Lista 2 - Qunti

a B (2014)

1. Quantization of the ele tromagneti eld

Consider the mode expansion of the ve tor potential operator (in the S hrdinger representation)

r
~ XX
1
ak, eikr ek, + h.c.,
A(r) =
20 V
k
k =
r
XX
~

A(r)
= i
k ak, eikr ek, + h.c.,
20 V
k =

ak, (ak, ) are reation (annihilation) operators of photons the waveve tor and polarization of whi h are
k, are the polarization
respe tively k = k (sin cos , sin sin , cos ) and , k = ck is their angular frequen y, and e
where

ve tors

ek,1 = (cos cos , cos sin , sin ) ,

ek,2 = ( sin , cos , 0) ,
1
ek,1 i
ek,2 ) .
ek, = (
2
(a ) Show that

A = 0.

What is the physi al interpretation of this result?

(b ) Show that the angular momentum

L=

1
0 c 2

d3 rr (E B) = L(o) + L(s) ,

L(o) =

1
0 c 2

d3 r

1
=
0 c 2

(s)

3
X
i=1

 
Ei ~Ai ,

with

with

~ = r ,

d rE A.

ijk :
ijk = 0 if i = j, or i = k, or , j = k ; ijk = 1 if (ijk) equals (123) or any y li permutation of these indi es, and
P3
ijk = 1 otherwise. In addition, use the  ontra t epsilon identy
k=1 ijk klm = i,l j,m i,m j,l . Then show
Hint : It is onvenient to use te hniques of tensor al ulus, in parti ular the Levi-Civita antisymmetri al tensor

that

[r (E B)]i =

j,k,l

E = 0, (a b)i =
elds vanish when r .

Re all that
that the

X
j,k


 X
X

El ijk xj
Al
(ijk xj El Ak ) +
ijk Ej Ak .
xk
xl
j,k,l

ijk aj bk

and

( b)i =

j,k

j,k ijk xj bk . Finally, use the boundary onditions

( ) Show that

L(s) =
with

being

33

0 i
~

d3 rE S A,

matri es satisng angular momentum ommutation relations and having eigenvalues

(d ) Show and give the physi al interpretation of the result

L(s) =

0, ~.


X 

~ ak,+ ak,+ ak, ak, k.

k

Write A, E and B in the Heisenberg representation.

(Consider the free-eld Hamiltonian H
=

k, ~k, ak, ak, , and ignore the zero-point energy.) Compute the ommutation relations [Ai (r, t), Aj (r , t )],
[Ei (r, t), Ej (r , t )], [Ai (r, t), Ej (r , t )], and [Ei (r, t), Bj (r , t )]? Give a physi al onsequen e of latter one.
(e )

(f ) Do

E(r, t)

B(r, t)

and

ommute with the total photon number operator

N (t) =

ak, ak, ?

k,

Interpret or give a physi al onsequen e of your result.

p = ~k

(g ) Consider a oherent state of photons with momentum

given by

and heli ity

|i = e 2 || eak, |0i ,
where

|0i

is the va uum state and

q
2
hP 2 i hP i

where

X=

~
2k

is a s alar. Compute the time evolution of

ak,

+ ak,

and

P =i

~k
2



ak, ak,

X =

q
2
hX 2 i hXi

and

P =

are position and momentum operators

of the asso iated harmoni os illator, respe tively.

ik t
(h ) Show that the S hrdinger equation i~
.
t |(t)i = H |(t)i has a solution |(t)i = |i , where = e
(Ignore the zero-point energy.) Now ompute h(t) |A| (t)i. (Dis uss your result relating it with lassi al ele tromagneti waves su h as laser.)

2. Emission and absorption

(a ) Consider a stru tureless free quantum parti le in the innity spa e. Show that this parti le annot spontaneously
emit a single photon. Physi ally, why this is the ase? Hint : Use that the initial and nal states of the free parti le
have well dene momenta and that the dispersion relation for the parti le is quadrati while for the photon it is linear.
(b ) Consider the spontaneous de ay of the Hydrogen atom (xed in spa e) in state

|2, 1, 1i.

Compute the amplitude

of the de ay using plane waves for photons, and explain the angular dependen e of the amplitude for ea h heli ity

of the nal-state photon in terms of the angular momentum onservation. Show that the rate is the same as the

de ay rate of the

|2, 1, 0i

state.

( ) (Optional) Compare the previous de ay rate with the ase of a free Hydrogen atom, i.e., for the ase of a
nite-mass proton.

Without doing any al ulation, in whi h ase do you expe t the transition rate to be larger?

Justify.
(d ) How an the 2s state de ay to the 1s state? There is no need in omputing it, but dis uss in detail. Dis uss
about the ele tri and magneti dipolar transitions. Dis uss about the de ay route 2s

2p1s.

(Re all that due

to Lamb shift splitting, 2s and 2p are not degenerate.) (Optional) Compute this amplitude transition (see Advan ed
Quantum Me hani s, J. J. Sakurai, problem 2.6).

3. Single-mode resonant avity

Consider the Jaynes-Cummings Hamiltonian given by



1
1
H = ~a a + ~0 z + ~ a ( x i y ) + a ( x + i y ) .
2
4
The reation and anihillation operators
matter.

, 0

and

and

a t on the radiation eld while the Pauli matri es

x,y,z

a t on the

are onstants (frequen ies).

(a ) Give a detailed physi al interpretation of ea h term in the Hamiltonian.

H.

(b ) Compute all the Eigenenergies and Eigenve tors of

C1 = C2

and all others

Ci = 0.

(They are alled dressed states of the matter.)

n Cn |n-photonsiradiation |groundimatter , with

Compute the probability of nding the two-level system in the ex ited state as a

( ) Consider now that the system is prepared in the state

|0 i =

fun tion of time.

4. S attering
We are interested in the s attering pro ess in whi h the initial and nal states are

|Ii = |ii |nk, , 0k , i ,


E

|F i = |f i (n 1)k, , 1k , ,

and polarization while, in the end, there is one less

~k and polarization P
. Su h pro ess involves
e
two photons and have ontribution in se ond order of perturbation theory from the term
i pi A(ri ) (where pi
m
are the momentum of the i-th ele tron in the system), and ontribution in rst order in perturbation theory from the
P
e2
diamagneti term V =
i A(ri ) A(ri ). Here, onsider only the ee ts of this latter term.
2m
i.e., in the beginning, there are

and

photons of momentum

~k

photon in su h state whi h was s attered into a photon of momentum

(a ) Rewrite

in terms of the density operator

(b ) Compute the matrix element

(r).

hF |V | Ii.

( ) Compute the dierential ross se tion and show that

2
dIF
k 
2
ek, ek ,  |hf |
(k k )| ii| ,
= r02
d
k

e2
(k) is the Fourier transform of (r).
40 mc2 is the lassi al radius of the ele tron, and
(d ) Consider the simplest ase of the s attering by a single free ele tron in whi h |ii = |~qi i and

where

r0 =

|f i = |~qf i and
ompute the orresponding dierential ross se tion (dubbed the Thomson ross se tion). Explain why this pro ess
is allowed.

5. Coming soon...