THE UNIVERSITY OF BAMENDA

FACULTY OF SCIENCE DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS

Atomic and Molecular Physics: PHYS4216
Tutorial Sheet 1

1. The “plum pudding” model of the atom proposed by J. J. Thomson in the early days of atomic theory
consisted of a sphere of radius a of positive charge of total value Ze. Z is an integer and e is the fundamental
unit of charge. The electrons, of charge -e, were considered to be point charges embedded in the positive
charge.
(a) Find the force acting on an electron as a function of its distance r from the center of the sphere for
the element hydrogen.
(b) What type of motion does the electron execute?
(c) Find an expression for the frequency for this motion.

2. Calculate the recoil energy and velocity of a hydrogen atom in a transition from the state n = 4 to the
state n = 1, in which a photon is emitted.

3. Lyman alpha, the n = 1 to n = 2 transition in atomic hydrogen, is at 1215 Ǻ.

(a) Define the wavelength region capable of photoionizing a H atom in the ground level (n=1).
(b) Define the wavelength region capable of photoionizing a H atom in the first excited level (n=2).
(c) Define the wavelength region capable of photoionizing a He+ ion in the ground level (n=1).
(d) Define the wavelength region capable of photoionizing a He+ ion in the first excited level (n=2).

4. Five of Balmer series spectral lines of hydrogen atom have the wavelengths 3669.42 Å, 3770.06 Å,
3835.40 Å, 3970.07 Å and 4340.47 Å. Plot the wave number v as a function of n for Balmer series. Deduce
the value of n for the upper level of each of the five wavelengths above.

 Mm 
5. The attractive force between a neutron (mass M) and an electron (mass m) is given by F  G 2 er .
r
Considering the smallest orbit of the electron around the neutron, according to Bohr's theory,
a) Write the centrifugal force in term of m, r and v, where r is the radius of the Bohr orbit, and v is the
velocity of the electron in this orbit.
b) Express the kinetic energy in terms of G, M, m and r.
c) Express the potential energy in terms of G, M, m and r.
d) Express the total energy in terms of G, M, m and r.
e) write the equation of the quantization of the Bohr orbits.
f) How large is the radius r of the orbit with n = 1? Express r in terms of ћ, G, M and m; give the numerical
value of r.

1
6. For Bohr model of the atom, calculate the electric current and the magnetic dipole moment of the
electron in the first three orbits (n = 1,2,3). The Landé g-factor of an orbital atom is given by
j ( j  1)  l (l  1)  s ( s  1)
g  1
2 j ( j  1)

7. A muonium atom consists of an atomic nucleus with nuclear charge Z and a captured muon moving
about the neucleus in circular motion. The muon is a particle with a mass 207 times that of the electron; its
charge is equal to the one of electron.
a) What is the binding energy of a muon which has been captured by a proton?
b) What is the radius of the corresponding Bohr orbit (n = 1)?
c) Give the energy of the photon emitted when the muon is transited from state n = 2 to the ground state.

8. Calculate the expectation values of the kinetic and potential energies

a) for the ground state of the hydrogen atom, n= 1, l = m = 0,
b) for the wavefunctions n = 2, 1 = 0, m = 0 and n = 2, l= 1, m = ±1,0.
Hint: Use spherical polar coordinates, so that for the volume element dV, dV  sin  d d r 2 dr

9. Describe briefly each of the following effects or, in the case of rules, state the rule: (a) Auger effect (b)
Anomalous Zeeman effect (c) Lamb shift (d) Landé interval rule (e) Hund’s rules for atomic levels.

10.
a) Write the Schrödinger equation of an electron of mass m and charge  q moving in the potential field

q2
created by a proton of charge  q and mass M (let suppose m / M  0 ). Take e2 
4 0
b) Give the solution of Schrodinger equation describing the bound states.
c) What is the energy of a state characterized by the quantum numbers n and l?
d) What is the degree of degeneracy of level n? (do not take into account the degeneracy due to the spin of
electron)
e) Define the fine structure constant and calculate the radius and the velocity of electron at state 1s.
f) Calculate the probability P1s(r)dr of finding electron between r and r+dr from proton.
g) Find rp the most probable value of r. Calculate the probability of electron to be at a distance r within the
interval 0.9rp and 1.1rp.
h) Calculate the average value of r 1s , of potential energy V 1s and kinetic energy T 1s .
2 n 1
1 2 2
The radial functions are given by R1s (r )  2e r and Rnl (r )    r n 1e  r / n , r is expressed in a0.
(2n)!  n 
 n!
Take  x n e  kx dx 
0 k n 1
2
 THE UNIVERSITY OF BAMENDA
FACULTY OF SCIENCE DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS
Atomic and Molecular Physics: PHYS4216
Tutorial Sheet 2

1.

a) Show that the spin-orbit coupling l.s split all the spectral lines of the Lyman serie of hydrogen atom
b) The first Lyman spectral line Lα of wavelength λ = 121.6 nm is split into two components in which the
separation is equal to 5.3.10-4nm. Calculate in cm-1, the value of the constant of the spin-orbit coupling of
level 2p.

2. The wave number of the Balmer serie of hydrogen atom verify the following relation:
1 1 1 
   RH   2  with n  3, 4,5,...
 4 n 
a) Calculate in nm the wavelength of the spectral line Hα. In which spectral domain of light it belongs to?
RH=109677.567cm-1
b) The energy of the stationary state n, j , solution of Dirac equation is given by:
  
hcRH   2  1 3   , where  2  5.3251.105
Enj   2 1    
n  n  j  1 4n  
  2  
i. Represent the diagram of the splitting of levels n=2 and n=3 following the values of j. Precise the
spectroscopic symbol of each level.
ii. Deduce the fine structure of the line spectra Hα. In how many lines it is split?
iii. Calculate the wavelength of the most intense spectral line corresponding to the transition
(32 P3 / 2 ,32 D3 / 2 )  (22 S1 / 2 , 22 P1 / 2 )

3.
a) Show that the Hamiltonian of the spin-orbit coupling of hydrogen atom is written:

 2e 2 l.s  
H LS  , l and s are dimensionless
2m 2c 2 r 3
b) Deduce the expression of the constant of spin-orbit coupling Anl  2 for a level nl.
 dr 2
Take  Rnl2  for l  0
0 r l (l  1)(2l  1)n3a03
c) Calculate the value of the constant A2 p  2 .
d) Show that the constant of spin-orbit coupling is a function of Z4 for a hydrogenics.

4. One wants to calculate the fundamental energy of helium-like (Li+, Be++, B+++, …) of Hamiltonian:
p12 p 2 Ze2 Ze 2 e 2
H  2     H 0  H1
2m 2m r1 r2 r12
p12 p22 Ze 2 Ze 2 e2 2 q2
where H 0     and H1  , e 
2m 2m r1 r2 r12 4 0

3
a) Let consider that H1 is a perturbation to the principal Hamiltonian H0. Show that the unperturbed state
Z ( r1  r2 )
2 Z3  a0
of configuration 1s is described by the wavefunction:   3 e
 a0
e2
b) By treating the repulsive term as a perturbation, calculate at the first order of perturbation, the
r12
correction of the energy. Deduce the energy of the fundamental configuration 1s2.
3/ 2 Zr
 e2 2 1 Z 
a0
The ionization energy of hydrogen is EI=13.606eV,   d  1.25 EI , and 1s    e
0 r12   a0 

5. The figure below shows the ground state and first four excited states of the helium atom.
(a) Indicate on the figure the complete spectroscopic notation of each level.

(b) Indicate, with arrows on the figure, the allowed radiative dipole transitions.
(c) Give a qualitative reason why level B is lower in energy than level C.

6. One wants to study the spectrum of ion Sr+28 (Z=38). It is known that in the case of the strongly charged
ions, the mono-electronic energy Enl of orbitals nl is the increasing function of n.
a) Determine
i. the fundamental configuration of strontium noted C0,
ii. determine the first excited configurations
b) Among the excited configurations from the first question
i. what is the configuration with the lowest energy?
ii. what is the configuration with the highest energy?
iii. The dipolar transition is allowed only for configurations of different parities. So,which ones are the
starting point of the electric dipolar transitions to C0?
c) How many states are included in the configuration C  1s 2 2 s 2 2 p 5 3d
d) Determine the value of J of all these levels
One recalls that there is an equivalence between the complementary terms nl p and nl 4l  p  2 .

7. Calculate, to an order of magnitude, the following properties of the 2p-1s electromagnetic transition in
an atom formed by a muon and a strontium nucleus (Z = 38):
(a) the fine-structure splitting,
(b) the natural line width. (Hint: the lifetime of the 2p state of hydrogen is 10-9 sec)

8. Consider the situation which arises when a negative muon is captured by an aluminum atom (atomic
number Z = 13). After the muon gets inside the “electron cloud” it forms a hydrogen-like muonic atom with
4
the aluminum nucleus. The mass of the muon is 105.7 MeV. Compute the wavelength (in Ǻ) of the photon
emitted when this muonic atom decays from the 3d state. (Slide rule accuracy; neglect nuclear motion)

9. If the proton is approximated as a uniform charge distribution in a sphere of radius R, show that the shift
of an s-wave atomic energy level in the hydrogen atom, from the value it would have for a point proton, is
approximately
2 2 2
Ens  e  ns (0) R 2
5
using the fact that the proton radius is much smaller than the Bohr radius. Why is the shift much smaller for
non-s states? The 2s hydrogenic wave function is
r
3/ 2 
1/ 2r   2 a0
 2 s  (2a0 )  1  e
 2a0 
What is the approximate splitting (in eV) between the 2s and 2p levels induced by this effect?
a0 ≈ 5 × 10-9 cm for H, R ≈ 10-13 cm.

10. Let study the Zeeman effect of the resonance spectral line of hydrogen atom (λ0=121.6nm correspond to
the transition 2p→2s). The spin of nucleus is neglected, only the one of electron is taken into account.
Recallings:

 2e 2 l.s  
H LS  , l and s are dimensionless
2m 2c 2 r 3
3
1  me2  2 2 q2
nlm 3 nlm   2  3 ,e 
r    n l (l  1)(2l  1) 4 0
 
a) The hydrogen atom is set into a weak magnetic field B0 parallel to the Oz axis; indicate in a diagram
the Zeeman sublevels by precising the nature of various Zeeman components and their separation in term of
q
0  B0 . The selection rule is given by m  0, 1
2m

b) Repeat in the case of strong magnetic field B0 .