Harmonic Oscillator Algebraic Treatment following Dirac

The Hamiltonian of the harmonic oscillator may be written as:

We define two dimensionless operators:
( ) ( )
m
k
x
m
kx
m
p
x m p
x
= + = + =
2 2 2 2 2
2
1
2 2
2
2
L H
As we shall see later, these operators have the property of respectively
adding to or reducing the quantized amplitude of the vibration of the
harmonic oscillator and may be termed respectively creation and
annihilation operators.
( ) ( )
( ) ( ) x m p m A
x m p m A
x
x


i
i
=
+ =

2 1
2 1
2
2
h
h
Next, we examine the commutation properties of these two new
operators. We have:


( ) [ ] ( ) ( )
( ) [ ] ( ) ( )
[ ] ( ) [ ] 1 , ; 1 ,
,
,
1
2
1
2 2 2 2
2
1

2
1
2 2 2 2
2
1

= = =
+ = + =
= + + =

A A A A
p x m x m p AA
p x m x m p A A
x x
m
x x
m



h h
h h
h h
H i
H i
For their commutator with the Hamiltonian, we find:
[ ]
( )
[ ]
( ) ( )[ ] [ ] ( )
( ) ( )( ) ( )
( ) ( ) A x m p m
x m p x m p A
x
m
x m p m m
m
p x m x p m m
x x
m
m
x
x x

h h h
h h h
h
h
= =
=
=
+ =

+
+

i
i H
i i i
i
2 1
2
2 2 2
2
, , 2
2 2 2 2
2
2
2
, ,
2 2 2 1
2 2 2 2 2 1
2 1

[ ]
( )
[ ]
( ) ( )[ ] [ ] ( )
( ) ( )( ) ( )
( ) ( )
2 1
2
2 2 2
2
, , 2
2 2 2 2
2
2

2
, ,
2 2 2 1
2 2 2 2 2 1
2 1
A x m p m
x m p x m p A
x
m
x m p m m
m
p x m x p m m
x x
m
m
x
x x

h h h
h h h
h
h
= + =
=
=
+ + =

+
+

i
i H
i i i
i
To see the effect of the operators A and A

, we note that if we have an

eigenstate of the Hamiltonian with eigenvalue E
n
, ie,
we then find:
n n n
E E E = H

( ) ( )
( ) ( )
( ) ( )
( )
( ) ( )
( ) ( )
( ) ( )
( )
n n
n n n n
n n n
n n n n
n n
n n n n
n n n
n n n n
E A E
E A E A E A A E A
E E E
E E E AA E
E A E
E A AE E A A E A
E E E
E E E A A E

2
1
1
2
1
1
2
1
1
2
1
1

h
h h
h h
h h
h
h h
h h
h h
+ =
+ = + =
+ =
+ =
=
= =
=
=

H H
H
H H
H
In other words, we have found new eigenkets with eigenvalues
(E
n
h) and (E
n
+h) provided the states A|E
n
> and A

|E
n
> respectively
do not vanish. Further, we see that the ket A|E
n
> vanishes only if
E
n
=(1/2)h, while the ket A

|E
n
> does not ever vanish because the
Hamiltonian is positive definite and therefore so are its eigenvalues. We
may now proceed to repeatedly apply this strategy, eg.:


( ) ( ) ( )
( )( )
( )
( )
n
m
n
n
m m
n
m
n
m
n
n
m m
n
m
E A m E
E A m A E A
E A m E
E A m A E A

h
h
h
h
=
=
+ =

+ =
H H
H H

the latter result being valid as long as the corresponding ket A
m
|E
n
> does
not vanish, ie, (E
n
(m+(1/2))h) does not vanish. This latter procedure
must clearly stop when the eigenvalue reaches E=(1/2)h, the
corresponding eigenket being labeled |0>. Note that unlike Plancks
oscillators, the harmonic oscillator in quantum mechanics has a non-zero
minimum energy, called the zero point energy: (1/2)h. Eigenstates of
the oscillator may be labeled simply with the number of quanta of energy
they have in excess of the zero point energy.
To find
0
, which is the form of the eigenket |0> in the
Schrdinger representation, we note that:
This differential equation is satisfied by the wavefunction:
( ) ( )
( ) 0
0 0 2 0
0 0
2 1
= +
=



x m
x m p m A
dx
d
x
h
h i

=
h 2
0
2
exp
x m

This is the ground state of the harmonic oscillator to within the

normalization constant simply a Gaussian function.
Higher excited states may be found by application of (A

)
m
|0>, eg.,
given a normalized ket |0> we get on single application of the creation
operator the normalized ket |1>:
( ) ( )
[ ] 1 0 , 0 0 0
1 0 2 0

2 1
= =
+

A A AA
x m p m A
x
Q
h i
We thus have:
( ) ( )
( ) ( ) ( )

+ =

h
h
h
h h
2
2 1
2
2 1
1
2
2
exp 2 2
exp 2
x m
x m
dx
d
x m m
x m m

i
i i

Repeated application generates the complete set of eigenstates, in terms
of the Gaussian function multiplied by the so-called Hermite polynomials
which, from the ground state onwards, are alternately even and odd
functions of x.
Note that applying the creation operator to the normalized state |n>
and with A|n>=(n)|n1>, we have:

1 1
1
1 1 1 1

+ + =
+ =
+ = + =
n n n A
n
n n n n A A n n n n AA n