Electron accelerating-voltage wavelength Created 2026-10-14 Updated 2026-10-20
Let an electron start with negligible kinetic energy and move through an increase in electric potential. Its electric charge is , where is the elementary charge, so the decrease in potential energy is . In a field-free region after acceleration,This is an electron formula, not a universal conversion from voltage to wavelength. It assumes negligible initial kinetic energy, negligible losses, and , where is the speed of light. It describes the de Broglie wavelength outside the crystal; the potential energy inside a material can change the local kinetic momentum.
For , take , , and . The rounded electron mass is consistent with the 2022 recommended constants.[ref]
CODATA Value: electron mass by National Institute of Standards and Technology. CODATA electron mass: numerical value and 2022 adjustment label
The electronvolt is an energy unit: must be converted to joules before combining it with in SI units. Dimensional analysis checks both steps:The resulting velocity is about , or , so the nonrelativistic assumption is consistent. For a larger accelerating voltage, the relativistic energy-momentum relation gives , with , while still holds. At the relativistic wavelength is shorter by about .Explicitly, the exact special relativity formula and its nonrelativistic quantum mechanics limit areHere is the gained kinetic energy; the total energy is . At , the nonrelativistic quantum mechanics expression gives , about larger than the exact . This difference matters when using electron diffraction ring positions to infer lattice plane spacings.
Free-particle momentum convention Created 2026-10-14 Updated 2026-10-25
For a free particle of mass in nonrelativistic quantum mechanics, choose the potential energy zero and writeApplying the momentum operator returns ; this fixes the sign convention. The angular frequency is measured relative to this chosen energy zero. Adding a constant energy changes only a time-dependent global phase, leaving the spatial de Broglie wavelength unchanged. No rest-energy term is included in this nonrelativistic quantum mechanics convention.
The plane wave has and probability current . Its real part can be drawn as a sine or cosine, but that graph is a component of a probability amplitude, not a transverse displacement. On infinite space this is a generalized momentum eigenstate, not a state satisfying wavefunction normalization. A narrow wave packet instead moves with group velocity ; the phase velocity is not its transport speed.
The equality of canonical momentum and kinetic momentum here assumes a field-free region with the magnetic vector potential chosen zero. For a charged particle in a magnetic field, the kinetic momentum is . An arbitrary canonical phase gradient must not then be substituted into ; the free particle formula needs its stated assumptions.
Magnetic pseudomomentum 2026-10-31
For a charged particle in a uniform magnetic field, the symmetric gauge makes the displayed magnetic pseudomomentum a conserved quantity when no other position-dependent potential breaks translation symmetry. It differs from the kinetic momentum . With , Hamilton's equations for give and , proving conservation of and . The charge factor is necessary unless it has already been absorbed into the field convention. In quantum mechanics the transverse components need not commute, even though each commutes with this Hamiltonian operator; magnetic translation algebra records that distinction.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2020 ii Paper 4 34C b ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-29
Let be the kinetic momentum. The quantum Hamiltonian isAssume and zero longitudinal momentum, as in the displayed states. Sincewe have andFor ,which annihilates everywith holomorphic. Hence all these states haveThe Landau levels are for ; the arbitrary holomorphic function exhibits the degeneracy of the lowest level. For , the normalizable lowest-level states are anti-holomorphic instead.
Past exam of the theoretical physics I course of the University of Cambridge 2012 Paper 1 3 Solution 2026-10-20
In Cartesian components, and . The Euler-Lagrange equation therefore givesThus the minimally coupled particle Lagrangian yields the Lorentz force.
For an arbitrary smooth gauge function , take and . Both fields are unchanged, whileThe action changes only by an endpoint term, so fixed-endpoint variation gives the same motion. Canonical momentum shifts by , whereas kinetic momentum and the Lorentz force are gauge invariant. This is the relevant gauge invariance of the classical particle dynamics.
Work in temporal gauge, with zero scalar potential, and use the charge sign exactly as in the given covariant spatial derivative. A spatially uniform vector potential acts on a Fourier mode asThere are no spatial derivatives of . Substitution into the field equation and multiplication by therefore givesThe canonical wavevector is conserved by spatial translation symmetry; the kinetic momentum is . The absence of a term involving in this mode equation follows from temporal gauge and the spatial minimal-coupling operator. The electric field still affects evolution through the changing oscillator frequency.
Sudden vector-potential pulse Created 2026-10-20 Updated 2026-10-24
In temporal gauge, a spatially uniform step gives . A charged scalar Fourier mode retains its canonical wavevector while its kinetic momentum changes from to . The resulting frequency jump mixes positive- and negative-frequency modes.
