National Physics Olympiad Mock

Training Team #1

Pr.1: Soft Phonon Mode

We know that photons, phonons, plasmons, etc. all have fixed vibration
modes, and these vibration modes have fixed dispersion relation. From the
perspective of quantum mechanics, this is a process of quantum transfer of
energy. Soft mode (soft mode) is one of the vibration modes. The special
feature of soft mode is that its dispersion relation cannot find the corre-
sponding real frequency under some special wave vectors. In the following
we will illustrate this phenomenon through a phonon model. Consider a one-
dimensional atomic chain, in which each adjacent atom is at distance a, each
atom has a mass of m, and the atomic charge has the same magnitude of e,
but presents a positive and negative staggered arrangement (That is, there
are two negative charges next to a positive charge, and the same goes for
the negative charge). In this model you must only consider the following two
forces:

• Coulomb force between all atoms

• There will be a linear restoring force (similar to elastic force) between

adjacent atoms, and its elastic force constant is k

Under certain conditions, this model will have soft mode characteristics, that
is, you can find the corresponding real frequency for some wave vectors, and
you cannot find it for some other wave vectors. Try to find this condition.
Please express the answer in terms of the physical parameters of this question
and other basic physical parameters.

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Pr.2: Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy
In order to measure the content of some specific proteins in living cells, we
can attach fluorescent groups to these proteins by chemical modification or
genetic modification. In this way, when a sample is irradiated with a laser of
a specific wavelength, the fluorophore will be excited and then fluoresce. We
only need to measure the fluorescence intensity of the sample to know the
concentration of this protein. Generally speaking, the fluorescence intensity
emitted by the sample will be proportional to the protein concentration, but
this proportionality constant is difficult to measure directly, so it is difficult
to know the actual concentration of the protein. Fortunately, experiments
by Philippe Cluzel et al. at Princeton University solved this problem. Cru-
cially, they not only measured the average intensity of fluorescence, but also
took into account its fluctuations. Combining the two, the aforementioned
proportional constant can be obtained, and even the diffusion coefficient of
the protein can be accurately obtained.

1. Considering one of the small volumes of the solution, ∆V , the amount

of protein in this volume is counted as N . Suppose that ∆V is much
smaller than the total solution volume, but the N in it is still much
larger than 1. In this problem, you can treat the statistical properties
of a protein in solution as the same as an ideal gas. Try to find the
fluctuation size ⟨N 2 ⟩ − ⟨N ⟩2 of N under the thermal equilibrium at
absolute temperature T . Represent the answer by ⟨N ⟩.
Note: In this question, the ensemble mean is represented by brackets
⟨. . . ⟩.

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2. Denote the protein concentration at time t at the position ⃗x in the
solution as c(⃗x, t), that is, the amount of protein per unit volume. This
concentration can be further divided into two terms: c = c̄δc, where c̄
is the average concentration and δc is the deviation from the average.
From the results of sub-question (1), please prove that:
⟨δc(⃗x, t)δc (⃗x′ , t)⟩ = c̄δ (3) (⃗x − ⃗x′ )
where δ (3) (⃗x − ⃗x′ ) is the three-dimensional Dirac delta function.
3. Assuming that the system has reached thermal equilibrium at t = 0,
the concentration at this time is c(⃗x, 0) = c̄δc(⃗x, 0). The subsequent
time-varying concentration is determined by Fick’s Law: J⃗ = −D∇c,
where J⃗ is the number of particles passing through a unit area per
unit time, D is the diffusion coefficient. Prove that the off-average
concentration at time t > 0 at position ⃗x can be written as:
|⃗x − ⃗y |2
Z  
1 3
δc(⃗x, t) = d ⃗y exp − δc(⃗y , 0)
(4πDt)3/2 4Dt

4. Assuming that the light intensity of the laser beam near the focal point
exhibits a Gaussian distribution: (set the focal point as the origin of the
coordinates, and use Cartesian coordinates ⃗x = (x, y, z) to represent,
I0 , ωxy , ωz are constants.)
(
2 x2 +y 2 ) 2
− 2 − 2z2
I(⃗x) = I0 e ωxy
e ωz

The observed fluorescence intensity can then be written as,

Z
F (t) = f d3⃗xI(⃗x)c(⃗x, t)

where f is a proportional constant. Similarly, we can write F (t) as

the mean F̄ plus the amount of deviation from the mean δF (t). Prove
that:
C
⟨δF (t)δF (0)⟩ =  q
1 + |t|
τ
1 + a|t|
2τ

and evaluate the expressions for C, a and τ . Please explain from this
result how the diffusion coefficient D was derived from experiments and
data analysis.

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 5. Find the average protein concentration c̄, answer using ⟨δF (0)δF (0)⟩, F̄
and ωxy , ωz to indicate.

Pr.3: Microwave
The body of the microwave oven is made of sheet metal. The furnace door
is generally made of glass for the convenience of users to observe, but a
metal mesh is installed on the inside, as shown in the figure below. This
is the protective layer set up by using metal to shield microwaves, mainly
to prevent microwave leakage from harming the human body. This topic
discusses the shielding effect of metals on microwaves.

Consider one of the metal plates, as shown in the figure below, z < 0 is
the space in the microwave (can be regarded as a vacuum), and z > 0 is
the metal. Suppose that both the microwave space and the metal are semi-
infinite spaces. The metal is an ohmic conductor, the conductivity is σ,
and σ ≫ ϵb ω, ϵb is the real part of the permittivity (can be ignored in the
calculation), ω is the angular frequency of the microwave. Metals are non-
magnetic substances with a magnetic permeability of µ0 . There is a plane
microwave incident perpendicular to the metal plate in the direction of +z,
and the total magnetic field of the incident wave and reflected wave on the
⃗
metal surface is B(z = 0, t) = B0 cos(ωt)x̂. Assuming that the material
of the metal is copper, the permeability of copper µ0 = 1.26 × 10−6 H/m,
conductivity σ = 5.9 × 107 /(Ω · m). The microwave frequency is 2.5 × 109 Hz,
and the infrared frequency is 2.5 × 1013 Hz.

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 ⃗ t).
1. Find the magnetic field distribution inside the metal B(z,
⃗ t), and from
2. Try to calculate the current density inside the metal J(z,
this calculate the Joule loss per unit volume. It is known that the
current will be concentrated in the range of the metal surface thickness
δ, try to calculate δ.
3. Try to calculate the Poynting vector inside the metal, and then find the
average microwave power absorbed by the metal unit surface area. Is
this energy the same as the average of the total Joule loss versus time?
4. Try to find the proportion of absorbed energy η after the microwave is
incident on the metal surface perpendicularly.
5. How many times η does copper absorb infrared rays as it absorbs mi-
crowaves? Try this to explain why a used infrared oven can get hot,
but a microwave won’t.
Next, we discuss the metal grid on the glass window, as shown in the left
image below. But for the sake of convenience, let’s consider a simpler case:
Suppose the metal grid is a square grid, that is, the grid is composed of
parallel metal strips arranged vertically (along the y-axis) and horizontally
(along the x-axis), as shown in the right figure below . It is known that the
radius of the metal strip is larger than the width δ calculated in sub-problem
(2), but still much smaller than the distance a between two adjacent metal
strips.

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6. If all the metal strips arranged along the y-axis are removed, only the
metal strips arranged along the x-axis are left. The metal strips ar-
ranged along the x-axis can shield the electromagnetic waves polarized
in which direction?

7. Following sub-question (6), also consider only the metal strips arranged
along the x-axis, assuming that there is an electric field parallel to the
x-direction of the polarized plane light incident vertically from a dis-
tance. The induced current on the metal strip will redistribute the
nearby electromagnetic field. At this time, the electromagnetic field on
the metal mesh plane can be regarded as the superposition of many
electromagnetic waves with different wave vectors ky along the y direc-
tion. Please prove that ky can only be an integer multiple of 2π/a (but
not 0).

8. Assume the mesh is on the z = 0 plane. For simplicity, we do not

consider the detailed electromagnetic field distribution near the grid,
and directly regard the grid as a two-dimensional material whose light
transmittance varies with position.

9. From the conclusion of the (7) sub-problem, it can be known that

the transmittance of the two-dimensional material to the electromag-
netic wave polarized in the x direction
P∞and the y 2nπ direction

of the elec-
tric
P∞ field can2nπbe
set as τx (x, y) = n=1 tn sin a
y and τy (x, y) =
t
n=1 n sin a
x . Here the transmittance is defined as the ratio of
the transmitted light to the incident light, if it is negative, it means the
phase difference is 180 degrees. tn has nothing to do with coordinates,
and is directly considered known. Considering that the plane electro-
magnetic wave is vertically incident on the metal mesh from the space

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 of z < 0 (in the furnace), the electric field is:

⃗ i (z, t) = E1 cos ω z − ωt x
  ω 
E b + E2 cos z − ωt + ϕ yb
c c
⃗ t (z, t) of the transmitted wave. If the metal
Find the electric field E
mesh is to have a shielding effect on microwaves, what are the restric-
tions on a?

Pr.4: Gravity and Elastic Membrane

Many popular science articles like to use elastic membranes as an analogy to
gravity, as shown in the figure below left. This question will discuss its me-
chanical principles without considering the theory of relativity. The surface
tension of the elastic film is σ. After the ball is placed on the membrane, the
membrane will deform. Assuming that the mass of the ball is small enough,
the deformation of the membrane is so small that the angle between the
membrane surface and the horizontal ground is much less than 1, and the
surface tension σ is hardly affected. The gravitational acceleration of the
earth’s surface is g. The mass of the membrane is small and negligible.

1. Two small balls of mass M and m are placed on the membrane, and
the distance between the two balls is r, as shown in the upper right
figure. The two balls will gradually approach to the centre. This phe-
nomenon can be analogized to the two-dimensional gravity, its magni-
tude is GM
rn
m
, G is the two-dimensional gravitational constant. Try to
find G and n, the answer can be expressed using σ and g.

2. Following sub-question (1), suppose M is much larger than m, and M is

at rest at first, and the direction of m’s initial velocity is perpendicular

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 to the line connecting the two spheres. If m will make a circular motion
around M next, try to find the initial velocity v0 of m. Assuming that
the membrane surface is smooth, the frictional force between the ball
and the membrane surface can be ignored.
3. If the coefficient of friction between the ball and the membrane is large
enough that the ball can be regarded as pure rolling on the membrane,
what is the answer to sub-question (2)? Assume the ball is solid and
has a uniform mass distribution.
4. If the initial rate is not exactly v0 (but close to v0 ), the trajectory of
m will not be closed, as shown in subsection (2). The experimentally
obtained trajectory is shown in the figure below. Please calculate the
angle α in the figure theoretically, i.e. the angle between the two ad-
jacent trajectories and M at the farthest distance from M , and the
angle of the line connecting M . (The ball is not purely rolling in the
experiment, there will be frictional losses, so the trajectory of m will
get closer and closer to M . However, in the calculation of this problem
there is no need to consider frictional losses, and it can be assumed
that the ball is purely rolling on the membrane.)

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Pr.5: Relativistic Strings
Here’s a new perspective on a well-known relativistic kinematics problem.
The two poles shown in the figure are placed statically in the ground system,
and the coordinates of each point have been marked.

1. The once famous question is what happens to a ground-based observer

when two poles are simultaneously ”instantly” accelerated to the same
velocity v in the positive direction of x? That is, find the apparent
length of two rods and the relative distance between their endpoints,
and try to answer this question.

2. For the answers to the above questions, many students will have obvious
doubts. We now take another way to solve the problem. Suppose
the rod is composed of a series of scattered particles, and there is no
interaction between them. Then all the particles of the two rods start to
accelerate along the positive x direction at the same time in the ground
frame with a small constant acceleration (the acceleration value in their
respective rest frame of reference is constant a), and after a long time
they all accelerate to speed v.

(a) Try to find the coordinates of the left endpoints of the two poles
at this time;
(b) Try to find the coordinates of the right endpoints of the two poles
at this time;

You are probably not satisfied with the above results, then we will build
another model, taking all the particles on the rod as a community, that
is, there is an ”eigensystem of the rod”, in which the acceleration of
the rod is a constant a0 .

(c) Try to find the coordinates of the left and right endpoints of the
rod at time t in the ground system;

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Pr.6: Fabry-Perot Interference
As shown in figure, ∆ABC is a right-angled isosceles triangular prism (cross
section) made of optical glass, and the right-angled side length is h. We will
use it to study Fabry-Perot interference. For more convenient research, this
problem can use complex numbers to describe light waves:
⃗
⃗
E(x, y, z; t) = E · ei(ωt−k·⃗r)
Where E is called the complex amplitude, which can contain some phase
information, ω, ⃗k are the circular frequency and wave vector of the light wave,
respectively. We denote the ratio of the reflected complex amplitude to the
complex amplitude of the reflection from the air to the glass as the amplitude
reflectance r, and denote the ratio of the transmitted complex amplitude to
the complex amplitude of the reflection as the amplitude transmittance t; The
amplitude reflectance and transmittance of human air are r′ , t′ , then there is
a Stokes relation: r2 tt′ = 1, r′ = −r. The light intensity is proportional to
the square of the amplitude and to the refractive index, so the light intensity
reflectivity and light intensity transmittance can also be obtained.
1. In order to make the light beam whose incident angle is less than i0c
(this is a not very big angle) can be totally reflected on the side of BC,
find the relationship between the refractive index n of the optical glass,
and approximate to the lowest-order nonzero term at i0c ≪ 1.

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2. The optical glass we selected satisfies the above requirements, the am-
plitude reflectance is considered to be −1 in total reflection, and the
angle taken in the question is considered to have |r|2 = |r′ |2 = R con-
stant and known. It is considered that the light beam in the triangular
prism can be refracted and reflected infinitely many times. When illu-
minated by monochromatic light with a wavelength of λ, find the ratio
of the reflected light intensity on the surface of AC to the human light
intensity and the human light angle i0 relationship.

3. Ignoring the absorption of the optical glass, find the relationship be-
tween the ratio of the light intensity transmitted from the AB surface
to the human light intensity and the human incidence angle i0 .

4. In order to observe the interference fringes, we can replace the incident

light with an extended light source, and add a lens with a focal length
f to the reflected light. Observed in the focal plane, it is found that the
diameters of two adjacent bright fringes are D1 , D2 , D1 < D2 , Df2 ≪ 1.
Use the parameter in the question to represent λ.

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