TheUncertaintyPrinciple

MichaelFowler UniversityofVirginia Note:thislecture,frommyundergraduatecourse,givessomesimpleillustrationsof consequencesoftheUncertaintyPrinciple,whichyoumightfindamusing. WavesareFuzzy Aswehaveshown forwavepackets,thewavenatureofparticlesimpliesthatwecannot knowbothposition andmomentumofaparticletoanarbitrarydegreeofaccuracyif p Dx representstheuncertaintyinourknowledgeofposition,and D thatofmomentum, then
Dp x ~h D

wherehisPlancksconstant.Intherealworld,particlesarethreedimensionalandwe shouldsay Dp D ~h x x withcorrespondingequationsfortheothertwospatialdirections.Thefuzzinessabout positionisrelatedtothatofmomentum inthesamedirection. Letsseehowthisworksbytryingtomeasureypositionandymomentumvery accurately.Supposewehaveasourceofelectrons,say,anelectronguninaCRT (cathoderaytube,suchasanoldfashionedmonitor).Thebeamspreadsoutabit,butif weinterposeasheetofmetalwithaslitofwidth w,thenforparticlesthatmakeitthrough theslit,weknowywithanuncertainty Dy =w .Now,iftheslitisalongwaydownstream fromtheelectrongunsource,wealsoknowpy veryaccuratelyastheelectronreachesthe slit,becausetomakeittotheslittheelectronsvelocitywouldhavetobeaimedjustright. Butdoesthemeasurementoftheelectronsypositioninotherwords,havingitgo throughtheslitaffectitsymomentum?Theanswerisyes.Ifitdidnt,thensendinga streamofparticlesthroughtheslittheywouldallhitveryclosetothesamepointona screenplacedfurtherdownstream.Butweknowfromexperimentthatthisisnotwhat happensasingleslitdiffractionpatternbuildsup,ofangularwidth q ~l / w ,wherethe electronsdeBrogliewavelength l isgivenby p @h/ l (thereisanegligible x contributionto l fromtheymomentum).Theconsequentuncertaintyin py is Dp / p ~q ~l / w y x Puttingin p =h/ l ,wefindimmediatelythat x

2 Dp ~h/w y sotheactofmeasuringtheelectronsypositionhasfuzzedoutitsymomentumby preciselytheamountrequiredbytheuncertaintyprinciple. TryingtoBeattheUncertaintyPrinciple InordertounderstandtheUncertaintyPrinciplebetter,letstrytoseewhatgoeswrong whenweactuallytrytomeasurepositionandmomentummoreaccuratelythanallowed. Forexample,supposewelookatanelectronthroughamicroscope.Whatcouldwe expecttosee?Ofcourse,youknowthatif wetrytolookatsomethingreallysmall throughamicroscopeitgetsblurryasmallsharpobjectgetsdiffractionpatternsaround itsedges,indicatingthatwearelookingatsomethingofsizecomparabletothe wavelengthofthelightbeingused.Ifwelookatsomethingmuchsmallerthanthe wavelengthoflightliketheelectronwewouldexpectadiffractionpatternof concentricringswithacircularblobinthemiddle.Thesizeofthepatternisoforderthe wavelengthofthelight,infactfromopticsitcanbeshowntobe ~lf / d wheredisthe diameteroftheobjectlensofthemicroscope,fthefocaldistance(thedistancefromthe lenstotheobject).Weshalltakef/d ~1,asitusuallyis.Solookingatanobjectthesize ofan electronshouldgiveadiffractionpatterncenteredonthelocationoftheobject. Thatwouldseemtopindownitspositionfairlyprecisely. Whataboutthemomentumoftheelectron?Hereaproblemarisesthatdoesntmatterfor largerobjectsthelightweseehas,ofcourse,bouncedofftheelectron,andsothe electronhassomerecoilmomentum.Thatis,bybouncinglightofftheelectronwehave givenitsomemomentum.Canwesayhowmuch?Tomakeitsimple,supposewehave goodeyesandonlyneedtobounceonephotonofftheelectrontoseeit.Weknowthe initialmomentumofthephoton(becauseweknowthedirectionofthelightbeamwere usingtoilluminatetheelectron)andweknowthatafterbouncingoff,thephotonhitsthe objectlensandgoesthroughthemicroscope,butwedontknowwherethephotonhitthe objectlens.Thewholepointofamicroscopeisthatallthelightfromapoint,lightthat hitstheobjectlensindifferentplaces,isallfocusedbacktoonespot,formingtheimage (apartfromtheblurrinessmentionedabove).Soifthelighthaswavelength l ,its constituentphotonshavemomentum~h /l ,andfromourignoranceofwherethephoton enteredthemicroscopeweareuncertainof itsxdirectionmomentumbyanamount ~h /l .Necessarily,then,wehavethesameuncertaintyabouttheelectronsxdirection momentum,sincethiswasimpartedbythephotonbouncingoff. Butnowwehaveaproblem.Inourattemptstominimizetheuncertaintyintheelectrons momentum,byonlyusingonephotontodetectit,wearenotgoingtoseemuchofthe diffractionpatterndiscussedabovesuchdiffractionpatternsaregeneratedby many photonshittingthefilm,retinaorwhateverdetectingequipmentisbeingused.Asingle photongeneratesasinglepoint(atbest!).Thispointwillmostlikelybewithinoforder l ofthecenterofthepattern,butthisleavesuswithanuncertaintyinpositionof order l .

Therefore,inattemptingtoobservethepositionandmomentumofasingleelectronusing asinglephoton,wefindanuncertaintyinposition D ~l ,andinmomentum Dp ~h/ l . x x TheseresultsareinaccordancewithHeisenbergsUncertaintyPrinciple Dx D x ~h. . p Ofcourse,wecouldpindownthepositionmuchbetterifweusedNphotonsinsteadofa singleone.Fromstatisticaltheory,itisknownthattheremaininguncertainty~l / N. Butthen Nphotonshavebouncedofftheelectron,so,sinceeachisequallylikelytohave gonethroughanypartoftheobjectlens,theuncertainlyinmomentumoftheelectronasa consequenceofthesecollisionsgoesupas N .(Thesameastheaverageimbalance betweenheadsandtailsinasequenceof Ncoinflips.) Notingthattheuncertaintyinthemomentumoftheelectronarisesbecausewedont knowwherethebouncedoffphotonpassesthroughtheobjectlens,itistemptingtothink wecouldjustuseasmallerobjectlens,thatwouldreduce D x .Althoughthisiscorrect, p recallfromabovethatwestatedthesizeofthediffractionpatternwas ~lf / d ,wheredis thediameteroftheobjectlensandf itsfocallength.Itiseasytoseethatthediffraction pattern,andconsequently Dx ,getsbiggerbyjusttheamountthat D x getssmaller! p WatchingElectronsintheDoubleSlitExperiment Supposenowthatinthedoubleslitexperiment,wesetouttodetectwhichsliteach electrongoesthroughbyshiningalightjustbehindthescreenandwatchingforreflected lightfromtheelectronimmediatelyafterithadpassedthroughaslit.Followingthe discussioninFeynmansLecturesinPhysics,VolumeIII,weshallnowestablishthatifwe candetecttheelectrons,weruinthediffractionpattern! Takingthedistancebetweenthetwoslitstobed,thedarklinesinthediffractionpattern areatangles ( + 1) elec =dsinq . n 2 l Ifthelightusedtoseewhichslittheelectrongoesthroughgeneratesanuncertaintyinthe electronsymomentum D y ,inordernottodestroythediffractionpattern wemusthave p Dp / p< lelec / d y (theangularuncertaintyintheelectronsdirectionmustnotbeenoughtospreaditfrom thediffractionpatternmaximaintotheminima).Herepistheelectronsfullmomentum, p=h/ lelec .Now,theuncertaintyintheelectronsymomentum,lookingforitwitha microscope,is Dp ~h/ llight. y Substitutingthesevaluesintheinequalityabovewefindtheconditionforthediffraction patterntosurviveis

llight >d ,
thewavelengthofthelightusedtodetectwhichslittheelectronwentthroughmustbe greaterthanthedistancebetweentheslits.Unfortunately,thelightscatteredfromthe electronthengivesonepointinadiffractionpatternofsizethewavelengthofthelight used,soevenifweseetheflashthisdoesnotpindowntheelectronsufficientlytosay whichslititwentthrough.Heisenbergwinsagain. HowtheUncertaintyPrincipleDeterminestheSizeofEverything Itisinterestingtoseehowtheactualphysicalsizeofthehydrogenatomisdeterminedby thewavenatureoftheelectron,ineffect,bytheUncertaintyPrinciple.Inthegroundstate ofthehydrogenatom,theelectronminimizesitstotalenergy.Foraclassicalatom,the energywouldbeminusinfinity,assumingthenucleusisapoint(andverylargeinany case)becausetheelectronwouldsitrightontopofthenucleus.However,thiscannot happeninquantummechanics.Suchaverylocalizedelectronwouldhaveaverylarge uncertaintyinmomentuminotherwords,thekineticenergywouldbelarge.Thisismost clearlyseenbyimaginingthattheelectronisgoinginacircularorbitofradiusrwith angularmomentum h/2p.ThenonewavelengthoftheelectronsdeBrogliewavejustfits aroundthecircle, lelec =2 r .Clearly,asweshrinkthecirclesradiusr, lelec goesdown p proportionately,andtheelectronsmomentum p = h / lelec =h / 2 r p increases.Addingtheelectronselectrostaticpotentialenergy wefindthetotalenergyfor acircularorbitofradiusris:
2 p2 e2 h2 e . E ( r )= K .E. + P.E = . = - 2m 4pe 0 r 8mp 2 r 2 4 0r pe

Noticethatforvery larger,thepotentialenergydominates,thekineticenergyis negligible,andshrinkingtheatomlowersthetotalenergy.However,forsmallenough r, the(alwayspositive)kineticenergyterm wins,andthetotalenergy growsastheatom shrinks.Evidently,then,theremustbeavalueof rforwhich thetotalenergyisa minimum. Visualizingagraphofthetotalenergygivenbytheequationaboveasa functionof r,attheminimumpointtheslopeof E ( r) iszero, dE ( r ) / dr =0. Thatis, giving r = min
2 h2 e + =0 4mp 2r 4 0 pe

e 0h2 . pme2

Thetotalenergyforthisradiusistheexactrightanswer,whichisreassuring(butwedont deserveit,becausewehaveusedanavepicture,aswillbecomeclearlater.) Thepointofthisexerciseistoseethatinquantummechanics,unlikeclassicalmechanics, aparticlecannotpositionitselfattheexactminimumofpotentialenergy,becausethat wouldrequireaverynarrowwavepacketandthusbeexpensiveinkineticenergy.The groundstateofaquantumparticleinanattractivepotentialisatradeoffbetween potentialenergyminimizationandkineticenergyminimization.Thusthephysicalsizesof atoms,moleculesandultimatelyourselvesaredeterminedbyPlancksconstant.