Quantum Physics

• Waves and particles

• The Quantum Sun
• Schrödinger’s Cat and the Quantum
Code
Waves and Particles

• Waves • Particles
– are continuous – are discrete
– have poorly defined – have well-defined
position position
– diffract and interfere – don’t (classically)
diffract or interfere
Light is a wave

• Thomas Young (1773–1829)

– light undergoes diffraction and interference (Young’s
slits)
– (also: theory of colour vision, compressibility of
materials (Young’s modulus), near-decipherment of
Egyptian hieroglyphs—clever chap…)
• James Clerk Maxwell (1831–79)
– light as an electromagnetic wave
– (and colour photography, thermo-
dynamics, Saturn’s rings—incredibly
clever chap…)
Light is particles

• Blackbody spectrum
– light behaves as if it came in packets of
energy hf (Max Planck)
• Photoelectric effect
– light does come in packets of energy hf
(Einstein)
– used to measure h by Millikan in 1916
Photoelectric effect

• Light causes emission of electrons from

metals
– energy of electrons depends on frequency of
light, KE = hf – w
– rate of emission (current) depends on intensity
of light
– this is inexplicable if light is a continuous wave,
but simple to understand if it is composed of
particles (photons) of energy hf
Millikan’s measurement of h

h = (6.57± 0.03)
x 10-27 erg s
(cf h = 6.6260755 x 10-27)
Electrons are particles

• JJ Thomson (1856–1940)
– “cathode rays” have
well-defined e/m (1897)
• RA Millikan
– measured e using
oil drop experiment (1909)
Electrons are waves

• GP Thomson (1892–1975)
– electrons undergo diffraction
– they behave as waves with
wavelength h/p

• JJ Thomson won the Nobel Prize for

Physics in 1906 for demonstrating that
the electron is a particle.
• GP Thomson (son of JJ) won it in 1937
for demonstrating that
the electron is a wave.
• And they were both right!
Electrons as waves & light as
particles
• Atomic line spectra
– accelerated electrons radiate light
– but electron orbits are stable
– only light with hf = E can induce transition
• Bohr atom
– electron orbits as hydrogen lines
standing waves in A0 star
spectrum
The Uncertainty Principle

• Consider measuring position of a particle

– hit it with photon of wavelength 
– position determined to precision x ~ ±/2
– but have transferred momentum p ~ h/
– therefore, xp ~ h/2
(and similar relation between E and t)
• Impossible, even in principle, to know position
and momentum of particle exactly and
simultaneously
Wavefunctions

• Are particles “really” waves?

– particle as “wave packet”
• but mathematical functions describing particles as waves
sometimes give complex numbers
• and confined wave packet will disperse over time
• Born interpretation of “matter waves”
– Intensity (square of amplitude) of wave at (x,t)
represents probability of finding particle there
• wavefunction may be complex: probability given by *
• tendency of wave packets to spread out over time
represents evolution of our knowledge of the system
Postulates of Quantum
Mechanics
• The state of a quantum mechanical system is
completely described by the wavefunction 
– wavefunction must be normalisable: ∫*d = 1
(particle must be found somewhere!)
• Observable quantities are represented by
mathematical operators acting on 
• The mean value of an observable is equal to
the expectation value of its corresponding
operator
The Schrödinger equation

• non-relativistic quantum mechanics

2
2  
– classical wave equation  2      
  
– de Broglie wavelength h p
– non-relativistic energy E  12 mv2  V
– put them together!
2
 2
    V  E
2m
Barrier penetration

• Solution to Schrödinger’s equation is a plane

wave if E > V
• If E < V solution is a negative exponential
– particle will penetrate into a potential barrier
– classically this
2

would not
1.5

happen 1

0.5

0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4

-0.5

-1

-1.5
The Quantum Sun

• Sun is powered by hydrogen fusion

– protons must overcome electrostatic repulsion
– thermal energy at core of Sun does not look high
enough
– but wavefunction penetrates into barrier (nonzero
probability of finding1E-12

proton inside) 1E-13

– tunnelling 1E-14

– also explains  1E-15

decay 1E-16

1E-17
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000
r (fermi)
The Pauli Exclusion Principle

• Identical particles are genuinely

indistinguishable
– if particles a and b are interchanged, either
(a,b) = (b,a) or (a,b) = –(b,a)
– former described bosons (force particles, mesons)
latter describes fermions (quarks, leptons, baryons)
– negative sign implies that two particles cannot
have exactly the same quantum numbers, as
(a,a) must be zero
– Pauli Exclusion Principle
The Quantum Sun, part 2

• When the Sun runs out of hydrogen and

helium to fuse, it will collapse under its own
gravity
• Electrons are squeezed together until all
available states are full
– degenerate electron gas
– degeneracy pressure halts collapse
– white dwarf star
Entangled states

• Suppose process can have two possible

outcomes
– which has happened?
– don’t know until we look
– wavefunction of state includes both possibilities
(until we look)
• e.g. 
• spin 0  1+1, so  spins must be antiparallel
• measuring spin of photon 1 automatically determines spin
of photon 2 (even though they are separated by 2ct)
Quantum cryptography

• existence of entangled states has

been experimentally demonstrated

• setup of Weihs et al., 1998

– could send encryption key from A to B
with no possibility of eavesdropping
– interception destroys entangled state
Summary

• Origin of quantum mechanics: energy of light

waves comes in discrete lumps (photons)
– other quantised observables:
electric charge, angular momentum
• Interpretation of quantum mechanics as a
probabilistic view of physical processes
– explains observed phenomena such as tunnelling
• Possible applications include cryptography
and computing
– so, not as esoteric as it may appear!