Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-general-relativity-and-cosmology-and-condensed-matter-physics-paper-of-part-b-of-the-physics-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2011/section-vi/7/unlettered-1/solution

Normalize the plane waves in a periodic crystal of area or volume . The Fourier coefficients of the periodic potential obey
Translation of the integral by any lattice vector leaves it invariant but multiplies it by . A nonzero result therefore requires to be a reciprocal lattice vector.
Near an isolated Bragg scattering degeneracy, ordinary nondegenerate perturbation theory fails because the free energies coincide. Retain the resonant plane waves , and apply degenerate perturbation theory. Absorb the constant into the energy origin. Since a real potential has , the projected Schrödinger equation has coefficient matrix
A nonzero eigenstate requires
Off-resonant plane waves give higher-order energy shifts omitted in this leading nearly-free electron model.

New to topics? Read the docs here!