Scribd
Upload
15 views1 page

Q.M. Assignment 7

Uploaded by

tribedidwijendramohan
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
15 views1 page

Q.M. Assignment 7

Uploaded by

tribedidwijendramohan
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
You are on page 1/ 1

PH3102 Quantum Mechanics Assignment 7

Instructor: Dr. Siddhartha Lal Autumn Semester, 2024


Start Date: October 17, 2024 Submission Deadline: October 22, 2024 .
Submit your answers to the Tutor at the start of the tutorial.

Q1. Electron in a magnetic field: Landau levels [15 marks]


Consider a spinless particle of charge e and mass m confined to moving in a two-dimensional plane (say, the XY
⃗ = B ẑ). Assume c = 1
plane) and in the presence of an uniform external magnetic field in the z-direction (B
throughout.
⃗ r) according to the symmetric gauge A(⃗
a. Construct a vector potential A(⃗ ⃗ r) = 1 ⃗
× ⃗r). Write down the
2 (B
complete Hamiltonian for the system. [2 marks]
b. Construct a ladder operator a in which the Hamiltonian acquires the standard form of an SHO: H =
h̄ωc a† a + 21 , where ωc = eB/mc is the cyclotron frequency. Make sure the ladder operator satisfies the
proper commutation relation. [2 marks]
c. Once this is in place, write down the energy levels in terms of the cyclotron frequency. These states are
referred to as the Landau levels. [1 mark]

 define a variable r = x − iy and its complex conjugate ⃗r. Also define


d. In order to obtain the ground state,
1
the derivative operations ∂ = 2 ∂x ∂ ∂
+ i ∂y ¯ Rewrite the ladder operator a
and its complex conjugate ∂.
you obtained at the beginning in terms of r, ∂ and their complex conjugates. Solve the differential equation
arising from the action of a on the ground state in order to obtain a functional form for the ground state
wavefunction. [3 marks]

e. Let us now concentrate on the ground states. What do the probabilities (i.e., |ψ|2 ) look like physically? [2
marks]
f. These eigenstates are highly degenerate. In order to reveal this, define a second ladder operator b by using
⃗ Make sure that these new ladder operators have the appropriate commutator, and
the operators ⃗π̃ = p⃗ + eA.
also show that they commute with the Hamiltonian. a and b therefore form a set of commuting operators,
and can be used to label the eigenstates of the Hamiltonian. [We can create new eigenstates by applying b†
on any given eigenstate of a, but since the energy depends only on the eigenvalue of a† a, these will all be
degenerate.] [4 marks]
g. Can you identify which conserved observable is associated with this degeneracy? The symmetry of the Hamil-
tonian constructed in the first part should guide you; try to visualise the Hamiltonian in polar coordinates. [1
mark]

You might also like