Past exam of the short options paper shared by Prelims and Parts A and B of the physics course of the University of Oxford / 2016 / S3 / 1

Blackbody radiation defeated classical equipartition because it predicts excessive short-wavelength emission. Quantized oscillator energy exchange $h\nu$, and ultimately the photon occupation law, gives the Planck spectrum. In the photoelectric effect, electron energy follows light frequency with a threshold, rather than simply increasing with beam intensity; individual photons supply $h\nu$ and the maximum kinetic energy is $h\nu -W$. Intensity chiefly changes the event rate at a fixed frequency. These explain two distinct failures of a purely continuous classical wave-plus-matter model, while retaining wave propagation and interference.

Approximate helium mass by $2m_p+2m_n\simeq 6.69\times 10^{-27}$ kg. Nonrelativistic momentum is $p=\sqrt{2mT}$, giving $\boxed{\lambda =h/p\simeq 0.203\mathrm{nm}}$. A transverse width of one micrometre implies a characteristic position uncertainty of that order and a minimum momentum uncertainty of order $\hslash /a\sim 10^{-28}$ kg m s${}^{-1}$, with factors depending on profile convention. For a uniform interval $\Delta x=a/\sqrt{12}$, but an exactly abrupt rectangular wavefunction actually has infinite rms momentum spread. Width alone does not uniquely specify both rms uncertainties; a smooth near-minimum-uncertainty beam is needed for a finite order-of-magnitude estimate.

Immediately after a uniformly illuminated hard slit, the normalized transmitted state is $\psi (x)=w^{-1/2}$ for $|x|<w/2$, zero elsewhere. With Fourier convention $\tilde{\psi }(p)=(2\pi \hslash {)}^{-1/2}\int e^{-ipx/\hslash }\psi (x)dx$,The supplied sinc integral verifies unit normalization. The first zeros occur at $\pm \delta p_x$, but this finite central-lobe width is not the rms uncertainty: $p_x^2\tilde{p}$ fails to have a convergent integral.

For an aligned narrower slit placed immediately after the first, uniform illumination gives transmission probability $\boxed{d/w}$. Conditional on passage the same normalized formula applies with $w$ replaced by $d$ and central-lobe momentum scale $h/d$. Position rms is $d/\sqrt{12}$, while the exact hard-edge rms $\Delta p_x$ is infinite. Thus the source's finite “uncertainty” can only mean a characteristic diffraction width; the rigorous Heisenberg inequality is not violated, and smoothing the edges restores finite rms moments satisfying it.

A 10 keV X-ray has $\lambda \simeq 0.124$ nm. The ideal position-filter probability and momentum formula at fixed aperture widths are unchanged, since the Fourier transform involves $h$ and the aperture geometry. Its larger total momentum makes the angular diffraction width smaller, approximately $\lambda /d$. Real slit-material transmission and absorption are additional experimental issues.

To distinguish $2^b$ equal transverse bins across width $w$, $\boxed{d=w/2^b}$. Six bits gives one-nanometre pixels; ten gives 0.0625 nm, below the helium wavelength. In the stipulated fixed-energy freely propagating beam, the latter entails transverse diffraction momenta comparable to or exceeding the available total momentum and lies outside the paraxial aperture model. Six-bit localization is less demanding, although fine detector resolution and losses remain practical constraints. This is not a universal theorem that an atom can carry at most six bits in every encoding: accessible modes, energy, aperture, measurements and success probabilities define the channel.