Dr. Satyanarayana Kumar, VIT-Chennai.

October 7, 2021

Assignment

Please read the instructions below carefully.

• The following assignment is a “stay home, stay safe” open-book examina-

tion. You may use calculators if you wish to do so. Furthermore, you may

also look up the values of any physical constants you will need, from an

authentic source on the World Wide Web. You are also free to look up the

internet, go through the classroom lecture videos, or read any other book

of your choice in order to further strengthen your understanding of the

concepts associated with these questions. Those final answers which are

expected to be in symbolic or semi-symbolic form, must only be in terms

of the variables defined in the question or may have physical constants in

them.

• As far as this assignment is concerned, you may brainstorm ideas with

your peers and fellow learners, but only at the “level of concepts” related

to solving a particular problem, without delving into the full details of a

step by step analysis of the solution. I must admit, there is probably some-

times, a somewhat slim “Lakshmana-rekha” or line of difference between

the two intentions. Be that as it may, since I have no means nor interest,

in installing a survellince system to police you all, I will let your own con-

science and inner voice be your guide in this regard. I believe that at the

end of the day, there is no better judge, than your own inner core speaking

to you, and telling you the difference between right and wrong. You must

all perform your own “tapasya”, and enjoy the feeling of success in getting

the correct answers. Above all, the purpose of this assignment is to help

you thoroughly learn and master certain concepts and ideas in Quantum

Physics. Ergo, I hope you will all do the right thing!

Dr. Satyanarayana Kumar, VIT-Chennai. 1

Dr. Satyanarayana Kumar, VIT-Chennai. October 7, 2021

Questions

1. Consider an electrically charged entity of mass m, which can be modelled

as a simple one-dimensional harmonic oscillator, that is part of the cavity

wall of a typical laboratory style blackbody which is at a temperature

equal to T . Given this information, what is a reasonably good estimate

for the wavelength λ, of the matter wave associated with this charged

entity ?

2. For the situation in 1, compute λ in nanometers if T = 1200K, and m =

12mH , where mH is the mass of the hydrogen atom.

3. A microscopic object travelling with a speed v is associated with a quan-

tum wavepacket which is shaped in the form of a Gaussian. If w is the

width of the Gaussian wavepacket at half its maximum value, then find an

expression in units of Hertz, which provides a fair estimate of the “uncer-

tainity in frequency”, corresponding to the group of waves which compose

this wavepacket.

4. If the value of w in 3, fortuitously happens to be equal to the value of λ you

computed for 2, then compute the numerical value of the “uncertainity in

frequency”. Take v = 10 m/s. [refer 3 ].

5. Consider a Compton scattering event wherein an x-ray photon strikes an

electron of mass me which is at rest. The energy of the incoming photon

is equal to the rest energy of the electron. If the direction of the scattered

photon makes an angle of 60◦ with the direction of the incident photon,

evaluate the expression for difference in wavelengths between the scattered

and the incident photons, and compute its numerical value in nanometers.

6. For the situation given in 5, find an expression for the kinetic energy of the

Dr. Satyanarayana Kumar, VIT-Chennai. 2

Dr. Satyanarayana Kumar, VIT-Chennai. October 7, 2021

electron post the Compton scattering event, and compute its numerical

value in electronvolts.

7. For the situation given in 5, find an expression for the total energy of the

electron post the Compton scattering event, and compute its numerical

value in electronvolts.

8. For the situation given in 5, find an expression for the kinetic energy of

the scattered photon post the Compton scattering event, and compute its

numerical value in electronvolts.

9. For the situation given in 5, find an expression for the total energy of the

scattered photon post the Compton scattering event, and compute it s

numerical value in electronvolts.

10. Review the Davisson Germer experiment (its significance) and your under-

standing of Bragg’s diffraction law. Look up Debye-Scherrer rings on the

internet. Explain in a brief, neat and crisp manner using a diagram as to

how these rings are produced by Bragg reflections, when a polycrystalline

material is exposed to an electron beam.

11. Imagine that you are trying to probe the potential energy U (x, t) experi-

enced by a quantum mechanical particle of mass m and energy E, whose

2
wave function is found to be Ψ(x, t) = Ae−(mbx +2iEt)/2~ , where A and b
∂U ∂U
are positive real number constants. Evaluate and .
∂t ∂x

12. For the situation in 11, evaluate the constant A in terms of the constants

m and b, such that Ψ(x, t) is normalized. (Hint : You may want to use
R∞ 2 √
−∞
e−α dα = π)

13. For the situation in 11, set up the integral expression, for the probability

to find the particle between x1 = −3 and x2 = 2. (Substitute for A in

Dr. Satyanarayana Kumar, VIT-Chennai. 3

Dr. Satyanarayana Kumar, VIT-Chennai. October 7, 2021

terms of m and b using the result you obtained in 12).

14. Ramanujan Number : 1729, is the smallest number which can be expressed

as the sum of two different cubes in two different ways, i.e. 1729 = 13 +

123 = 93 + 103 . Ramanujan number can also be factorized as 1729 =

n1 × n2 × n3 , where n1 = 7, n2 = 13 and n3 = 19. Imagine you have

a best friend who is fond of both number theory and quantum physics.

Your friend prepared the state of a particle, in a box with infinitely hard

walls, which has the following wavefunction:

i h√
r   i
1 n1 πx  −iEn t/~  n πx 
2
 n πx 
3
Ψ(x, t) = sin e 1 +√ 2sin e−iEn2 t/~ + sin e−iEn3 t/~ ,
L L 3 L L

where L is the size of the box and 0 ≤ x ≤ L. The mass of the par-

ticle is m. Compute the numerical values of the following three ratios:

En1 En2 En3
, , .
En2 En3 En1

15. For the situation in 14, if m = 12mH and L = 10 nanometers, then, what

are the possible values of energies (in electronvolts) which can be measured

for this state?

16. With what probabilities do each of the energies you computed in 15 occur,

when energy measurements are made on the state Ψ(x, t)?

17. Is the wavefunction Ψ(x, t) in 14 properly normalized ? Justify your an-

swer.

Dr. Satyanarayana Kumar, VIT-Chennai. 4