De Broglie Relations Confusion

lekh2003
Gold Member
Messages
539
Reaction score
342
I've been attempting to run through some quantum mechanics and I've seen something extremely odd, and I just can't spot my mistake.

I know the relationships: ##p = \frac{h}{\lambda}## and ##E = hf##. I also know the relationship ##E = \frac{p^2}{2m}##.

I tried to show using the energy-momentum relation and the de Broglie wavelength equation that ##E = hf## is true, but its simply inconsistent.

\begin{align}
E &= \frac{p^2}{2m}\\
&= \frac{(\frac{h}{\lambda})^2}{2m}\\
&= \frac{(\frac{hf}{v})^2}{2m}\\
&= \frac{\frac{E^2}{v^2}}{2m}\\
&= \frac{E^2}{2mv^2}\\
&= \frac{E^2}{2(\frac{h}{\lambda})v}\\
&= \frac{E^2}{2E}\\
&= \frac{E}{2}
\end{align}

Where am I messing this up?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
You've used the phase velocity: ##v_p = f\lambda = \frac{v}{2}##.

In the de Broglie mechanics it's the group velocity that is the velocity of the particle: ##v_g = v##.
 
  • Like
Likes etotheipi, jfizzix, vanhees71 and 2 others
Thank you so much! Everything makes sense now, I read up some more on a StackExchange thread.
 
In other words you need to use the correct dispersion relation for free Schrödinger waves, which results from
$$E=\hbar \omega = \frac{p^2}{2m}=\frac{(\hbar k)^2}{2m},$$
i.e.,
$$\omega = \frac{\hbar}{2m} k^2.$$
In your notation it's
$$2 \pi f=\frac{h}{4 \pi m} \frac{(2 \pi)^2}{\lambda^2} \; \Rightarrow \; f=\frac{h}{2m \lambda^2}.$$
 
The neighborhood of an event includes points that are timelike, null, and spacelike separated from it; the light cone does not bound the neighborhood. The topology of spacetime is still ##R^4## even though the metric on it is not the one induced by that topology. Thanks
 
iosman001 said:
The neighborhood of an event includes points that are timelike, null, and spacelike separated from it; the light cone does not bound the neighborhood. The topology of spacetime is still ##R^4## even though the metric on it is not the one induced by that topology. Thanks
Did you attach this post to the wrong thread? It looks off-topic here.
 
iosman001 said:
The neighborhood of an event includes points that are timelike, null and spacelike separated from it; the light cone does not bound the neighborhood. The topology of spacetime is still R4R4R^4 even though the metric on it is not the one induced by that topologyhttps://chatavenue.vipThanks

thanks my issue has been fixed.
 
Back
Top