PHYS 239 Foundations of Modern Physics

PRACTICE FINAL EXAM

June, 2018

YOUR NAME:

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 PHYS 239 Foundations of Mod. Phys. PRACTICE EXAM Instructor: J. Koch

Concept Questions [2pts each]

MARK YOUR SELECTION(S) BY “” BELOW.

EACH QUESTION MAY HAVE ZERO, ONE, OR MULTIPLE CORRECT ANSWERS.

1. A plane electromagnetic wave with frequency ν travels in +z direction. Which of the following state-
ment(s), if any, is/are correct?
 If the wave is linearly polarized in y direction, then the expression for the magnetic field is given by
~ r, t) = êx B0 cos(kz − 2πνt + φ), where k = 2πν/c is the wave number.
B(~
 If the wave is linearly polarized, then electric and magnetic field are out of phase.
 The polarization does neither determine the direction of ~r, nor that of the wave vector ~k.
 The direction of polarization must be perpendicular to the wave vector ~k.

2. An EM plane wave is incident on a narrow double slit, and propagates through the slits to a screen. Wave
length, slit distance, and slit-screen distance are λ, d, and D, respectively. Within the approximations we
have used for narrow double slit apertures, which of the following statement(s), if any, is/are correct?
 Intensity maxima on the screen are equally spaced and have a distance of ≈ λ D/d.
 The intensity on the screen be can obtained by adding the intensities of the partial waves from the two
slits, i.e., I = I1 + I2 .
 If the electric field amplitude is doubled, then interference maxima grow by a factor of 4 in intensity.
 Deviations of the incoming wave’s ~k from normal incidence result in a shift of the interference pattern
on the screen.

3. Which of the following statement(s) about black-body radiation, if any, is/are correct?
 Radiation is only emitted if the photons have an energy ~ω that exceeds the work function of the black
body.
¯ T ) has a maximum that shifts towards smaller wave-
 The black-body intensity distribution function I(λ,
lengths when temperature is increased.
¯ T ) can be derived from Maxwell’s equations.
 The black-body intensity distribution function I(λ,
R∞
¯ T ) is proportional to the total power emitted by a black body.
 The integral 0 dλ I(λ,

4. Which of the following statement(s), if any, is/are correct?

 Photomultipliers can be used as single-photon detectors.
 Light incident on a metal surface will produce photoelectrons if its frequency is small enough.
 The higher the work function of a metal, the larger the light intensity required for photoemission.
 The de Broglie wavelength of an emitted photoelectron does not depend on the wavelength of the incident
light.
PHYS 239 Foundations of Mod. Phys. PRACTICE EXAM Instructor: J. Koch

5. Which of the following statement(s) about light and particle waves, if any, is/are correct?
 The relation p = h/λ holds both for photons and electrons. In the former case, p is the momentum
of a photon with wavelength λ; in the latter case, λ is the de Broglie wavelength of an electron with
momentum p.
 When a large number of massive particles passes through a double slit, interference fringes become visible
in the detection plane. The interference is due to collisions among the particles as they pass through the
slits.
 The same double slit aperture is used in interference experiments with helium atoms and C60 bucky balls.
If particle velocities are identical in both cases, then the distance between interference maxima is larger
for He than for C60 .
 In a double slit experiment, additional measurements record for each helium atom whether it passes
through the left or right slit. In each case, the interference pattern is then shifted to the left or right.

6. Consider a particle confined to one dimension. Which of the following statement(s) about principles of
quantum mechanics, if any, is/are correct?
 If ψ(x) is the particle’s wave function, then |ψ(x)|2 is the probability to localize the particle at point x.
 The solution of the Schrödinger equation does not allow one to predict where an individual position
measurement will find the particle.
 A position measurement determines that the particle is localized inside a spatial region ∆x. The smaller
∆x, the larger is the minimum momentum uncertainty.
 Large molecules cannot show interference effects because they behave like classical particles.

7. Which of the following statement(s) about stationary and time-dependent Schrödinger equation, if any,
is/are correct?
 At time t = 0, a particle is described by a wave function ψ(x) that is a solution to the stationary
Schrödinger equation. Then, the probability density for localizing the particle, p(x, t) = |Ψ(x, t)|2 will be
time independent.
 If |ψ1 i and |ψ2 i are energy eigenstates with different eigenenergies of a quantum system Q, then |ψ1 i and
|ψ2 i are orthogonal and Q cannot be in a superposition of these two states.
 If |Ψ(t)i = |ψi e−iEt/~ is a solution to the time-dependent Schrödinger equation, then |ψi is an eigenstate
of the Hamiltonian.
 For a particle in the infinite square well, the relation hψ|ψi = 1 means that the boundary conditions are
satisfied.

8. Which of the following statement(s) about qubits, if any, is/are correct?

 A qubit is entangled if it is in a superposition state.
~ωx ~ωz
 If the Hamiltonian for a qubit system is H = 2 σx + 2 σz , then there will be no solutions to the
stationary Schrödinger equation.
 The points on the equator of the Bloch sphere correspond to qubit states |ψi = α |0i + β |1i which satisfy
α = β.
 σz and σx are observables which can both yield ±1 as measurement results, but always produce different
post-measurement states.
PHYS 239 Foundations of Mod. Phys. PRACTICE EXAM Instructor: J. Koch

PROBLEM 1
In a seminal series of experiments, Compton measured scattering of X-rays from a carbon target. Recording
the intensity of the scattered X-rays as a function of wavelength, he obtained the following data for four
different scattering angles θ = 0◦ , 45◦ , 90◦ , and 135◦ .

The center of the left intensity peak coincides with the wavelength λ = 0.0709 nm of the incident X-rays.

(a) The two peaks can be associated with two categories of electrons inside the carbon target: electrons
that are bound to their local nucleus, and electrons that can essentially move freely. Which category
belongs to which peak?
(b) Which of the two peaks is not explained by classical physics?
(c) For given values of the speed of light, c = 3.0 · 108 m/s, and the electron mass me = 9.1 · 10−31 kg, what
value or value range do the experiments determine for Planck’s constant?
PHYS 239 Foundations of Mod. Phys. PRACTICE EXAM Instructor: J. Koch

PROBLEM 2
A particle of mass m is inside an infinite square well potential
(
0, − a2 ≤ x ≤ a
2
V (x) =
∞ elsewhere.

(a) Formulate the stationary Schrödinger equation for this problem, state the boundary conditions, and
the normalization condition.
(b) The potential above differs slightly from the one in lecture, where the confinement region was 0 ≤ x ≤ a.
Based on this insight, use the solutions we worked out in class to obtain the solutions for the above
V (x).
(c) Verify that the wave functions you constructed in (b) satisfy the Schrödinger equation, obey the
boundary conditions, and are normalized.
(d) Sketch the groundstate wave function. Based on its shape, what should the expectation value of
position hxi be?
(e) Calculate hxi for the ground state and describe how one would obtain this expectation value by mea-
surements.
(f) Show that dimensional analysis leads to the correct expression for the groundstate energy (except for
the usual numerical prefactor).

PROBLEM 3

√
A qubit is initially in the superposition state |ψi = |0i − i |1i / 2. The Hamiltonian H = ~Ωσx is used
over a time period ∆t = π4 Ω1 to perform a single-qubit gate.

(a) What is the Bloch sphere representation of the initial qubit state?

(b) Compute the time evolution of the qubit state. What is the final state after the gate operation?
(c) Could the final state be reached by performing a measurement instead? If so, what is the probability
that the correct final state is prepared by measurement?
(d) One could ask whether the measurement you suggested in (c) is optimal – could there be a different
observable for which preparation of the desired qubit state by measurement is more efficient?