Past exam of the sub-atomic physics course of the University of Oxford 2016 1 b b Solution 2026-10-25
Adopt the lower-bound scale of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, , with the prescribed radial scale from a. Using MeV fm,For a one-sided exponential distribution of a positive momentum magnitude, , both its mean and its standard deviation are . Under the additional identification made in this estimate, set the characteristic momentum to . This identification concerns a positive magnitude; the mean of a signed momentum component in an isotropic stationary state would instead vanish.
Use the relativistic energy-momentum relation, not a nonrelativistic kinetic-energy approximation, because the momentum-energy scale is much larger than the stipulated quark rest energy:This is a characteristic energy estimated at the characteristic momentum. It is not an exact evaluation of over a fully specified three-dimensional wavefunction. An order-of-magnitude convention would give an answer about twice as large; the uncertainty principle by itself specifies a bound, not a unique confinement energy.