PHY501, Fall 2016, Homework 9 solutions

Problem 1.
(a) Transverse coordinates yj , j = 1, 2, 3, 4, of the four atoms are constrained by two conditions eliminated the translational and rotational motion of the molecule. Therefore the remaining number of degrees of freedom
which coincides with the number of transverse normal modes is n = 2. The
no-translation and no-rotation constrains are
y2 + y3 =

m
(y1 + y4 ) ,
M

y2 y3 =

3m
(y4 y1 ) .
M

Using these equation we can explicitly eliminate two coordinates, e.g., y2

and y3 :
m
m
(y1 2y4 ) .
y2 = (y4 2y1 ) , y3 =
M
M
(b) Using the fact that for small angles = tan , the angles 2 and 3
which determined the potential energy U = l2 (22 + 23 )/2, can be directly
expressed in terms of the coordinates yj :
2 = (y1 + y3 2y2 )/l ,

3 = (y2 + y4 2y3 )/l .

Eliminating in these expressions the coordinates y2 and y3 , we can express

U in terms of y1 and y4 . After some straightforward algebra, we get:
U=

[ 2
10m 41m2
16m
5m ]
(y1 + y42 )(1 +
+
)

y
y
(1
+
) .
1 4
2
M
M2
M
M

The kinetic energy T of the transverse motion:

T =

m 2
M 2
(y 1 + y 42 ) +
(y + y 32 ) ,
2
2 2

can be transformed similarly

m[ 2
5m
8m ]
(y 1 + y 42 )(1 +
) y 1 y 4
.
T =
2
M
M
(c) Direct inspection of the obtained expressions for the potential and kinetic energies shows that they can be diagonalized introducing the sum/dierence
coordinates q1 , q2 :
1
q1 = (y1 + y4 ) ,
2

1
q2 = (y1 y4 ) .
2
1

In terms of this coordinates,

1
y1 = (q1 + q2 ) ,
2

1
y4 = (q1 q2 ) ,
2

and the energies take the diagonal form:

9m 2 ]
[
9m 2 2 ]
m[
m 2
m 2 2
)q1 + (1 +
)q2 , U =
) q1 + (1 +
) q2 .
T =
(1 +
(1 +
2
M
M
2
M
M
This means that q1 and q2 can be viewed as the amplitudes of the two
transverse normal modes with frequencies 1,2 , where:
(1
1)
12 =
+
,
m M

(1
9)
22 =
+
.
m M

Imposing the constraint q2 = 0, i.e. y1 = y4 , we see that in the first normal

mode, the two m atoms oscillate together relative the two M atoms which
also move together. For the second mode, we need to impose the constraint
q1 = 0, i.e. y1 = y4 . We see then that, in this mode, the atoms oscillate
in the opposite direction, i.e., with the phase shift , within each pair of m
and M atoms.

Problem 2.
To find the frequency of small oscillations with an accuracy of up to (and
including) the terms of the fourth order in small oscillation amplitude a, one
need to write down the equation of motion keeping the terms of up to the
fifth order in a. This means that expanding the sine in the initial equation
of motion in the orders of the angle , one needs to keep the terms of up to
the fifth order in . Then, moving explicitly corrections to frequency to the
right-hand-side of the equation, we write it as
02
02
2
3
5

(1

) ,
0
2
2

02
,
6

02
.
120

Next, we write the basic (first order in a) part of (t) as

(1) (t) = a cos t ,
and expand (t) and in powers of a:
= (1) + (2) + (3) + ... ,

= 0 + (1) + (2) + ... ,

2

keeping the terms up to the fifth order in the expansion of , and up to the
fourth order in the expansion of . Now we need to do successive iterations
and apply the no-resonance condition (n.r.c.) to eliminate the resonant
terms in the equations for the successive (j) s. In the second order,
02 (2)
+ 02 (2) = 2 (1) 0 a cos t .
2
Applying the n.r.c., we get from this equation
(1) = 0 , (2) 0 .
Third-order equation is:
02 (3)
+ 02 (3) = a3 cos3 t + 2 (2) 0 a cos t .
2
Using trigonometric identity, cos3 t = [3 cos t + cos 3t]/4, we get from
this equation:
(2) =

3 2
3
a , (3) =
a cos 3t .
80
3202

Since the second-order terms ( (1) and (2) ) vanish, the fourth-order equation has a simple form
02 (4)
+ 02 (4) = 2 (3) 0 a cos t ,
2
which means that
(3) = 0 , (4) 0 .
Finally, in the fifth order, equation is:
3 2 5
02 (5) 2 (5)
5
5

=
a
cos
t
a cos2 t cos 3t+(2 (4) 0 +[ (2) ]2 )a cos t .
0
2
3202
We use trigonometric transformations, in particular,
cos5 x = (cos 5x + 5 cos 3x + 10 cos x)/16 ,
to see that the n.r.c. implies that
2 (4) 0 + [ (2) ]2 (5/8)a4
3

3 2 4
a = 0.
12802

This mean that

(4) =

5 4
15 2 4
0 4
a
a =
a .
3
160
1024
2560

Combining the second-order and the fourth order corrections, we see that
with this accuracy, the oscillation frequency is:
= 0 [1

a4
a2
+
].
16 1024

This expression shows that since the amplitude a of the oscillations of the
angle can not exceed , the second correction to frequency is much smaller
than the first.