Department of Physics

Indian Institute of Technology

Kharagpur-721302, West Bengal, India
Subject No. PH11001 (PHYSICS-I) Duration: 55 Min

Lecture # 1

Motivation for this course

1. 3-D image from MRI
Scanning Hydrogen spin and recover 3D image
2. Magnetic Lavitation
Learn about Superconductivity, Meissner effect etc..
3. Images from STM and many more..

Salient features of Quantum Mechanics

1. QM is probabilistic: prediction of measurements
2. Each particle is associated with a wave and vice versa
3. concept of wave packet which solved the duality nature
PH11001 QM 2

Famous quote from great scientist about QM

1. ‘I think it is safe to say that no one understands QM’-Richard
Feynman
2. ‘Anyone who is not shocked by quantum theory has not under-
stood a single word’- Niels Bohr
3. ‘God does not play dice’-Albert Einstein

Riddles of pre-quantum Physics

1. Change of color when a metal piece is heated (Red→ Yellow
→ White): violation of law of thermodynamics (we can expect
only an increase in Intensity of the emitted light while heating
at different temperature not different color (frequency))
..
PH11001 QM 3

Historical foundation of Quantum Mechanics

Black Body radiation

 Radiation: Irreversible flow of energy away from the source, the
energy per unit time is transported out to infinity and never
comes back
 A charge at rest or a steady current does NOT generate EM
wave
 Accelerating charge (changing current ) produces EM wave
(HOW)

Blackbody (BB)
 Blackbody: Which absorbs all the radiation
 Total energy = absorbed+ reflected+ transmitted;
Q = Qa + Qr + Qt
Qa Qr
 Absorption power; a= ; Reflection power; r= ; Transmis-
Q Q
Qt
sion power; t=
Q
 Two body are very close to BB; Lamp black; a=0.96; and Plat-
inum black, a=0.98
PH11001 QM 4

An opening in the cavity of a body is a good approximation

of a blackbody. As light enters the cavity through the small
opening, part is reflected and part is absorbed on each reflec-
tion from the interior walls. After many reflections, essentially
all of the incident energy is absorbed.

If you look carefully at stars in the night sky, you can distin-
guish three main colors: red, white, and blue.
These colors result from the different surface tem-
peratures of stars.
Thermal Radiation from the Human Body:
The radiation is in the infrared region of the spectrum close to
7-15 µm. So, the thermal imaging device for human are most
sensitive in this range. eq: scanner placed at the airport during
checking.
PH11001 QM 5

 Color of the hot body changes with temp, Red→ Orange →

White; High λ at low temperature
 Light wave carries energy in packets
 High frequency light consisting of larger packet
 High frequency wave lose energy and carried away in lower fre-
quency which is capable of sharing energy
 Average energy is related to the temperature; High temperature
high average energy
 EM wave and their frequency in table
 Radiation effect on Human: Radio→ No effect; IR→ Warm;
Visible→ able to see; UV→ Burn; X-ray→ pass through
PV
 Boltzmann constant; = N KB ;
T
Draw a graph between P (E) and KB T
 At thermal equilibrium the BB does not reflect; For other body
radiation comes in and radiation goes out
 The BB gets heat up means object get hot and hotter and
environment get cold and colder: This is violation of 2nd law of
thermodynamics ie Heat cannot flow from Cold to Hotter
body
PH11001 QM 6

Intensity of radiation from BB

 Classical picture; intensity does no depends on wavelength λ

 Experimental observation: Intensity of radiation varies with

wavelength λ; The peak of the radiation intensity depends on
temperature (as T decreases the λ increases )

 UV Catastrophe: A system shift suddenly to a different state

PH11001 QM 7

Explanation of BBR
 The decrease in intensity is not explained classically
 So, Energy has to be in a wave packet (photon). And photon
can not have more energy than what is available
 Photon is an elementary particle having NO charge and NO
mass and Photons moves with speed of light
 Photon carries energy and momentum
 energy of photon, E = hν = pc;

E 2 = p2c2 + m20c4; (m0 = 0)

 In thermodynamic equilibrium the total energy per degree of

freedom is KB T
 For open system there is NO thermal equilibrium; energy leaks
out
 For closed system, thermal equilibrium can be established
 For closed system: Let ρ(ω, T ) be energy density of radiation
such that the rate of energy loss by atoms through emission is
exactly balanced by the rate of energy gain through absorption.
PH11001 QM 8

 Classically: The energy density,

1 2 1
ρ(ω, T ) = 0 |E(ω)| = |B(ω)|2
2 2µ0
BBR compared to standing waves in cubical cavity.
y = A sin(k.r) cos ω t;
kxL = nx π,
2 2 2 2
(n2x + n2y + n2z )π 2
k = kx + ky + kz = 2
L
2 2 2 k 2 L2 4 L2 ν 2
nx + ny + nz = 2
= 2
:
π c
2L ν
Eqn. of sphere of radius
c
where N (ω) is number of modes per unit volume (take L3 = 1),
3
4π ν 3

1 4π 2L ν 3
N (ω) = × = 3
. which is ∝ ω ;
8 3 c 3 c

 Kirchhoff’s law of thermal radiation:

3 ω
ρ(ω, T ) = α ω f { }
T
emissivity (e λ)=Absorptivity (Aλ);

ie A body which is good absorber of energy at a particular

wavelength is also a good emitter at that wavelength
PH11001 QM 9

 The totalZ energy density atZT is,

∞ ∞
U (T ) = ρ(ω, T )dω = α ω 3f (ω/T )dω
0 0

Let y = ω/T, dω = T dy
Z ∞ Z ∞
U (T ) = α y 3 T 3 f (y)T dy = α y 3f (y)dyT 4 = σ T 4;
0 0
W −8
this is Stefan-Boltzmann law, where σ = 5.67 × 10
m2K 4
 It is difficult to derive f (ω/T ) to determine ρ(ω, T ) and σ.
 Three different approaches were taken,
First one is wave picture of radiation ;
second one is particle nature of radiation , and the
third one is dual nature of radiation

Rayleigh-Jeans approach (Wave picture of radiation)

 Consider radiation as EM wave,
 Molecule interacting as a Harmonic Oscillators
4π ν 2
 the no. of modes between ν and ν + dν is 3
dν
c
 The energy density,
2ω 2
ρ(ω, T ) = N (ω) < E > = 3
kB T ;
πc
PH11001 QM 10

 The above energy density equation explain the low frequency

data of BBR but it diverges at high frequencies.
 UV-catastrophe: ρ(ω, T ) → ∞; U (T ) → ∞ at ω → ∞
 Conclusion: Something wrong with the classical notion of en-
ergy exchange between matter and radiation as continuous pro-
cess.

Wein’s approach (Radiation as a flux of particles)

 The functional form of the energy density,

3 −a Tω
ρ(ω, T ) = α ω e
 The above energy function explains high frequencies data
but fail in the low frequencies regime
 Wein’s displacement law, λm T = 2900 µm-K = constant
PH11001 QM 11

Planck’s approach (Radiation has a dual nature)

 Atoms of the walls of the black body behave as an oscillator
and each has a characteristic frequency of oscillation
 An oscillator CANNOT have any arbitrary value of energy but
have only discrete energy
E = nhν, n = 1, 2...
 The oscillators can emit/absorb energy only in the form of
packet of hν but NOT continuously
 If N is total no. of oscillators and E is total energy of the oscil-
lators,
The average energy, < E > = E/N ,
−n khνT
and follow the Maxwell’s distribution, Nn = N0 e B

 The total number of oscillator,

N = N0 + N1 + N2 + ...;

− khνT −2 khνT
 1
= N0 1 + e B +e B + ... = N0
− khνT
1−e B

 The total energy,

E = N0 × (0hν) + N1 × (1hν) + N2 × (2hν) + N3 × (3hν)...

PH11001 QM 12

− khνT − khνT − k2hνT − k3hνT

h i
E = N0 e B hν 1 + 2e B + 3e B + 4e B + ... ;

− khνT 1 N0 hν
= N0 e B hν  2 =  − khνT hν
  
− khνT
1−e B 1−e B e kB T
−1

E hν
 The average energy, < E >= =  hν 
N e kB T − 1
 Now the energy density,

ω2
ρ(ω, T ) = N (ω) < E >= 2 3 < E >;
πc
in terms of frequency and wavelength,

ω2 8πν 2 hν
ρ(ν, T )dν = 2 3 2πdν < E > =  dν
c3 e khν

πc BT − 1

8πhc2 1
ρ(λ, T ) dλ =  dλ
λ5 e λkhcB T − 1


 Planck show that one must postulate that the amount of radiation for each
frequency came in discrete packets of energy, hν, the so-called light quanta.
If there are n quanta then the energy is n hν. This is known as the light
quantum hypothesis. Plancks radiation law for black bodies was put on a
firmer footing and correctly understood much later, only through the work
of Satyendra Nath Bose in 1924 who proposed the famous Bose-Einstein
statistics and the concept of the boson.
PH11001 QM 13

Try to derive from Planck’s Law

h ν
(1) Wein’s displacement Law (where e kT >> 1 )
h ν
(2) the Rayleigh-Jeans Law (where, e kT << 1 )

(3) the Stefan-Boltzmann law (U (T ) , independent of ω)

Application of BBR
To know through color
1. Tb, Brightness temperature used in Radio Astronomy
2. Tc, Color temperature depends on the shape of the observed
spectrum
3. Tef f , Effective temperature depends on source intensity

Features of BBR
1. At every temperature, radiation has all λ emitted
2. Spectral density ρ(ω, T ) for each λ increases with T
3. At a particular T , ρ(ω, T ) first increases with ω reaches to a
maximum and then decreases with ω
1
4. λmax ∝
T
5. ρ(ω, T ) ∝ T 5
6. U ∝ T 4
PH11001 QM 14

Photoelectric effect
The following graphs illustrate what the wave theory predicts:
Illuminated light shakes the surface electrons.
The electron starts drifting along the direction of wave propagation.

The KE associated
with both kinds of motion
stands in proportion
to light intensity.
1st Law (Stoletow’s law): The no. of ejected electrons increases in
proportion to light intensity I.

2nd law: No electrons emitted when ‘ω’ is below a certain critical

value (depends on the types of materials), NO matter how intense
the incident light. Above the threshold frequency there will be an
emission with the maximum KE
of the emitted electrons increases
linearly with ω.
At three different frequency,
the stopping potential is
also different but the
saturation current
remains same.
PH11001 QM 15

CM and QM predictions for the basic characteristics

Electron emission starts instantly (∼ns) after illumination.
CM=Classical Mechanics; QM=Quantum Mechanics; KE=Kinetic
energy of ejected electrons; I=photoelectric current; ω =frequency
of incident photons.
KE I

KE I

Intensity Intensity

Energy eqn.
1
Ephotons = Kelectrons + Welectrons ⇒ h ν = m v2 + φ
2
PH11001 QM 16

There are several important features of the photoelectric effect

which we list below.

1. Polished metal plates when irradiated emits electrons, not pos-

itive ions.
2. Plates emit electrons provided the frequency of the incident
light is above a certain frequency, called the threshold.
3. The magnitude of current is dependent on the intensity of the
incident light.
4. The energy of the emitted photoelectron is independent of the
energy of the source but depends on the frequency of the inci-
dent light.
5. There is no time-delay between the arrival of the light wave
and the emission of the photoelectron. The measured delay
was found to be as small as 109 seconds. This fact could not be
explained using electromagnetism.