National University of Singapore

Department of Physics
PhD Qualifying Comprehensive Examination
Semester I, AY 2012/2013
1 October 2012

Time: 4 hours

This is a CLOSED-BOOK exam.

Each student is allowed to bring in a hand-written
cheat sheet of two A4 pages, but no other written
or printed material.
Answer all FOUR questions.
The questions carry equal weight.
Indicate each of your answers CLEARLY.

1 October 2012 QE: Comprehensive Exam AY 2012/13, Sem 1

Question 1 Quantum Mechanics

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sM, q

{z

A spinless point particle with mass M and charge q is moving along a conducting thin wire that has the shape of a circle with radius R. The wave
function of the particle is a function of the azimuth and time t, (, t).
The differential operator for the angular momentum around the axis through
the centre of the circle and perpendicular to the plane of the circle is
L=

h

i

with h
= 1.05 1034 Js, and
Hkin =

L2
2M R2

is the Hamiltonian differential operator for the kinetic energy.

(a)

Explain why the wave function must be periodic, (+2, t) = (, t),

and state the normalization condition for the wave function.
(b) Show that the eigenvalues of L are m
h with m = 0, 1, 2, . . . and
state the normalized eigenfunctions um (). What are the corresponding
eigenvalues of Hkin , and what is their degeneracy?
(c) Use the Schrodinger equation obeyed by (, t) and the continuity
equation

(, t) +
j(, t) = 0
t

with the (azimuthal) charge density (, t) = q|(, t)|2 to derive an

expression for the current j(, t) in terms of L and (, t).
(d) For M = 9.11 1031 kg, q = 1.60 1019 C, and R = 1.2 106 m,
how large is the current when the particle is in the eigenstates of L with
m = 0, m = 1, or m = 2?

QE: Comprehensive Exam AY 2012/13, Sem 1 1 October 2012

Question 2 Statistical Mechanics

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aa

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a aa

aa a
aa

aa

sm

One end of a rubber band is fixed to a peg in the ceiling and mass m is
attached to the other end so that the rubber band hangs vertically with
length L. Assume a simple microscopic model of the rubber band as a linked
chain of N segments joined end to end. Each of these segments has the fixed
length a and can orient itself either parallel or antiparallel to the vertical
direction. The physical situation has N  1 and L  a. Neglect the mass
of the rubber band and any interaction among the segments.
(a) Find an expression for the energy E of the system.
(b) Obtain an expression for the entropy S of the rubber band in terms of
L, N , and a.
(c) Find an expression for the Helmholtz free energy F as a function of the
length L and the temperature T .
(d) Minimize F with respect to L to obtain the equilibrium length L of the
rubber band as a function of m, N , a, and T .
(e) If the temperature is increased, does the rubber band get longer or
shorter? Justify your answer.

1 October 2012 QE: Comprehensive Exam AY 2012/13, Sem 1

Question 3 Electricity and Magnetism

Consider a uniformly charged ball with radius R and charge density , with
the charge uniformly distributed over the entire volume of the ball. The
centre of the ball is at position ~r = 0.
(a)

Find the electric field strength E(r) as a function of the distance r from
the centre of the ball. Sketch the plot of E vs r.
(b) What is the relationship between E(r) and the electrostatic potential (r)? Determine (r), taking the potential at infinity to be zero.
Sketch the plot of vs r.
(c) How much work must be done to bring a point charge q from far away
to the surface of the ball?

Consider now that the uniformly-charged ball rotates with constant angular
velocity
~.

(d)
(e)

Show that the electric current density is ~j =

~ ~r inside the ball.
Find the magnetic field at the centre of the ball.

QE: Comprehensive Exam AY 2012/13, Sem 1 1 October 2012

Question 4 Mechanics and Thermodynamics

An isotropic elastic spherical object of radius r has a tensile surface stress
= E/A, where E is the system energy and A is the surface area; has a
fixed positive value, so that the surface area tends to shrink. This tendency
induces an extra pressure, the so-called Laplace pressure PL , on the material
inside the surface.
(a) Show that
2
PL =
r
when the system is in equilibrium.
(b) Evaluate PL for a spherical aluminum nano-crystal ( = 1.25 N/m)
of radius r = 2 nm, and compare it with the atmospheric pressure of
105 N/m2 .
(c) The atomic spacing a in the nano-crystal decreases in the presence of
the Laplace pressure. Use the result of (a) to derive the relative change
of the atomic spacing a/a as a function of , r, and the so-called
bulk modulus B0 = V (dV /dP )1 that quantifies the response of the
volume V to a change of the pressure P .
End of paper