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Sourabh Dube
Tutorial 4
1. Consider a system with a wave function given by
3
2
2
(x) =
1 (x) + 2 (x) +
3 (x)
3
3
3
Here the i are orthonormal.
(1)
(a) Is normalized?
(b) Calculate the probability of finding the system in any of the states i . (Is the total
probability one?)
(c) If we consider an ensemble of 810 such systems, and we perform a measurement - how
many systems will be found in state 1 and 2
Answer:
If the i are orthonormal, we can write
Z
!
!
Z
Z
3
2
3
2
2
2
dx =
(x) + 2 (x) +
(x)
1 (x) + 2 (x) +
3 (x) dx
3 1
3
3 3
3
3
3
4Z
2Z
1Z
1 dx +
2 dx +
3 dx
=
3 1
9 2
9 3
1 4 2
= + +
3 9 9
=1
Here we have used the orthogonality to put all the cross terms (like 1 3 ) to zero. We also
see that is normalized.
To calculate the probability, of finding the state in 1 ,
!
Z
Z
3
2
2
P1 = |
1 dx| = |
1
1 (x) + 2 (x) +
3 (x) dx|2
3
3
3
1
=
3
Similarly we can write the probabilities for the other states P2 = 4/9, and P3 = 2/9.
Now if we have an ensemble of 810 systems and we perform a measurement, we will have
810 1/3 = 270 systems in state 1 , 810 4/9 = 360 systems in state 2 .
2. Problem 2.7 from Griffiths
A particle in the infinite square well has the initial wave function
(
Ax,
0 x a/2
A(a x), a/2 x a
(x, 0) =
1=A
Z a/2
x dx + A
Z a
(a x) dx = A
a/2
A2
=
3
"
2
a3 a3
+
8
8
x3 a/2 (a x)3 a
|
|a/2
3 0
3
A2 a3
=
12
This gives
us
3
2
A = a3 .
Now in class we saw
(x, t) =
X
n=1
cn
n2 2 h
n
2
sin
x ei 2ma2 t
a
a
(2)
We need to determine the cn . We know the solutions for the infinite square well are complete
and we can express any function f (x) as a linear combination of all of them.
f (x) =
X
n=1
cn n (x) =
2 X
n
cn sin
x
a n=1
a
(3)
2
m (x) f (x) dx =
=
X
n=1
cn
m (x) n (x) dx
cn mn
(4)
(5)
n=1
= cm
(6)
n (x) f (x) dx
(7)
cn n (x)
n=1
cn =
2Z a
n
sin
x (x, 0) dx
a 0
a
So
"
#
Z a
n
2 2 3 Z a/2
n
(a x) sin
x sin
x dx +
x dx
aa a 0
a
a
a/2
"
#
2 6
a 2
n
xa
n
a/2
sin
x
cos
x |0
2
a
n
a
n
a
"
!
2
#
a
a
n
n
ax
n
a
a
+a
cos
x |a/2
sin
x
cos
x |a/2
n
a
n
a
n
a
"
a2
a2
a2
a 2
n
n
n
2 6
sin
cos
cos n +
cos
a2
n
2
2n
2
n
n
2
2
#
2
2
a
n
a
a
n
+
sin
+
cos n
cos
n
2
n
2n
2
2 6 a2
n
2 sin
2
a (n)
2
4 6
n
2 sin
2
(n)
cn =
=
=
=
4 6
.
(n)2
a n=1,3,5,...
n
a
with En =
n2 2
h2
.
2ma2
3. Show that there are only trivial solutions ( = 0) to the TISE for the infinite square well
with E 0.
Answer:
From the TISE we have
d2
2mE
= 2
2
dx
h
d2
2
=
,
with
2mE/
h
dx2
Then the solution is (x) = Aex + Bex . Applying the boundary conditions we get
(0) = A + B = 0 A = B, so = A(ex ex ) and
(a) = A(ea ea ) = 0 A = 0, or
ea = ea , so e2a = 1, and 2a = ln 1 = 0 = 0.
Thus either A = 0 or = 0, giving us = 0.