Physics 327: Quantum Mechanics II

Prof. Michael S. Vogeley

Problem Set 2 Solutions
Problem 1
Griffiths 4.11
(a) Normalize the radial function R20 and construct the wave function 200 .
We require
r 2 r/a 2
c0 2 Z
1
|R20 | r dr =
e
r dr
1 =
2a
2a !
0
0
 2



Z 
c0
z 2 z 2
c20 a Z 2
1 4 z
3
3
=
a
1
e z dz =
z z + z e dz
2a
2
4
4
0
0
!

2
2
24
c0 a
ca
=
26+
= 0
4
4
2
Z

2 2

(using z r/a). Thus, c0 =

s

200 =

R20 Y00

2/a

1
2 1
r
1
1
r
1
er/2a =
1
er/2a
3/2
a 2a
2a
(2a)
2a
4


(b) Normalize the radial function R21 and construct the wave functions 211 , 210 , and
211 .

1 =

Z
0

c0
|R21 | r dr =
4a2

c0
4a2

2 2

2

a5

Z
0

(again using z r/a). Thus, c0 =

2 Z

r2 er/a r2 dr

c2 a
3c2 a
z 4 ez dz = 0 24 = 0
16
2

2/3a

Next,
21m = R21 Y1m
where, using the normalization above,
1 1 r/2a
R21 =
re
6a 2a2
1

Thus,
s

210

1 1 r/2a 3
1
1
=
cos =
re
rer/2a cos
2
4
6a 2a
2 4a5/2

and

211

3
1 1
1 1 r/2a
sin ei =
=
re

rer/2a sin ei
2
8
8a5/2
6a 2a

Problem 2
Griffiths 4.13
(a) Find hri and hr2 i for an electron in the ground state of hydrogen. Express your
answer in terms of the Bohr radius.
Using
1 r/a
e
,
a3
we compute the expectation value hri = h|r|i which is
000 =

1 Z 2r/a 2 Z
4 Z 3 2r/a
3a
hri = 3
re
r dr d = 3
r e
dr =
a 0
a 0
2
where we used the fact that the angular integral is simply
definite integral!). Likewise,

d = 4 (and look up the

4 Z 4 2r/a
1 Z 2 2r/a 2 Z
r e
r dr d = 3
r e
dr = 3a2
hr i = 3
a 0
a 0
2

(b) Find hxi and hx2 i for an electron in the ground state of hydrogen. Hint: This requires
no new integration note that r2 = x2 + y 2 + z 2 and exploit the symmetry of the ground
state.
The wave function is symmetric in position, thus hxi = 0 by inspection.
Symmetry implies that hr2 i = 3hx2 i, thus
1
hx2 i = hr2 i = a2
3

(c) Find hx2 i for an electron in the state n = 2, l = 1, m = 1. Warning: This state is not
symmetrical in x, y, z. Use x = r sin cos .
2

The wave function

1 1
211 = R21 Y11 =
rer/2a sin ei
8a5/2
Using x = r sin cos , you can see that this is a bit more complicated to compute,
because x affects all three of the integrals!
Z 2
1 Z 6 r/a Z 5
hx i =
r e
dr
sin d
cos2 d
5
64a 0
0
0
 
16
1
=
(6!a7 )
()
64a5
15
= 12a2
2

where, of course, we looked up the first two definite integrals and used the fact that cos
averages to 1/2 over a period of 2 in the third.
Problem 3
Griffiths 4.17
Consider the earth-sun system as a gravitational analog to the hydrogen atom.
(a) What is the potential energy? (Replacing Eq. 4.52, let m be the mass of the earth
and M the mass of the sun.)
The potential is simply
Mm
r
so the coupling constant is just GM m instead of e2 /40 .
V (r) = G

(b) What is the Bohr radius, ag , for this system? Work out the actual number.
In hydrogen, the Bohr radius is
40
a0 =
e2


 2

Using the substitution identified in part (a),

ag =

h
2
GM m2

For M = 2 1030 kg and m = 6 1024 kg, ag = 2.34 10138 m. Very, very, very small!
(c) Write down the gravitational Bohr formula and, by equatingqEn to the classical
energy of a planet in a circular orbit of radius r0 , show that n = r0 /ag . From this,
estimate the quantum number n of the earth.
3

Again using the substitution above into the Bohr formula, the energy levels of the
earth are


m
2 1
(GM m)
En =
n2
2
h2
A planet in circular orbit has total energy
E=

mv 2 GM m

2
r

In this case, the gravitational acceleration is the same as the centripetal acceleration,
GM
mv 2
=
r2
r
thus the kinetic energy term can be rewritten as
GM m
mv 2
=
,
2
2r
exactly half the magnitude of the potential, and so the total energy is
GM m
m
2 1
E=
=
2 (GM m)
2r
n2
2h


Solving for the quantum number n, and using the definition of the earths Bohr radius
ag ,
s
r
n=
ag
The mean earth-sun distance is r = 1.5 1011 m, thus n = 2.5 1074 . A really, really
big number!
(d) Suppose the earth made a transition to the next lower quantum level (n 1). How
much energy (in Joules) would be released? What would be the wavelength of the
emitted photon (well, more likely, a graviton)? Express your answer in light years. Is
the remarkable answer a coincidence?

En En1

m
=
(GM m)2
2
h2


1
1

2
n
(n 1)2

For n  1 (really huge, in this case),

1
1
n2 (n 1)2
2n
2

=
4 = 3
2
2
2
2
(n 1)
n
(n 1) n
n
n
Thus,
m
2 2
E
2 (GM m)
n3
2
h


Using the value of n above, E = 2 1041 J. As a wavelength,

=

hc
= 9.5 1015 m
E

which is almost exactly one light year. This is not a coincidence. One light year is cT
where T is one year. The period of the earths orbit is, by definition, one year. From
above, the velocity of the earth is
v=

GM/r

so the period is
2r3/2
2r

=
T =
v
GM
From the equation for the wavelength, the period of the wave is
h
h
2 n2

= 2
h
T = =
c
E
G2 M 2 m3

But we also found that n2 = GM m2 r/

h2 , thus
h
2r3/2
=
E
GM
Thus, the period of the wave is the same as the period of earths orbit.
Problem 4
(a) For the following cases, calculate the value of r at which the radial probability density
reaches its maximum: (i) n = 1, l = 0, m = 0 (ii) n = 2, l = 1, m = 0 (iii) l = n1, m = 0.
(i) The radial part of the wave function is
R10 (r) =

2
a3/2

r2 er/a

The probability of finding the particle in a volume d3 r = r2 drd is the square of the
wave function, ||2 . Thus, the radial probability distribution function is
P (r) = r2 |R|2 =

4 2 2r/a
r e
a3

The maximum occurs at

h
i
dP
4
2 2r/a
4
= 3 2re2r/a r2
e
= 3 2e2r/a r r2 a = 0
dr
a
a
a


 

so rmax = a.
5

(ii) Likewise,
P (r) =

1 4 r/a
r e
24a5

so the maximum probability occurs when

1 r/a
1 3 r/a
1
r
dP
=
=
4r3 er/a r4
e
4
=0
r e
5
5
dr
24a
a
24a
a


so rmax = 4a.
(iii) For the more general case of l = n 1, the radial functions look like
2
Rn,(n1) (r) =
na


3/2

1
q

2n[(2n

1)!]3

2r
na

(n1)

er/na L2n1
2n1 (2r/na)

Look up the Laguerre polynomials to find that in this case they are constants,
L2n1
2n1 (2r/na) = (2n 1)!
Thus, the radial functions have the form
Rn,(n1) (r) = An rn1 er/na
with some constant An . As above, now the radial probability density is
P (r) = A2n r2n e2r/na
so the maximum probability occurs when
dP
1
2 2r/na
n
= A2n (2n)r2n1 e2r/a r2n

e
=0
= 2A2n r2n e2r/na
dr
na
r
na


so rmax = n2 a.
(b) Compare the values obtained in (a) with the Bohr radius for circular orbits.
These radii are, of course, exactly the radii of the orbits in the Bohr model.
Problem 5
Assume that the eigenstates of a hydrogen atom isolated in space are all known and
designated as usual by
nlm (r, , ) = Rnl (r)Ylm (, )
as we derived in class. Now suppose that the nucleus is located at a distance d from an
infinite potential wall, which tends to distort the hydrogen atom. Find the explicit form
of the ground state wave function of this hydrogen atom as d approaches zero. Your
6

answer should be written in terms of the of eigenstates of unperturbed hydrogen. (Hint:

choose a coordinate system in which the z axis is perpendicular to the wall.)
As d 0, the solutions of the Schrodinger equation are still Rnlm Ylm in the half space
z > 0, i.e., 0 < < /2, but must satisfy the condition = 0 at = /2, where V = .
Inspecting the spherical harmonics, we find that the only solutions are those with l +m =
odd integer. Because |m| l, the first spherical harmonic that satisfies this condition is
l = 1, m = 0,
s
3
Y10 =
cos

Because n l + 1, the ground state wave function must be R21 Y10 .