Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-physics-a-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2011/paper-1/section-b/b6/solution

The restoring, damping and electric forces on the electron give . Dividing by gives a Lorentz oscillator model with
For the convention, substitute . Then and
The time-averaged dissipated power is
For positive frequency the squared term is minimized to zero only at . Thus the power maximum is exactly at the undamped natural frequency, even though the displacement maximum is slightly shifted. Here . The half-power equation is , whose two positive roots are
This is the absorbed-power bandwidth of a viscously damped oscillator, exact within the model. Near resonance the profile is approximately a Lorentzian line shape. With ,
For this wavelength linewidth of a damped-oscillator power resonance we used . The half-power wavelength endpoints are not exactly symmetric around , although that distinction is tiny here.
Figure 1.
Absorption resonance and release of a polarized oscillator
. Original model curves. Frequency is offset from resonance in linewidth units. The release panel uses the supplied mechanical parameters and a unit initial displacement. Details.
In a constant field the settled displacement is . On sudden removal, with zero initial velocity, the free motion is
The electron oscillates about its original equilibrium, losing the previously stored spring energy. The period is , the amplitude decay time is , and the cycle-averaged energy decay time is . This is the effective classical model supplied, not a prediction of the full hydrogen line radiation spectrum.

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