Question 4.76: The shift in the energy levels in Example 4.6 can be underst...

The shift in the energy levels in Example 4.6 can be understood from classical electrodynamics. Consider the case where initially no current flows in the solenoid. Now imagine slowly increasing the current.

(a) Calculate (from classical electrodynamics) the emf produced by the changing flux and show that the rate at which work is done on the charge confined to the ring can be written

\frac{d W}{d \Phi}=-q \frac{\omega}{2 \pi} .

where ω is the angular velocity of the particle.

(b) Calculate the z component of the mechanical angular momentum,

L _{\text {mechanical }}= r \times m v = r \times( p -q A )          (4.231).

for a particle in the state \psi_{n} in Example 4.6. Note that the mechanical angular momentum is not quantized in integer multiples of \hbar ! .

(c) Show that your result from part (a) is precisely equal to the rate at which the stationary state energies change as the flux is increased: d E_{n} / d \Phi .

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(a) A changing flux introduces an EMF given by Faraday’s law:

E =\oint E \cdot d l=-\frac{d \Phi}{d t} \Rightarrow E 2 \pi b=-\frac{d \Phi}{d t} \Rightarrow \quad E =-\frac{1}{2 \pi b} \frac{d \Phi}{d t} \hat{\phi} .

The work done when the charge moves a distance dl = v dt around the ring is

d W=q E d l=-\frac{q}{2 \pi b} \frac{d \Phi}{d t} v d t=-\frac{q v}{2 \pi b} d \Phi .

But v/b is the angular velocity ω, so \frac{d W}{d \Phi}=-\frac{q \omega}{2 \pi} .

(b) The mechanical angular momentum is (Equation 4.192 and foonote 62)

\frac{d\langle r \rangle}{d t}=\frac{1}{m}\langle( p -q A )\rangle      (4.192).

L _{\text {mechanical }}=( r \times p )-q( r \times A )= L -q\left(r \frac{\Phi}{2 \pi r}\right)(\hat{r} \times \hat{\phi})= L -q \frac{\Phi}{2 \pi} \hat{k} .

Therefore the z component of the mechanical angular momentum is

\left[ L _{\text {mechanical }}\right]_{z}=L_{z}-\frac{q \Phi}{2 \pi}=-i \hbar \frac{d}{d \phi}-\frac{q \Phi}{2 \pi} .

Acting on \psi_{n}=A e^{i n \phi} (Equation 4.203),

\psi=A e^{i \lambda \phi}               (4.203).

L _{[\text {mechanical }]_{z}} \psi_{n}=\left(-i \hbar \frac{d}{d \phi}-\frac{q \Phi}{2 \pi}\right) \psi_{n}=\left(\hbar n-\frac{q \Phi}{2 \pi}\right) \psi_{n} .

we see that \psi_{n} is an eigenstate with eigenvalue

\hbar\left(n-\frac{q \Phi}{2 \pi \hbar}\right) .

(c) Taking the derivative of E_n (Equation 4.206), we get

E_{n}=\frac{\hbar^{2}}{2 m b^{2}}\left(n-\frac{q \Phi}{2 \pi \hbar}\right)^{2}, \quad(n=0, \pm 1, \pm 2, \ldots)               (4.206).

\frac{d E_{n}}{d \Phi}=\frac{\hbar^{2}}{2 m b^{2}} 2\left(n-\frac{q \Phi}{2 \pi \hbar}\right)\left(-\frac{q}{2 \pi \hbar}\right)=-\frac{L_{\text {mechanical }}}{I} \frac{q}{2 \pi} .

where I = mb² is the moment of inertia, and since L = I ω we have

\frac{d E_{n}}{d \Phi}=-q \frac{\omega}{2 \pi} .

foonote 62:

That is to say, \langle r \rangle d\langle r \rangle / d t , etc ,are unchanged. Because Λ depends on position \langle p \rangle (with p represented by the operator -i \hbar \nabla ) does change, but as you found in Equation 4.192, p does not represent the mechanical momentum (mv) in this context (in Lagrangian mechanics p =m v +q A is the so-called canonical momentum).

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