Physics601Homework7DueFridayOctober29

YoumayfindMathematicaveryhelpfulforsomeoftheseproblems!!

1. Threebeadsarefreetomovealongawire.Theyareconnectedtwoimmovable
wallsby4springs.Themassesandspringconstantsareasindicatedonthefigure.

a. Findthenormalmodesandtheirassociatedfrequenciesbyfindingthe
eigenvectorsandeigenvaluesoftheappropriatematrix.
b. Verifythatthemodesareorthogonalwithrespecttothemassmatrix.
c. Supposeatt=0allthreeparticlesareintheirequilibriumpositionswiththe
twoparticleontheendatrestandtheoneinthemiddlemovingwith
velocityv.(Thiscanhappensasaresultofanimpulseactingonthemiddle
particle).Findthemotionofthethreeparticles.

2. Considerthesystemdescribedinthepreviousproblem.Supposethatallthe
particlesbeginatrestinequilibriumaforcegivenby f (t) = f 0 sinh(t /T) (t) actson
themiddleparticle.UseGreensfunctionstodeterminethemotionofthethree
particles.

3. Consideraninfinitechainofmassesandspringsasshownbelow:

Themassesalternatebetweentwotypes,onetwiceasheavyastheother.The
springsconnectingthemassesareallequalandinequilibriumthemassesarealla
distanceaapart.Themassesareconstrainedtomovelongitudinally.Findthe
dispersionrelationrelatingfrequencytowavenumber.

4. Threebeadsarefreetomovealongawire.Theyareconnectedtwoimmovable
wallsby4springs.Themassesandspringconstantsareasindicatedonthefigure.
Thethirdparticleischargedandhasamassq.Thefirstparticleisattachedtoa
k
shockabsorberwithaforcegivenby F = m 0 x where 02 = .Usingthe
m

(T )1
q 0
phasespaceformalismderivedinclass: = W =
withthe
V F (T )1
p

equationofmotioncasegivenby = W ;normalmodesareoftheform

(t) = n exp(i n t) .Findthenormalmodesforthissystem.

5. Supposethesystemdescribedintheproblemabovehasthemiddleparticle
charged(withchargeq)andisplaceinanelectricfield,orientedtotherightwitha
magnitudeof E = E 0 cos(2 0 t) .Findthepositionsofeachmassasafunctionof
time,assumingthatthesystemhasreachedsteadystate.

6. Consideradrivendampedsystemofoscillatorsproblemusingthe

(T )1
q 0
phasespaceformalismderivedinclass: = W =
1 withthe
p
V F (T )

equationofmotionfortheundrivencasegivenby = W ;normalmodesareof

theform (t) = n exp(i n t) andsatisfytheeigenvalueequation i nn = Wn .Now

= W + f (t) with f (t) = 0 .TheGreens

thedrivenoscillatoroftheform
F (t)

functionforthissystemisamatrixvaluedequationoftheform

d
t')1 .
1 W G(t t') = (t
dt


a. Showthattheequationofmotionissolvedby (t) =

b. TheGreensfunctiondependsontheboundaryconditions.Forthecase

G
(t

t')
=
0
G
(t t') = 0
where
foralltlessthantshowthat

G(t t') = exp W (t t') (t t')

c. Writing W = S 1W d S where S isthesimilaritymatrixwhichdiagonalizes W

W showthat
and W d isthediagonalmatrixofeigenvaluesof

G(t t') = S 1 exp W d (t t') S (t t')

dt' G(t t') f (t) .