Quantum Mechanics of Particles I

Werner Heisenberg 1932, 31 year

old Physics Nobel
Prince Louis de Broglie in 1943
• Midterm I date, introduction and review
• Quiz (long and focused on Heisenberg’s
Uncertainty Principle)
• Quantum Mechanics of Particles 1
PHYS274 Midterm I date

I) Move to Oct 16th, Monday

The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle
1932
Nobel
Prize in
Physics
• You cannot simultaneously know
the position and momentum of a
photon with arbitrarily great
precision. The better you know
the value of one quantity, the less
well you know the value of the
other.
• In addition, the better you know
the energy of a photon, the less
well you know when you will
observe it.
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The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle
Can also be understood in terms of
“wave packets”.

Combine two waves with slightly different

frequencies (hence slightly different momenta,
slightly different energies)gives a wave packet with
an energy spread but localized in time and space.
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Review: Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle (exact result)

• How are uncertainties in the momentum and position of

each photon related ?

DxDpx ³ h / 2
Here Δx and Δpx are the standard deviation or
(rms) uncertainties in x and px
The quantity on the right is “h-bar” over 2.

h -34
Warning:
h= = 1.05 ´10 J · s “h-bar” is
2p not the
same as h

DxDpx ³ h / 2;DyDpy ³ h / 2;DzDpz ³ h / 2

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Review: Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle (another version)

• How are uncertainties in the energy and time localization

related ?

DEDt ³ h / 2
Here ΔE and Δt are the standard deviation or
(rms) uncertainties in E and t.
The quantity on the right is “h-bar” over 2.

h -34
h= = 1.05 ´10 J · s
2p
In Chapter 39, we will see that the Heisenberg
uncertainty principle also applies to matter particles
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 QM: Clicker question I

A photon has a momentum uncertainty of 2.00 x 10–28 kg •

m/s. If you decrease the momentum uncertainty to 1.00 x 10–
28 kg • m/s, how does this change the position uncertainty of

the photon?

A. the position uncertainty becomes 1/4 as large

B. the position uncertainty becomes 1/2 as large
C. the position uncertainty is unchanged
D. the position uncertainty becomes twice as large
E. the position uncertainty becomes 4 times larger

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 QM Clicker question I

A photon has a momentum uncertainty of 2.00 x 10–28 kg • m/s.

If you decrease the momentum uncertainty to 1.00 x 10–28 kg •
m/s, how does this change the position uncertainty of the
photon?
A. the position uncertainty becomes 1/4 as large
B. the position uncertainty becomes 1/2 as large
C. the position uncertainty is unchanged
D. the position uncertainty becomes twice as large
E. the position uncertainty becomes 4 times larger

DxDpx ³ h / 2
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 QM: Clicker question II

Through which of the following angles is a photon of wavelength λ

most likely to be deflected when passing through a slit of width a ?

A. θ=λ/a
B. θ=3λ/2a
C. θ=2λ/a
D. θ=3λ/a
E. Not enough information to decide.

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 QM: Clicker question II

Through which of the following angles is a photon of wavelength λ

most likely to be deflected when passing through a slit of width a ?
A. θ=λ/a (zero in diffraction)
B. θ=3λ/2a (non-zero intensity in the diffraction pattern
!)
C. θ=2λ/a (zero in diffraction)
D. θ=3λ/a (zero in diffraction)
E. Not enough information to decide.

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Entering an Uncertain Universe…

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 QM: Clicker question 3

A photon has a position uncertainty of 2.00 mm. If you

decrease the position uncertainty to 1.00 mm, how does this
change the momentum uncertainty of the photon?

A. the momentum uncertainty becomes 1/4 as large

B. the momentum uncertainty becomes 1/2 as large
C. the momentum uncertainty is unchanged
D. the momentum uncertainty becomes twice as large
E. the momentum uncertainty becomes 4 times larger

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 QM Clicker question 3

A photon has a position uncertainty of 2.00 mm. If you

decrease the position uncertainty to 1.00 mm, how does this
change the momentum uncertainty of the photon?

DxDpx ³ h / 2
A. the momentum uncertainty becomes 1/4 as large
B. the momentum uncertainty becomes 1/2 as large
C. the momentum uncertainty is unchanged
D. the momentum uncertainty becomes twice as large
E. the momentum uncertainty becomes 4 times larger

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 QM Clicker question 4
A beam of photons passes through a narrow slit. The
photons land on a distant screen, forming a diffraction
pattern.
In order for a particular photon to land at the center of the
diffraction pattern, it must pass

A. through the center of the slit.

B. through the upper half of the slit.
C. through the lower half of the slit.
D. impossible to decide

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 QM Clicker question 4
A beam of photons passes through a narrow slit. The
photons land on a distant screen, forming a diffraction
pattern.
In order for a particular photon to land at the center of the
diffraction pattern, it must pass

A. through the center of the slit.

B. through the upper half of the slit.
C. through the lower half of the slit.
D. impossible to decide

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 “Beam me up Scotty”

Make sure the

Heisenberg
compensators are
working !
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Q18.3

17
Q18.3

Conjugate (orthogonal) variables

not bound in same way

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Quantum Teleportation requires “Heisenberg compensators”

Star Trek
Q18.4

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Q18.4

DEDt ³ h / 2
h -34
h= = 1.05 ´10 J · s
2p
E=hf  ΔE = h Δf

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 Electron
microscope
picture of a
virus
attacking a
cell

• Quantum Mechanics of photons on to

Quantum Mechanics of particles

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Goals for Chapter 39
• To study the wave nature of electrons
• To examine the evidence for the nuclear model
of the atom (Rutherford scattering)
• To understand the ideas of atomic energy levels
and the Bohr model of the hydrogen atom
• To learn the fundamental physics of how lasers
operate
• To see how the ideas of photons and atomic
energy levels explain the continuous spectrum
of light emitted by a blackbody
• To see how the Heisenberg uncertainty
principle applies to the behavior of particles

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Particles behaving as waves (another aspect of QM)
• At the end of the 19th century light was regarded as a wave
and matter as a collection of particles. Just as light was found
to have particle characteristics (photons), matter proved to
have wave characteristics.

The wave nature of matter

allows us to use electrons to
make images (e.g. the viruses
shown here on a bacterium).

This picture is the output

of an “electron
microscope”

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 The Prince of Quantum Mechanics
The photoelectric effect and Compton scattering show that light waves also behave
as particles. The wave nature of light is revealed by interference - the particle
nature by the fact that light is detected as quanta: “photons”.
Photons of light have energy and momentum given by:

h
E = hf ; p =
l
Prince Louis de Broglie (1923) proposed that particles also
behave as waves; i.e., for all particles there is a quantum
wave with a wavelength given by the same relation:
But be careful
h h
p= Þl = c=fλ does not Why??
l p work for matter
waves.
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 Application of de Broglie waves

71 pm x-rays
passing through
aluminum foil;
600 eV electrons
passing through
the same.

Question: By the way, how do the 2 energies compare?

Photon: c = f λ Given: 71pm = λ

(4.135 x 10^-15)*(3 x 10^8)/(71 x 10^-12)=17471 eV=17.4 keV

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 Electron microscopy
• The wave aspect of electrons means
that they can be used to form images,
just as light waves can. This is the
basic idea of the electron microscope
What accelerating voltage is
needed to provide electrons
with wavelength, 10 pm =0.010
nm in an electron microscope ?
Question: The non-relativistic kinetic
energy of a point particle K=1/2mv2.
How can we rewrite in terms of p,
the momentum ?
1 2 (mv)2 p2
K = mv = ÞK =
2 2m 2m
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Electron microscope example (cont’d)
p2
K= = U = eVba
2m

p2
Vba =
2me
How can the accelerating
voltage be related to the
wavelength ?
h h
l= Þ p=
p l
h2
Vba =
2mel 2
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Electron microscope example (cont’d)
h2
Vba =
2mel 2

(6.6 ´10 -34 J - s)2

Vba =
2(9.109 ´ 10 -31 kg)(1.6 ´ 10 -19 C)(10 ´10 -12 )2
Þ Vba = 1.5 ´10 4 V

Question: This means that the electrons

have energies of 15keV. How does this
compare to the rest mass of the electron ?
Are the electrons non-relativistic ?

Ans: 15 keV<<511 keV, so the electrons

are non-relativistic
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Electron microscope example (conceptual question)
Question: What limits the resolution of
an optical microscope ?

Ans: the diffraction limit

What is the diffraction limit for

an electron microscope ?

Ans: Compare diffraction limit

of 10 pm (0.01 nm) to 500 nm

In fact, quality of electron optics

is a worse practical limitation for
a TEM (transmission electron
microscope) than diffraction.
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Davisson-Germer Experiment: Electron Diffraction

In 1927, Davisson and

Germer accidentally
discover electron
diffraction at Bell Labs
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Davisson-Germer Experiment: Electron Diffraction

The diffraction maxima occur at

d sinq = ml
Question: How does electron
diffraction differ from x-ray
(Bragg) diffraction ?
Ans: 2d is twice the distance between
planes in a crystal in Bragg; here the
angle θ is measured wrt the normal.
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Rutherford’s discovery of the nucleus at Manchester
“It was quite the most incredible
event that ever happened to me in
my life. It was almost as incredible
as if you had fired a 15-inch shell at “Plum
a piece of tissue paper and it came pudding”
back and hit you.”

Graduate students Geiger

and Marsden carried out the
experiment.
Have you heard of Geiger ?

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