Columbia University

Department of Physics
QUALIFYING EXAMINATION

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

3:10PM to 5:10PM
Modern Physics
Section 4. Relativity and Applied Quantum Mechanics

Two hours are permitted for the completion of this section of the examination. Choose
4 problems out of the 5 included in this section. (You will not earn extra credit by doing an
additional problem). Apportion your time carefully.

Use separate answer booklet(s) for each question. Clearly mark on the answer booklet(s)
which question you are answering (e.g., Section 4 (Relativity and Applied QM), Question 2,
etc.).

Do NOT write your name on your answer booklets. Instead, clearly indicate your Exam
Letter Code.

You may refer to the single handwritten note sheet on 8 12 11 paper (double-sided) you
have prepared on Modern Physics. The note sheet cannot leave the exam room once the
exam has begun. This note sheet must be handed in at the end of todays exam. Please
include your Exam Letter Code on your note sheet. No other extraneous papers or books
are permitted.

Simple calculators are permitted. However, the use of calculators for storing and/or recov-
ering formulae or constants is NOT permitted.

Questions should be directed to the proctor.

Good Luck!

Section 4 Page 1 of 6
 1. Consider an electron gas confined in three dimensions whose energy can be related to
its momentum by:
h2 kx2 ky2 kz2
 
E (kx , ky ) = + +
2 mx my mz
where mx , my , and mz are the effective carrier mass along the x, y, and z direction,
respectively.
(a) Find the density of states N (EF ) of this electron gas as a function of Fermi energy
EF .

We now apply a magnetic field H. In Pauli paramagnetism, the electron energy changes
linearly: E gB H, where the +/ sign depends on the spin direction, B is the Bohr
magneton, and g is the electron g-factor.
(b) Let n and n be the spin up and down electron densities, respectively. Using
the result obtained in (a), write down an expression for the magnetization M =
gB (n n ) at a finite temperature T . [You do not need to evaluate the integral
for this part of the problem.]
(c) Let us now consider the low-temperature limit, kB T  EF in (b). Show that
the M obtained in part (b) is linearly proportional to H for low magnetic field
(gB H  EF ). What is the proportionality coefficient?

Section 4 Page 2 of 6
 2. Consider a hydrogen atom in its ground state. The hyperfine interaction between the
magnetic moment of the proton and the magnetic moment of the electron is written as:
~1 S
Hhf = AS ~2 (1)

~1 is the spin of the electron and S

In Equation 1, S ~2 is the spin of the proton.
The ground state of the hydrogen atom is split by the hyperfine coupling. Obtain the
energies of these split levels.

Section 4 Page 3 of 6
 3. Show that a constantly accelerating object would asymptotically approach the speed of
light, in accordance with relativity. By constant acceleration we mean the following:
whereas the velocity obeys (dt/d )2 + (dx/d )2 = 1 ( is the proper time and one
spatial dimension is assumed), the acceleration obeys (d2 t/d 2 )2 + (d2 x/d 2 )2 = 2 ,
where is a constant.

Section 4 Page 4 of 6
 4. An electron with momentum p initially traveling along x collides with an electron at
rest. After the collision the final velocity of one of the electrons is oriented at an angle
of 30 with respect to the x axis and both electrons have the same energy. Find the
momentum of this outgoing electron, in terms of the rest energy of the electron.

Section 4 Page 5 of 6
 5. A steady laser beam with energy density U shines on a perfect mirror placed perpendic-
ular to the beam. The mirror has mass m and area A all of which is illuminated by the
beam. The mirror experiences no forces except for the radiation pressure. It is initially
at rest (at time t = 0).
(a) Find the force f applied to the mirror at t = 0.
(b) Over time, the radiation pressure accelerates the mirror to a relativistic velocity v.
What is the force applied by the beam to the mirror when the mirror is moving
with v/c = 3/4?
(c) How long will it take to accelerate the mirror to a given Lorentz factor  1?

Section 4 Page 6 of 6
Sec 4 - # 1
 Sec 4 - # 2

General-Section 4: applied quantum mechanics

Solution

Total angular momentum is:

S = S1 + S2

For S1 = and S2 = the two states are:

singlet with S=0; and

triplet with S=1

Write:

S2 = (S1 + S2)2 = S12 + S22 +2S2.S2

Hhf = AS1.S2 = (A/2) (S2 S12 S22) (1)

In Equation (1) S1 is the spin of the electron and S2 is the spin of the proton.

The needed eigenvalues are:

For S2 2 S(S+1) (2)

For S12 2 S1(S1+1) (3)
For S22 2 S2(S2+1) (4)

From Equations (1) to (4) it follows that the hyperfine energies are:

for the singlet -32A/4

for the triplet 2A/4

 General: Astrophysics

Question: Consider a photon being emitted at a distance ` away from us

(the observer). The photon travels through a medium of absorbers at an average
density n (number of absorbers per unit volume), each with an absorption cross-
section . Let = n`. What is the probability the photon is absorbed en route
to us? You should be able to write down an exact expression for it. Whats its
small limit?
Answer: Divide the line of sight into N chunks. In each, the probability the
photon does not get absorbed is 1 ( /N ). The probability of no absorption
throughout is [1( /N )]N which in the large N limit gives e . The probability
of absorption is therefore 1 e . The small limit gives . Note that the
result is unchanged if n where non-uniformly distributed - simply replace n`
by an integral over the line of sight.

Modern: Relativity

Question: show that a constantly accelerating object would eventually ap-

proach the speed of light, in accordance with relativity. By constant acceleration
we mean the following: whereas the velocity obeys (dt/d )2 + (dx/d )2 = 1
( is the proper time and one spatial dimension is assumed), the acceleration
obeys (d2 t/d 2 )2 + (d2 x/d 2 )2 = 2 , where is a constant.

Sec 4 - # 3 Answer: the simplest solution would be to observe that t = 1 sinh [ ]

and x = 1 cosh [ ] satisfies both of the above equations, and argue that
dx/dt = tanh [ ] approaches unity in the large limit.
A more elaborate approach would be to use the first equation to write d =
dt 1 v 2 , and rewrite the second equation as
   
d dt dx d dt dx
+ = 2 (1)
d d d d d d

which can be rewritten as

2
(1 + g 2 )2 1

dg
= 2 (2)
4g 2 g2 dt
p
where g (1 v)/(1 + v). Taking the square root of this (with the appro-
priate sign) and integrate, one obtains 2t = g 1 g plus integration constant.
Hence, as t , v 1.

1
 RELATIVITY

An electron with momentum p initially travelling along x collides with an electron at

rest. After the collision the final velocity of one of the electrons is oriented at an angle of 30o
with respect to the x axis and both electrons have the same energy. Find the momentum
of this outgoing electron, in terms of the rest energy of the electron.

30o

Sec 4 - # 4

Solution: (units c=1) After collision, the two outgoing particles have same energy and
must have equal and opposite values of components of momentum perpendicular to x, thus
they must have the same value of momentum along x and this must be equal to the initial
momentum divided by 2. Call this momentum px .
1/3 credit for getting to this point
Conservation of energy:
p q
(1) 4p2x + m2 + m = 2 p2x + p2y + m2

Squaring, cancelling and squaring again

(2) m2 p2x = p2y m2 + p4y
1
2 RELATIVITY

Thus knowledge of relation between px and py fixes angle and determines magnitude of
momentum.
1/3 credit for getting to this point
Momentum p~ = m~v so

(3) py = mv vsin = |p|sin = tan px
6 6 6
Thus

(4) m2 p2 cos2 = m2 p2 sin2 + p4 sin4
6 6 6
or
2 2


2 2 cos 6 sin 6
(5) p =m = 8m2
sin4 6
Modern: relativity
A steady laser beam with energy density U impacts a perfect mirror placed perpendicular to the beam.
The mirror has mass m and area A all of which is illuminated by the beam. The mirror experiences
no forces except for the radiation pressure. It is initially at rest (at time t = 0).
(a) Find force f applied to the mirror at t = 0.
(b) Over time, the radiation pressure accelerates the mirror to a relativistic velocity v. What is the
force applied by the beam to the mirror moving with v/c = 3/4?
(c) How long will it take to accelerate the mirror to a given Lorentz factor  1?
Solution: Sec 4 - # 5
(a) The density of momentum in the beam is U/c. The momentum impacting the static mirror during
time dt is dPin = (cdt A) (U/c). The corresponding momentum carried by the reflected photons is
dPout = dPin , so the mirror gains momentum dP = 2dt A U . The applied force is f = dP/dt = 2AU .

(b) The momentum impacting the moving mirror during time dt is

U
dPin = (c v)dt A .
c
Consider the reflection of one photon with initial momentum p in . The corresponding four-momentum
is (pin , pin , 0, 0). Lorentz transformation of this four-vector yields the momentum measured in the rest-
frame of the mirror: p0in = pin (1 ). In this frame, the photon after reflection has the momentum
p0out = p0in . Transforming p0out back to the lab frame, one finds how the reflection has changed the
photon momentum: pout = (p0out + p0out ) = 2 (1 )2 pin .
The reflection of many photons with net momentum dP in gives
1
dPout = 2 (1 )2 dPin = dPin .
1+
The force applied to the mirror is
dPin dPout 1 dPin 1 2
   
f= = 1+ =2 AU = AU.
dt 1+ dt 1+ 7

[A faster way is available if one is familiar with the transformation of stress-energy tensor, which gives
U 0 = 2 (1 )2 U . Then use f 0 = 2AU 0 and f = f 0 .]
(c) The mirror accelerates according to the dynamic equation dP m /dt = f , where Pm = mv is the
momentum of the mirror. This gives
d 1
 
mc () = 2 AU.
dt 1+
When  1, this equation simplifies to

d AU 2mc 3
mc = 2 t= .
dt 2 3AU