumps which he a quantum. The size of a clump
of energy --- a quantum --- depends on the frequency of vibration.

(d) Planck's rule for the a quantum of energy for a vibrating electron:
energy of a quantum = (a calibration constant) x (frequency of
vibration) or E=hf where h is calibration constant or Planck’s constant

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Planck function and asymptotic behaviour

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 Planck’s relationship
(a) It was known that total energy emitted by blackbody is given by :
𝐸 = 𝜎𝑇 4 (Stefan-Boltzman law) where T is in Kelvin and σ is a
constant

(b) The spectrum of light emitted by an ideal hot dense object, called a
blackbody, is shown in figure 1

(c) The Rayleigh-Jeans Law gives the relationship of energy to

8𝜋𝜈2
temperature as 𝐸 = 𝑘𝑇 (ultraviolet catastrophe)
𝑐3

2
(d) The Plank’s law is as follows 𝐸 = 8𝜋𝜈 ℎ𝜈
3 𝑐 ℎ𝜈
JW Kondoro 𝑒 𝑘𝑇 −1 12
(e) At low frequencies, the Planck’s law reduces as follows

The exponential part can be simplified using the series expansion

for small values of exponent

𝑥 𝑥2 𝑥3
𝑒 = 1+𝑥+ + +⋯
2! 3!

ℎ𝜈 ℎ𝜈 2 ℎ𝜈 3
ℎ𝜈 𝑘𝑇 𝑘𝑇 ℎ𝜈
𝑒 𝑘𝑇 =1+ + + +⋯ ≈1+ 𝑓𝑜𝑟 ℎ𝜈 ≪
𝑘𝑇 2! 3! 𝑘𝑇

𝑘𝑇 (𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑠)for low frequencies

(f)
8𝜋𝜈2 ℎ𝜈 8𝜋𝜈2 ℎ𝜈 8𝜋𝜈2
𝐸= = = 𝑘𝑇 which is the Rayleigh-
𝑐3 ℎ𝜈 𝑐 3 1+ℎ𝜈−1 𝑐3
𝑒 𝑘𝑇 −1 𝑘𝑇

Jeans Law
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Rayleigh-Jeans vs Planck

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 The Wien’s Displacement law
8𝜋𝑐ℎ 1
Consider the Planck’s equation 𝐸 =
𝜆5 𝑒 ℎ𝑐 𝜆𝑘𝑇 −1

In order to find the wavelength for which the emission is maximum (at
each temperature), take a derivative of the function and set to 0,

𝑑 1 1 ℎ𝑐
= 0 ; Where 𝑎 =
𝑑𝜆 𝜆5 𝑒 𝑎 𝜆𝑇 −1 𝑘

𝑑 1 1 1 𝑑 1 1 𝑑 1
5
= 𝑎 𝜆𝑇 5
+ 5 =0
𝑑𝜆 𝜆 𝑒 𝑎 𝜆𝑇 −1 𝑒 − 1 𝑑𝜆 𝜆 𝜆 𝑑𝜆 𝑒 𝑎 𝜆𝑇 −1

𝑑 1 1 −5 1 1 − 𝑎 𝜆2 𝑇 𝑒 𝑎 𝜆𝑇

5 = 6 𝑎 𝜆𝑇 + 5 =0
𝑑𝜆 𝜆 𝑒 𝑎 𝜆𝑇 −1 𝜆 𝑒 − 1 𝜆 𝑒 𝑎 𝜆𝑇 − 1 2

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Simplifying the equation one gets

𝑎𝑒 𝑎 𝜆𝑇 𝑎
𝜆𝑇 = 𝑎 𝜆𝑇
=
5𝑒 −1 5 1 − 𝑒 −𝑎 𝜆𝑇

𝑥 𝑥2 𝑥3
Using 𝑒 = 1 + 𝑥 + + +…
2! 3!

𝑎 1 𝑎 2
one can simplify 𝑒 −𝑎 𝜆𝑇 = 1− + +. .
𝜆𝑇 2! 𝜆𝑇

Finally, λpeakT = 2.898 x 10-3 mK which is the Wien’s displacement

law.

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Solar radiation at the top of atmosphere,at the surface
and 10m under the sea

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 What Planck established
(a) Assumed that photons are bosons, i.e more than one photon per phase
space cell and photons were in thermodynamic equilibrium at all
frequencies

(b) He described the phase space cell as a box, a solution of QM harmonic

oscillator

(c) 1 1
Total energy of a box with n photons as 𝐸𝑛 = 𝑛 + ℎ𝜈 where ℎ𝜈 is
2 2

the ground state energy

(d) The probability that oscillator is in nth state from Boltzmann

1
𝑒𝑥𝑝 − 𝑛+2 ℎ𝜈 𝑒𝑥𝑝 −𝑛ℎ𝜈 𝑘𝑇
𝑃𝑛 𝜈, 𝑇 = 1 =
𝑒𝑥𝑝 − 𝑛′ +2 ℎ𝜈 𝑛′
𝑒𝑥𝑝 −𝑛′ ℎ𝜈 𝑘𝑇
𝑛′ JW Kondoro 18
(e) The average energy per phase cell is as follows

1 𝑒𝑥𝑝 −𝑛ℎ𝜈 𝑘𝑇
𝐸 = 𝑛 𝐸𝑛 𝑃𝑛 𝜈, 𝑇 = 𝑛 𝑛+ ℎ𝜈
2 𝑛′
𝑒𝑥𝑝 −𝑛′ ℎ𝜈 𝑘𝑇

(f) Introduce 𝑥 = ℎ𝜈 𝑘𝑇 , then

1
𝑘𝑇 𝑛 𝑛 + 𝑥𝑒𝑥𝑝 −𝑛𝑥 𝑛 𝑛𝑥𝑒𝑥𝑝 −𝑛𝑥 𝑥
𝐸 = 2 = 𝑘𝑇 +
𝑛 𝑒𝑥𝑝 −𝑛𝑥 𝑛 𝑒𝑥𝑝 −𝑛𝑥 2

(g) 1 𝑥 𝑒𝑥𝑝 −𝑥
𝑛 𝑒𝑥𝑝 −𝑛𝑥 =
1−𝑒𝑥𝑝 −𝑥
and 𝑛 𝑛𝑥 𝑒𝑥𝑝 −𝑛𝑥 = 2
1−𝑒𝑥𝑝 −𝑥

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(h)
𝑥𝑒 −𝑥 1 − 𝑒 −𝑥 −2 𝑥 ℎ𝜈𝑒𝑥𝑝 −𝑥 ℎ𝜈
𝐸 = 𝑘𝑇 −𝑥 −1
+ = +
1−𝑒 2 1 − 𝑒𝑥𝑝 −𝑥 2

ℎ𝜈 ℎ𝜈
𝐸 = +
𝑒 ℎ𝜈 𝑘𝑇 − 1 2

(i) ℎ𝜈
The term is the zero-point energy, unobservable. In the
2

renormalization, we can get rid of it and 𝐸 becomes

ℎ𝜈
𝐸 =
𝑒 ℎ𝜈 𝑘𝑇 −1

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 Computation of density of phase space cells

(a) Wave vector of a photon, 𝑘 = 2𝜋 𝑛 = 2𝜋𝜈

𝑛
𝜆 𝑐

(b) To get all possible photons, have to count distinguishable

photons at the same frequency, i.e photons with different spin or
different number of nodes (=different n)

(c) Since photons are bosons, there 2 polarization states

(d) The number of nodes: in the x,y,z direction, the number of nodes
𝐿𝑥 𝑘𝑥 𝐿𝑥 𝐿𝑥 𝐿𝑥 𝑑𝑘𝑥
is 𝑛𝑥 = = ⟺ 𝑑𝑛𝑥 = =
𝜆 2𝜋 𝜆 2𝜋

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(e) For n>>1, can go to “continuum of states and the above
equation becomes

𝐿𝑥 𝐿𝑦 𝐿𝑧 𝑑3 𝑘 𝐿𝑑 3 𝑘
𝑑𝑁 = 𝑑𝑛𝑥 𝑑𝑛𝑦 𝑑𝑛𝑧 = 3
=
2𝜋 2𝜋 3

(f) Therefore, the number of states per unit volume per wave
number is

𝑛𝑘 𝑑𝑁 1 2
= 2 = . A factor of 2 is from spin
𝑑3 𝑘 𝑉 𝑑3 𝑘 2𝜋 3

(g) 2𝜋 3 2
Based on the equation in (a), 𝑑3 𝑘 = 𝑘 2 𝑑𝑘𝑑Ω = 𝜈 𝑑𝜈𝑑Ω
𝑐3

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(h) Such that the density of states

𝑛𝜈 2 2𝜋 3 2 2𝜈2
𝜌𝑠 = = . 3 𝜈 =
𝑑𝜈𝑑Ω 2𝜋 3 𝑐 𝑐3

Which is the number of states per solid angle, per volume, per
frequency

𝒉𝝂 2𝜈2
Recall that 𝑬 = and state density 𝜌𝑠 =
𝒆𝒉𝝂 𝒌𝑻 −𝟏 𝑐3

(i) 2ℎ𝜈3 1
Total energy density is 𝑢𝜈 Ω = 𝐸 . 𝜌𝑠 =
𝑐 3 𝑒𝑥𝑝 ℎ𝜈 𝑘𝑇 −1

Which is energy per volume per frequency per solid angle.

The energy intensity 𝐼𝜈 would be expressed as 𝐼𝜈 = 𝑢𝜈 𝑐

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(j) The intensity is given by

2ℎ𝜈 3 1
𝐼𝜈 = 2
𝑐 𝑒𝑥𝑝 ℎ𝜈 𝑘𝑇 − 1

(k) This is the spectrum of blackbody, in 𝜆 space, the spectrum is

2ℎ𝑐 2 𝜆5
𝐵𝜆 =
𝑒𝑥𝑝 ℎ𝑐 𝜆𝑘𝑇 − 1

(l) ℎ𝜈 ℎ𝜈
For ℎ𝜈 ≪ 𝑘𝑇 𝜈 ≤ 2𝑥1010 𝑇 , 𝑒𝑥𝑝 =1+ + ⋯.
𝑘𝑇 𝑘𝑇

2𝜈2
Such that 𝐵𝜈 ≈ 𝑘𝑇 This is Rayleigh-Jeans law
𝑐2

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