CMI Entrance Exam 2015 Question Paper for Ph.D Physics

FOR CMI EXAM PREPARATION

CMI 2015
Question Paper · Ph.D
Physics
EXAM YEAR TYPE SUBJECT

CMI 2015 Question Paper Ph.D Physics

Notes · Sample Papers · Previous Year Papers · Mock Tests

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se Instructions g l a
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• Enter your Registration Number here: CMIPG ID

Enter your Examination Centre here:

– The time allowed is 3 hours.

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– Total Marks: 100
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– Each question carries 20 marks.
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• Answer all questions.
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• RoughgWork: The coloured blank pages are to be used for rough work only.
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For office use only
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CMI Ph. D. Physics Entrance Exam 2015

(1) A particle of mass m moves under the influence of an attractive central force f (r)r̂.
(a) Show that the motion is planar. [3 mks]
(b) The motion of the particle can be treated as one dimensional with the introduction of an
appropriate effective potential which involves the angular momentum. Write down the effective
potential and total energy of the particle. [4 mks]
(c) Using the result obtained above, show that by proper choice of the initial conditions, you
can always get a circular orbit. [5 mks]
(d) If you subject the above circular orbit to a small radial perturbation, obtain the relation
between f (r), r and ∂f ∂r
for the orbit to be stable. [4 mks]
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(e) If the force is of the form f (r) = −K/r , obtain the condition on n for the circular orbit to
be stable. [4 mks]

(2) Problem (c) is compulsory. Attempt only one of the two problems (a) and (b). Maximum
available points are 20.

(a) A ring of radius r has charge q uniformly distributed over it. The ring is placed in the x − y
plane with its center at the origin.
(i) What is the electric field at any point along the z-axis. [5 mks]
(ii) Use the above result to show the following: Consider a charge −q which is constrained to
move on the z-axis that is perpendicular to the plane of the ring, passing through it’s center.
Show that the charge will execute simple harmonic motion when placed along the z-axis at a
distance z << r from the center of the ring. [5 mks]

(b) Consider two plane infinite sheets with uniform charge densities ±σ which intersect at
right angles. Find the magnitude and direction of E everywhere and sketch the electric field
lines. [10 mks]

(c) A very long solenoid of radius r and having N turns per unit length carries a current
I = I0 sin(ωt) in the counter-clockwise direction. Assume that the axis of the solenoid coin-
cides with the z-axis.
⃗
(i) Write the expression for B(t) inside the solenoid. [3 mks]
(ii) Assuming that B ⃗ is zero outside the solenoid, write down the expression for electric field
⃗
E(t) inside and outside the solenoid. [7 mks]

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(3) Problems (a) and (b) are not related: both are compulsory.

(a) Consider a free particle of mass m in a 1-dimensional box. The potential has the form
V (x) = ∞, x < 0, x > b, V (x) = 0, 0 < x < a, V (x) = V0 , a < x < b. Find the quantization
condition for stationary state energy levels for energies E > V0 , and the corresponding wave-
function. In the limit of E much larger than V0 , show that the resulting quantization condition
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you find reduces to the familiar one for a particle in a box with no internal “step” (i.e. with
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V0 ∼ 0). [10 mks]
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(b) Consider a system

a g 1 †
H = ω (a a + ) + ω (a a + ),
0 1 1 1
1
2
†
2 2
2 2
where ai , a†i are the usual creation-annihilation operators for each of the oscillators.
(i) What is the condition on ω1 , ω2 , for the system to have no degeneracy in any level? [4 mks]
(ii) Now say ω1 = ω2 . List the three lowest energy levels and their degeneracies. [6 mks]

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(4) The rotational energy levels of a diatomic molecule made of two identical atoms with spin

em J = 0, 1, 2, . . .
half nuclei is given by

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E[J] = λ J ( J + 1 ) ,
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In answering the following questions you
the fact that the two nuclei are identical. In particular you need not consider electronic or
vibrational levels.

(a) What are the allowed spin states? [2 mks]
(b) How does the spin wave function change under the exchange of the two spins? [2 mks]
(c) How would the rotational wave function change under the exchange of the two spatial co-
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ordinates of the nuclei? [2 mks]
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(d) Which spin states are allowed for J = 0 and J = 1? [4 mks]

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(e) How many states ( including spin wave function) are there with energy E = 0? [2 mks]
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(f) How many states are there with energy ( including spin states) E = 2 λ? [2 mks]
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(h) What will be relative population of the two states (J = 0, J = 1), if the system is in
equilibrium at temperature T ? [6 mks]

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(5) Suppose n̂ is a unit vector in three dimensions (R3 ) with Cartesian components ni . Consider
the 3 × 3 matrix A with entries ∫
Aij = ni nj dn,

where the integration is over all directions in which the unit vector n̂ can point. You may need
the relation between Cartesian and spherical polar coordinates z = r cos θ, x = r sin θ cos ϕ and
y = r sin θ sin ϕ.

(a) A is a real symmetric matrix. What does this mean for its eigenvalues? [2 mks]
(b) Write the integration element dn and the components ni in spherical polar coordinates θ, ϕ.
[Hint: dn is just the area element on a unit sphere.] [5 mks]
(c) Find an integral expression for the ‘expectation value’ of A in an arbitrary unit norm ‘state’
v, ⟨v|A|v⟩ = vt Av. Here v is a unit column vector in three dimensions vt v = 1. In particular,
show that ⟨ẑ|A|ẑ⟩ = 4π/3, where ẑ = (0, 0, 1). [5 mks]
(d) Suppose v is a unit vector in three dimensions. Argue without detailed calculations that
⟨v|A|v⟩ is independent of the direction of v. [Hint: How can you ‘undo’ the effect of a rotation
v 7→ Rv? [4 mks]
(e) The result of part (d) may be interpreted as “the expectation value of A is the same in all
states”. Find all the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of A. [4 mks]

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