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Graduate Quantum Mechanics: 501 Fall 1999 Final Exam. Monday, Dec 20th. 9:00am

1. This document contains the details of a final exam for a graduate quantum mechanics course, including 6 short questions covering various topics in quantum mechanics. 2. Question 2 involves determining if a given wavefunction is an eigenstate of the angular momentum operator, calculating possible values and probabilities of the z-component of angular momentum, and deriving the corresponding potential from the energy eigenstate. 3. Question 3 concerns positronium, a bound state of an electron and positron. It involves showing canonical conjugacy and decoupling the total and relative motion, then using this to find bound state energies and radii for the ground state as well as discussing which angular momentum states will be most unstable

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Nadia F Mohammad Al-Roshdee
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78 views2 pages

Graduate Quantum Mechanics: 501 Fall 1999 Final Exam. Monday, Dec 20th. 9:00am

1. This document contains the details of a final exam for a graduate quantum mechanics course, including 6 short questions covering various topics in quantum mechanics. 2. Question 2 involves determining if a given wavefunction is an eigenstate of the angular momentum operator, calculating possible values and probabilities of the z-component of angular momentum, and deriving the corresponding potential from the energy eigenstate. 3. Question 3 concerns positronium, a bound state of an electron and positron. It involves showing canonical conjugacy and decoupling the total and relative motion, then using this to find bound state energies and radii for the ground state as well as discussing which angular momentum states will be most unstable

Uploaded by

Nadia F Mohammad Al-Roshdee
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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GRADUATE QUANTUM MECHANICS: 501 Fall 1999

Final exam. Monday, Dec 20th. 9:00am-


1. Short questions.
(a) If |i and |j are eigenkets of Hermitian operator A. Under what conditions is |i + |j an eigenket of A?
(b) A beam of intensity I carrying spin 1/2 atoms polarized in the +z direction passes through two Stern
Gerlach type measurements. The rst measurement only accepts atoms with S
n
= h/2, where S
n
= S n
is the spin component along an axis n at an angle to the z-axis. The second measurement only accepts
down-spin atoms with S
z
= h/2. What is the nal beam intensity?
(c) If f(A) is a function of an operator A with eigenkets |a where A|a

= a

|a

, write down an expression


for the matrix elements b

|f(A)|b

of f(A) in a new basis where the matrix elements relating the |a

and |b

basis are known.


(d) The states |1 and |2 are energy eigenstates with energies E
1
and E
2
. The operator A has eigenkets |+
and | given by | =
1

2
(|1 |2), where A has values a
+
and a

respectively. Calculate the time


dependence of the expectation value A(t).
(e) An electron moves in one dimension a potential V (x) = x. Give an approximate mathematical form
for the wavefunction and sketch it, taking care to show how the amplitude varies with position. Is the
spectrum bounded or unbounded?
2. A particle moves in a sperically symmetric potential, and has wavefunction
(x, y, z) = x, y, z| = f(r)(x + y + 3z). (1)
(a) Is this state an eigenstate of L
2
? Explain your answer.
(b) If the component of angular momentum in the z direction is measured, what values can be obtained, and
what will their probability be?
(c) If | is an energy eigenstate with energy E
0
, use the wavefunction to derive the corresponding potential
V (r).
3. This is a question about positronium, a bound-state of an electron and a positron. Since positrons and electrons
have the same mass, we have to take into account the motion of both particles.
(a) For two particles of mass m
1
and m
2
show that the total momentum P = p
1
+p
2
and the center of mass
position
X = (m
1
x
1
+ m
2
x
2
)/M, (2)
( where M = m
1
+ m
2
), are canonically conjugate.
(b) Show that the relative position x = x
2
x
1
and relative momentum
p =

1
m
1
p
2

1
m
2
p
1

, (3)
where =
m1m2
m1+m2
is the reduced mass, commute with P and X and are also canonically conjugate.
(c) Show that the Hamiltonian for the system
H =
(p
1
)
2
2m
1
+
(p
2
)
2
2m
2
+ V (|x
2
x
1
|) (4)
decouples into two terms H = H
CM
+ H
internal
where
H
CM
=
1
2M
P
2
, H
internal
=
1
2
p
2
+ V (|x|) (5)
1
(d) Use the equations of motion for P and p to show that (i) the center of mass momentum is conserved and
(ii) the internal motion is equivalent to a single single particle of mass moving about a xed potential
V (r), where r = |x|.
(e) Working by analogy with the hydrogen atom, give expressions for (a) the bound-state energies and (b) the
Bohr radius associated with the ground-state wavefunction of positronium. What are the approximate
numerical sizes of these quantities?
(f) When a positron encounters an electron, they annihilate into two photons. Which angular momentum
states of positronium will be the most unstable? Explain your answer carefully.
2

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