Question 1.10.18: Problem 1.18 Consider the bound state of two quarks having t...

Consider the bound state of two quarks having the same mass m and interacting via a potential energy V(r) = kr where k is a constant.
(a) Using the Bohr model, find the speed, the radius, and the energy of the system in the case of circular orbits. Determine also the angular frequency of the radiation generated by a transition of the system from energy state n to energy state m.
(b) Obtain numerical values for the speed, the radius, and the energy for the case of the ground state, n = 1, by taking a quark mass of mc^2=2  GeV  and  k=0.5  GeV fm^{-1}.

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(a) Consider the two quarks to move circularly, much like the electron and proton in a hydrogen atom; then we can write the force between them as

\mu \frac{\upsilon ^2}{r}=\frac{dV(r)}{dr}=k,              (1.240 )

where \mu =m/2  is the reduced mass and V(r) is the potential. From the Bohr quantization condition of the orbital angular momentum, we have

L=\mu \upsilon r=n\hbar .           (1.241)

Multiplying (1.240) by (1.241), we end up with \mu ^2\upsilon ^3=n\hbar k,  which yields the (quantized) speed of the relative motion for the two-quark system:
\upsilon _n=\left(\frac{\hbar k}{\mu ^2} \right) ^{1/3}n^{1/3}.              (1.242)

The radius can be obtained from (1.241), r_n=n\hbar /(\mu \upsilon _n);  using (1.242), this leads to

r _n=\left(\frac{\hbar ^2}{\mu k} \right) ^{1/3}n^{2/3}.              (1.243)

We can obtain the total energy of the relative motion by adding the kinetic and potential energies:

E _n=\frac{1}{2}\mu \upsilon ^2_n+kr_n=\frac{3}{2} \left(\frac{\hbar ^2k^2}{\mu } \right) ^{1/3}n^{2/3}.             (1.244)

In deriving this relation, we have used the relations for \upsilon_n  and r_n  as given by (1.242) by (1.243), respectively.

The angular frequency of the radiation generated by a transition from n to m is given by

\omega _{nm}=\frac{E_n-E_m}{\hbar}=\frac{3}{2} \left(\frac{k^2}{\mu \hbar} \right) ^{1/3} \left(n^{2/3}-m^{2/3}\right).               (1.245)

(b) Inserting n = 1, \hbar c\simeq 0.197  GeV  fm, \mu c^2=mc^2/2=1  GeV,  and  k=0.5  GeV  fm^{-1}

into (1.242) to (1.244), we have

\upsilon _1=\left(\frac{\hbar ck}{(\mu c^2)^2} \right)^{1/3}c\simeq \left(\frac{0.197  GeV  fm \times 0.5  GeV  fm^{-1}}{(1  GeV)^2} \right)^{1/3} c=0.46c,                   (1.246)

where c is the speed of light and

r _1=\left(\frac{(\hbar c)^2}{\mu c^2k} \right)^{1/3}\simeq \left(\frac{(0.197  GeV  fm )^2}{1  GeV \times 0.5  GeV  fm^{-1}} \right)^{1/3} =0.427  fm,                  (1.247)

E _1=\frac{3}{2} \left(\frac{(\hbar c)^2k^2}{\mu c^2} \right)^{1/3}\simeq \frac{3}{2} \left(\frac{(0.197  GeV  fm )^2(0.5  GeV  fm^{-1})^2}{1  GeV } \right)^{1/3} =0.32  GeV.

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