Quantum mechanics vs.

classical mechanics: the Schrdinger Equation

Up to now, if you were asked to determine the location of an object given its mass and the force
exerted upon it, you would proceed as something like this:
In quantum mechanics, we are dealing with particles at the atomic scale, such as electrons and
photons, which do not behave like human-scale objects such as cars, etc. From now on, if you are
asked to determine the location of an atomic-scale particle, instead of Newtons equations you will
use
The Schrdinger equation:
_
`

i h

t
=
h
2
2m

x
2
+V
Here h = h/(2) = 1.0510
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J s, where h is called Plancks constant. This equation together
with initial conditions allows us to determine the wave function, (x, t).
So quantum-mechanical particles are represented by a wave function, whose evolution is deter-
mined by Schrdingers equation.
But what is the wave function?
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The wave function has a statistical meaning
The meaning of the wave function can be explained using
Borns statistical interpretation of the wave function:
_

So quantum mechanics provides us with statistical information about the possible results of a
measurement. As an example, consider this probability distribution:
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Now suppose we make a measurement and nd the particle at C. Where was the particle just before
the measurement? Until the 1960s, the following three opinions were equally valid:
1. Realist position: It was at C. But if thats the case, quantum mechanics is incomplete because
it couldnt predict the particles location there must be some hidden variables that are
not accounted for in the theory.
2. Orthodox position: The particle was not really anywhere. The act of measurement caused
the particle to choose a position. This means that the act of measurement is strange in
itself.
3. Agnostic position: Refuse to answer. Assuming the only way to know the answer is by
actually making a measurement, you can no longer get before the measurement. Therefore,
it cannot be tested.
In the 1960s it was shown theoretically that it does make a difference if the particle had a specic
value before the measurement, ruling out the agnostic position.
In the 1980s, experiments showed that a particle does not have a precise position prior to mea-
surement, supporting the orthodox position.
What if we made a second measurement immediately after the rst?
An immediate second measurement returns the same value. This means the rst measurement
caused the wave function to collapse and form a probability spike at C:
This is followed by a spreading of the wavefunction according to the Schrdinger equation.
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Probability plays an important role in quantum mechanics
We now consider some basic concepts in probability theory. First let us consider probability in
terms of discrete variables, such as the ages in years of a group of people.
Example 1:
Consider a group of 14 people. Let N( j) be the number of people with age j. We can plot a
histogram of N( j) for the case
N(14) = 1, N(15) = 1, N(16) = 3, N(22) = 2, N(24) = 2, N(25) = 5
The total number of people is
N =

j=0
N( j) = 14
1. What is the probability of a person chosen randomly from the group being a certain age?
2. What is the most probable age?
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3. Median age?
4. Average (or mean) age?
In quantum mechanics, the average is usually the quantity of interest; in this context it is called the
expectation value.
5. Average of the squares of the ages?
In general, the average value of some function of j is given by
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Now consider two histograms that have the same median, average, and most probable value:
These are clearly very different in their spread about the average value. To quantify the spread,
we dene the standard deviation
We can expand the above denitions to
Probability rules for continuous variables:
_

P
a,b
=

b
a
(x)dx is the probability that x lies between a and b.
(x) is the probability density
It is normalized:

(x)dx = 1
Average, or expectation value of x: x =

x(x)dx
Expectation value of some function of x: f (x) =

f (x)(x)dx
Standard deviation:
2
= x
2
x
2
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Example 2:
Photographing a falling rock. A rock falls from a cliff of height h. I snap a million photographs at
random intervals during its fall and measure the distance the rock has fallen for each picture.
Question: What is the average of all these distances? In other words, what is the time average of
the distance travelled?
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The probability of nding the particle somewhere in all of space is 1.
To ensure that the statistical interpretation remains valid, we must make sure that
the wavefunction is normalized:
_
`

Note that
Physically realizable states correspond to the square-integrable solutions of the Schrdinger equa-
tion. If we normalize the wave function at time t = 0, it will stay normalized. The Schrdinger
equation automatically preserves the normalization of the wave function, as we will now prove:
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