Ph.D.

QUALIFYING EXAMINATION PART A

Tuesday, January 4, 2011, 1:00 5:00 P.M.

Work each problem on a separate sheet(s) of paper and put your identifying number on
each page. Do not use your name. Each problem has equal weight. A table of integrals can be
used. Some physical constants and mathematical definitions will be provided if needed. Some
students find useful the Schaums outlines, Mathematical Handbook of Formulas and Tables.

A1. An infinite flat sheet with mass density (mass per unit area) lies in the xy-plane. A small
hole of radius R is cut out from the sheet. A mass M is constrained to move on a line that is
perpendicular to the sheet and passes through the center of the hole (the z-axis).

a) What is the force on M when it is located a distance z from the center of the hole?

b) If the mass is released from rest very close to the center of the hole show that it undergoes
oscillatory motion, and find the frequency of these oscillations.

c) If the mass is released from rest at a distance z from the center of the hole, what is its speed
when it passes through the center of the hole? What is its speed when z << R?

A2. A non-conducting sphere of radius a carries a volume charge

density = Ar 2 , where A is a constant. It is surrounded by a
thick concentric metal spherical shell of inner radius b and outer b
radius c. The thick conducting shell carries no net charge.
a
a) Use Gausss Law to determine the electric field as a function
of r, i.e., for r < a ; a < r < b ; b < r < c ; r > c
c
b) Find the surface charge density at b and c.

c) Determine the electric potential as a function of r.

d) If the outer surface at r = c is grounded, how do the results above change?

A3. Consider a harmonic oscillator with Hamiltonian

1 1
,
2 2 2 2

in which , / , and / 2 .

a) For the first excited state, find the probability density that a measurement of
will yield the value p.

b) If the speed is measured on an ensemble of particles, all in the first excited state, what is
the most probable value that will be obtained?

c) A weak velocitydependent perturbation is now applied to the system. Find the

energy shift in the first excited state, to 2nd order in the small parameter .

A4. A cubic block of side a and mass m slides a

with speed v on a frictionless rectangular
table, with its sides oriented parallel to the
v
sides of the table. The table is surrounded by a
low vertical edge that prevents the cube from
sliding off.

What is the minimum speed the cube must

have to tumble over the edge after colliding
with it (as shown in the second figure)?
Assume the height of the edge to be negligible
and the collision of the cube with the edge to be completely inelastic.

[Hint: Treat the inelastic collision with the edge using angular momentum conservation and the
tumbling via rotational energy. The moment of inertia of a cube for a rotation axis through its
center is I = (1/ 6)ma 2 .
A5. The total power radiated by a black body per unit area per unit wavelength at any given
temperature is given by the Planck formula

2 1
, / 1
a) Demonstrate that the wavelength at which the peak of the distribution occurs satisfies
hc
Wiens displacement law . Show that the quantity x = satisfies the
kT
transcendental equation 5 1 . Derive an expression for the in terms of the
Planck constant , speed of light , and Boltzmanns constant . Hint: Expand about x = 5 to
solve the transcendental equation to lowest order (3 significant figures),i.e., let x = 5 + .

b) Prove that the total power per unit area emitted by the black body at all wavelengths
satisfies the Stefan-Boltzmann law . Derive an expression for in terms of the
fundamental constants and a dimensionless integral.

Constants: 6.63 10 / , 3 10 / , 1.38 10 /

A6. Consider a gas of N non-interacting diatomic molecules each of which has a permanent
electric dipole moment . The classical Hamiltonian describing the rotation of a single molecule
in an electric field E pointing in the z-direction is given by

Hrot = 1/(2I) ( p2 + p2/sin2 ) E cos .

Here, and are the usual angles of a spherical coordinate system, p and p are the canonically
conjugate momenta, and I is the moment of inertia.

(a) Calculate the rotational part Zrot of the canonical partition and find the average polarization
per volume V of the gas, P = (N/V) cos, as a function of field E and temperature T.

e x dx = 2 a 2 ]
2
/(2 a 2 )
[Hint:

(b) The dielectric constant of a material is defined via E = 0 E + P. Determine the high-
temperature and weak-field behavior of by expanding your result for P in the limit E << kBT.
Show that to lowest non-trivial order, = 0 + (N 2) / (3V kBT). [Hint: coth x = 1/x +x/3 + ]
 Ph.D. QUALIFYING EXAMINATION PART B

Wednesday, January 5, 2011, 1:00 5:00 p.m.

Work each problem on a separate sheet(s) of paper and put your identifying number on
each page. Do not use your name. Each problem has equal weight. A table of integrals can be
used. Some physical constants and mathematical definitions will be provided if needed. Some
students find useful the Schaums outlines, Mathematical Handbook of Formulas and Tables.

B1. A plane pendulum of length l has a bob with

mass m and is mounted to a cart also of mass m that
is free to move horizontally along a frictionless track
(see diagram). A spring with force constant k is
attached to the cart and to an adjacent wall. The
spring constant and the length of the pendulum are
related by 2mg = kl.

a) Using x and as generalized coordinates construct

the Lagrangian for the system. Here x is the
displacement from equilibrium. You should assume
small oscillations.

b) Find the normal mode frequencies and describe the motion associated with each of these
modes.

B2. In his Nobel Prize winning experiments Washington University professor Arthur Compton
studied inelastic scattering of X-ray photons ( ~ 0.05 ) off the electrons in solids. Assume
that a photon interacts with a single stationary electron ( 9.1 10 ).

a) By comparing the photon energy to the rest mass energy of an electron, show that this problem
requires a relativistic treatment.

b) Using the relativistic expression for the energy of an electron, derive a relationship between
the wavelength change which the photon experiences during the collision and its recoil angle
. Show that the expected change is ~ 0.002 (which is substantial enough to be measured
at the time of Comptons experiment in the early 1920s).

Needed information: 6.63 10 / 3 10 /

 C
B3. Consider charging a parallel plate capacitor. The S
capacitor C is connected to a resistor R and to a
battery V0, as shown. The capacitor is initially
uncharged. Start the time as t = 0 when the switch S is V0 R
closed.

a) Show that the charge on the capacitor as a function

of time is given by Q (t ) = Q0 (1 e t / ) , where Q0 and are constants. Determine Q0 and in
terms of R, C, and V0.

b) The plates are circular in shape with a radius a and the gap between the plates is d with
d  a so that fringing can be ignored. Determine the electric and magnetic fields in the gap as a
function of time t.

c) Determine the Poynting vector in the gap as a function of time.

d) Calculate the total power flowing into the gap, by integrating the Poynting vector over the
appropriate surface, i.e., at = a .

e) Determine the total energy stored in the gap after a long time.

B4. A particle of mass m, constrained to move in 1D, is in a bound eigenstate of a short

range attractive potential. The Hamiltonian can be approximated as

.
2

a) Assuming to be continuous, obtain an expression for it in the regions x > 0 and x < 0.
Express your (normalized) result in terms of the parameter 2 | |/ , where | | is
the energy of the single bound state (to be determined below).

b) Integrate the energy eigenvalue equation across an infinitesimal region centered at x = 0, to

show that any even (continuous) eigenfunction must have a discontinuity in its derivative. Using
this, determine the binding energy | |.

c) At some instant, the force center undergoes a sudden reaction, instantaneously changing the
potential experienced by the particle from to 2 . What is the
probability that the particle remains bound to the force center following the change?
B5. Consider a volume charge density in spherical coordinates given by

G q0 e r / a q0 e r / a 1 5
(r ) = Y ( , ) = (3cos 2 1) .
a 4
3 20 3
a
G
G 1 (r ) 3
4 0 | r r |
Recall the electrostatic potential is given by V (r ) = G G d r .

Show that for r  a , the electrostatic potential for this volume charge density is given by

G 6q a 2 1
V (r ) = 0 3 (3cos 2 1) .
0r 5
G G
You need to expand the expression 1/ | r r | for r < r and then integrate from r = 0 to r = r ,
but you can let r because by assumption r  a . Why is this a good approximation in this
case?

1 m =A
4 r<A
Recall: G G

=
| r r | A =0 m = A 2A + 1 r>
Y ( , )YA*m ( , )
A +1 Am

B6. At t = 0 , the wave function of a free particle is given by

b 2
= sin bx | x | <
2 b
2
=0 | x|
b

a) What is the probability for finding the particle in the interval 0 < x ?
2b

b) Determine the momentum wave function at t = 0 . You should obtain the result

(=b)3/2 sin( 2=bp )

( p) =
i ( p 2 = 2b 2 )

c) What is the expectation value for the momentum?

d) For what value of the momentum is the momentum probability a maximum?

e) What is the probability for finding the momentum in an interval dp around =b ?