R. P.

Feynman
Ttllmun l'ruJ~u(Jr oj Ph,·.lc.
California It.. ti, .. te oj Tf:ldHlOlolIY

A. R. Hibbs
Jet l'ropul8ion l.abof'Ofory
CuliJurnin III"tirUh~ oj Tf!f.'hnolo,y
,

MoGraw-am Book Company

j\'''~ )"ur" Sr. Luul. &'1 ' ·,und.lOU TUI"un,o Lundun s,-Jn'Y
\
Quantum
Mechanics
and
Path Integrals
QUANTU.I( .IIECll.mICS AND P.1T1I INTEGRALS

CoPYriRhl @ 1965 hy McGraw.n ill, ID'. AJllli.ht.ll eserved,

Printed in the CDited Ste tee or Amcril'll. Thil:l book. or
pam. tl1rreor, rna)' hOI be tl'product'd in an)' form without
penniwion or the J,uLli..oIhc,.,..
Uln-a'll 01 Co.gr... Catalog CoNI N.ml><r lW.2li171

123~M78DO ~II' 72100087~

 Preface
nit' IUIKtaJuf"lt.l "lly.lral all" fUAlhrlllat i",al runl"t"lll. " 'fl irb tI'lttrrtW'
I*,t. ihh·Cfbl.,JIJrtJ4rla In ' IUb ll l ll ll 1 IIII-,·tuml.-" We· tit.' .1,· \--I'\I,,"l
til..
Ly Ie . " . } 'f' ~'III I1QII i ll tl.r c olli".' II' 11 1M acf••luI$l r
.l( lh l t at 1"'III,·r l nl\.
allllfUII,I. IIIU'" 'lilly .. .·\',·' .. ,_1 i.lr..II. IIltc- h All tlu..... llr ..",ut ,l m it"""
\"fIIUIIl", " N.. nut "",.,1..,".1 out Ullt U b tr w yr." lah-,. Th " 1,\'
lJ ulu lri~ ",.., e- hlv"I"I-.1 ",i tt. thr 1'",1 ,lrlll lit .hco in fin Hr U· \r ' lIl\"
()r Ih.. " Jrrl ff 'U . In "urL.IIII( 1111 IIIAI I ln ''''''III, A ·' I.,,,. r ·A.' II'\" ' · 1" ' 1\'
r il,l,. u"illJ( II.U • •h.II(·...I.ulIlllI. II ,rl llo.. Io·,II.OIlrllfl"l. " • • •h" 'llu·,,,,1
'11... In l,wll,l .. ruuM .lr.1 IIU.°C'I__ ",lIy .. uh Ih.. "llhll l) ..r ~tUC U\ th.
AIII.llr.-l b'l l hI r l..... "".1..1..... r ••I ) nAII I Ir.
T',r I.,..M"," Ih," 1.'rAlllr lOUr "r .III.I~tIlac II".. . rl l.'n Il'H II' II" '" I.,
IIUAflllIlH '"r... l~h~ . h. _U.:ll • • •,. IhAI COIAM II'A' 1I'.... hAn.... 1'' ''''•
...
 . I ensc of quantum mcchnnies when h WM
arise nnlllrnll)' ns n spcem
nlltnn 'tl 10 go (0 aero. ~ . mil(
which ' I1(, Imve 1iecu prcYlou'lly
11 " ji lt-fl."
'
Ft' \ ' III1U1 l1 sr-nrc IU' ( I lor n ~ • I ) I ' ,I
• . liU''' 111HlUI Um - IlI C'C' h n IllCJl n ' IRVlo r wtt I "'"ch
wor ked oul 111 C'OlI lIl'C ,.. • • II 'I • "
, I ' I ' ns III(' L,\l-'rnnginll or, 111 part jeulnr, 11.1111 1011 Ii pnll clplc
d n.... I('fl Il ( 0 $ ~ '" I' J) '
"". S ,I, ' imlcfiuite intcgrn l of the ngrn u g1nn. lIrUJ ~ Some
funcnou .o, (
' .'11 . visilin
COIl\'cr,;.'1I IOIIS \\ I I •
fl' European pIIY S ieist
,..
I' I
IC1S , -cynmnn rn rllt't!
. I
of a pn'lx.r in wh ich D ime hnd snggr-s ted th nt the CXPOIlCU! 1n runcl~on
of if times the Ingrnnginu was analogo us. Lo ? transformation (u ncllon
lor t he qURntum-mechanic:,l wove fun cti on 111 that t h~ wave fun clion
I On I IOIlIt'U( could he related to th e wave Iuncti nn at th e next
•mcnu-nt C I (n t ime int erval e Inter) by IUU1tip '1ymg ' Wiitlll sue h nn expo-
nent lal functi on.
Th e question that then arose WDB what Dirac had meant by the
phrase "analogous to ," and Fcynujun d et ermined to find out whether
or not it would be possible to subst itute the phras e "eq ual to." A
brief analysis showed that indeed thia exponen tial function could be
used in th is manner directly.
Fu rther a na lysis then led to the usc of the exponent of the time
int egral of the lagrangia n, S (in Ihis volume referred to as the action)
as the tra usfortuatiou function Cor finite ti me int ervals. However,
in the application of t his (unct ion it is n ecessa ry to carry out integrals
over all space var iables at every instant of ti me.
In prepa ring nn a rt icle! describing this idea, the idea of "i nt egral
over nil paths" was develop ed as n way of both d escribing and evalu-
a ting the req uired integra tio ns over space coordlnnt cs. Ily this lime
a number of mnthenmtica l devices had b een developed for npplying
th e path integral technique and a number of special applica tions lind
been worked out, although th e primary direction oC work a t. th is lime
,,".as toward qua ntum elcctrodynn mies. Actually, rho path integral
did ne t th en provide, nor has it since provided, 1\ truly l'.ld isfuctor)'
metllO~ of a\'o~dill~ (he divergence dilli culties of quantum electro-
dyn amics, but. It has been found to b e most usef ul in solving othrr
prohlell1~ in that field . In particular, it provides uu exp ression for
~U [Lnt Ulll-{:lcctrodynal llic laws in a for m tbnt relat ivist ic ill\'nriallcc
L'i olJ\'ious, In add ition, useful eppl ieations lo e ther problems of
quantu m mecha uic:s have been found .
T llc.'IlOO I clnll unlic early applicat ion of the path intc'~rnl Ul('th OtI
to, all . Ul II"""ctahle tlunutm u-n u-ehn nienl p roblem follo wed shorll.r nfh'r
.• the suhscqtu.' u t theorcu' ca I ( I'll'
I'e discovery of II1(' I.u lll IJ t:lIII' ft a nu I I-
I Jl, I'. Fl') ' lu na lJ S T· \ . .
Ii M-.' /, " pllr e· Ihl(' . pproeeh to Notl -rcll'tiv i.t;tir. Quantum M('I.·hIUlIl":J,
ttl. __ "II." \'ol , 20, p. 3CI1, IU.J.S,
 PreJtu:e

culties in explaining this shift without obviously artificial means of

get ting rid of divergent integrnla. The path integral approach pro-
vided one way of handling these awkward infiniti cs in a logical and
consistent manner.
The path integral approach was used as a technique for teach ing
quan tum mochanlca for a few years a t the California Institute of
Technology. It was during this period that A. H. Hibbs, a student
of Feynmen'e, began 1.0 develop a ~e t of no t es suitable for converting
a lecture course on the path integral approach to quantum mecha nics
into a book on t he same subject.
Ovcr the succeeding ycnra, as the hook Itself was elaborated, other
subjects were brought into both t he Ieet .urcs of Dr. Feynmnn and the
book; examples arc statistical mechanics and the variat ional principle.
At th e same time, Dr. Foynman's approach to teaching th e subject
of quantum mcchanics evo lved som ewhat away from thc init ial path
integmt approach. At thc present time, it appea rs that th e operator
technique is both deep er and morc powerful for thc solution of more
general quantum-mechanical problems. Neverth eless, the path inte-
gmt approach provides an intu itive appreciation or quantum-mechan-
ical behavior which is extremely valuable in gaining an intuit ive
appreciation of quantum-mechanical laws. For th is reason, in those
fields of quantum mechanics where (he path integral nppron ch t urns
out to be part.icularly useful , most of which nre described in th is book,
the physics student is provided with an excellent grasp of basic quan-
tum-mechanical principles which will permit him to be more cffective
in solving problems in broader areas of theoret ical physics.

R. P. Feynman
.d. R. llibb.

I
 Contents

'''-,.•• I ,
1·1 1·, 1...1.1111)· 111 (JUlIoIIUUII ., t"... IIAni~ :I
1·2 ·n l'h'''''.'III) 1"111'-11". 0
1-3 'ul..tI...tllll .' It " " 'IIoII\ _ t:1
IA """IIII1.",, ) ..r ",,,I.. ,.,Iot) t"un...·.,l. '0
I .A "'"'11'" 1I.......hli". 'l1.tI" "I,l. :tJ
IA:) on... I'u,•.-", ,,, "1M. I~...~ ;tJ

••
 xii
The Quanlum·nl",IIan Ic. I La w of Mollon 2.
2-1 The CJl\..;:<Kal Ad ton 20 .
T he Qlltlhtum-mcr htlniclli Amphtud e 28
2-2
2.J Tbe Cl:L~irn l U mit. 2!)
2-1 TIl(' Sum over Paths 31
2-S Events Occurring in Succession 36
2-6 Some Remarks 38

.
D eve Ioping ,I.
• Coneo.ls 'W ith Specipi E.8mplctl 41
3--1 Th e Free Pe rt ielc 42
3--2 Diffract ion through a Slit 47
3-3 Results for a Sharp-edged Slit 05
3-l The WS\"e Function 57
3-5 Gaussian In tegrals 58
3-6 Motion in a Potential Field 62
3--7 Systems with )Isn)' Variables 65
3-8 Separable Systems 66
3--9 Th e Path Integral as 11 Functional 68
3-10 Interaction of a Part icle and a Ha rmonic Oscilla tor 69
3-11 Evaluation of Pa th Integrals by Fourier Series 71

cluJpUr 4 The SchrOdinger DeflCTiplion of QuantuDl l'tIech.ni~ 15

4.1 The & hrOdinccr Equation 76
4.2 Th e lime-indcpcndl'Dt Il amiltoninn 84
4-3 !\onnahzing the Free-parti cle Wave Funct ions 89

Mu;suremenl'" And Operalore 95

5-1 The Momentum Representation 00
5-2 Measurement of Qua ntum-mechanical Variables 106
5-3 Operators 112

nl e PerlurlHlll on Melhod In Quantum J\lc chanic. 119

0-1 The J\ 'rturba tion Expansion 120
0-2 An IOll'grll1 Etlua tiou for Kv 126
6-3 An Expunsion (or th e wevc Function 127
6-4
The &:altl'ring of an E lect ron Ily un Atom 120
O-f;
T ime-c..lq ,endent. Pcr lu rbulionM and T ra nsition Ampl itudca 143
 Conrenh
xiii

diopter 1 T ran 8illou Elemcnts 163

7-1 Definit ion of the Transition Element 164
7-2 Functi onal Derivatives 170
7-3 Transition Elemen ts of Some Special Functioeals 174
7-4 General Resul t for Qund mtic Action' 182
7-5 T rnnsifion Element, und the Operator Notat ion 184
7-6 T he Perturba tion Series for a Vector Potential 189
7-7 The H amiltonian 192

chapter B narmonic Oscillators 197

8-1 The Simple Harmonic Oscillator 198
8-2 The Polyatomic Molecule 203
8-3 Normal Coordi na tes 208
8-4 The One-di mensioe ul Crystal 212
8-5 The Approxima tion of Conti nuity 218
8-6 Quantum l\I cchnnics of a Line of At oms 222
8-7 The Three-d imensional Crystal 224
8-8 Qunntum Field Theory 229
8-9 The Forced Harmonic Oscillator 232

chapter 9 Quantum E lectrodynamic. 2JS

9-1 Classical E lectrod yn amics 237
9-2 The Qua ntum Me chan ics of the Ra diat ion Field 242
9-3 The Ground S ta te 244
94 Interact ion of Field and Matter 247
9-5 A Single Electron in n Il adintive Field 253
D-6 T he Ln mb Shift 256
{)..7 T he Em ission of Light 260
0-8 Summary 262

chapter 10 StatiAtlcalMechanlce 267

10-1 T he Pnr tilion Funct ion 269

10-2 T he l'uth Integml Evalua tion 273
10-3 Quuntu m-mechanlenl E f!t"cI ~ 270
10-1 S;)"r;h 'm s of ~' \' ('ru l " lln llhlt':'4 2S7
10-5 Remarks on M clh od~ or I)cri\'ftlion 205
 ('. nntrnt.

thoplt'r" Th., "arlallonal Method m

11-1 A MinimulII Principle 300
11-2 An '\ Pllli('nlio:l of tile Variat ional Method 303
11-3 The Stnl\(lard Vnrinlionnl Principle 307
11.... Slow Electrons in a Polar Cry8tal 310

thop,r,1% Othrr Problrmll in rrobabllity 321

12·1 Random Pu lses 322

12-2 Characteristic Fu nctions 324
12-3 NoL~ 326
12-4 Gaussian Noise 331
IU Noise Spectrum 334
IU Brownian :\lotion 336
12·7 QWU1tum. Mechanics 340
12-8 Influence Functionals 343
) 2-9 Influence Functional from a Harmonic Oscillator 351
12·10 Conclusions 355

Ap~ndu Some VM:tul Definite Integrolll

loci... 3S9
 1
The F'uridarnerrtal
Concepts of
QuantuID Mechanics
.-1 PROItlDlI.rn· IN QUANTl'M MECIIAN ICS'
•
I·rom nIIOU t u' 0 Iuo.:,..
· ...... innln.... of the twentieth century experimental
eo I '
.
physics Rl lUl...
, __ I
....~'U U
n impressive army or st range p rcuomcnn which
~ • • '1'1
d(';no ll~tmtt'tl the iIlUU{'CjllUCY of closs icul physics. 1(' att.emp ts to

discover n theoretical st ructurc for th e n~w pheno mena 100 at flrat to

n confusion ill which it nppenred thnt .llght , n~d clcctr~~s, behaved
sometimes like waves nnd somet imes like pnrtlclcs. ? 1 .1118 apparent
incousistcucy was completely resolved in 1926 und HL7 III the t heory
called qua ntu m mechanics. The new th; ory asserts t hat. there ~rc
experiments for which the exnct. out come 18 ru n~nJlI cnt~lIy unprcd~ct-.
able nud t hat in t hese eases one hns to be satisfied with computmg
probabilities of various outcomes. But fur more fuudnm entnl w ag the
discovery thet in nature th e laws of combining pro ba bilities were net
those of th e elA...~ iro l probabil ity theory of Laplace. The quantum-
mcchanicnl laws of t he physical world approach very closely the laws
of Laplace as th e size of t he objects inv olved in the exp eriments
increases. Therefore, the laws of probabilities which arc convention-
ally applied nrc quite sntisfuctory in analyzing the behavior of tile
roulette wh eel but 1I0t the behavior of a single electron or 8 photon
of light.

A Conceptual Experimen t . The concept of probability is not

altered in qua ntum mecha nics. When we say the probability of b
eertain out come of a n experiment is p we m ean the conventional
t hill g, i.e., that if the experi men t is rcpe~tcd many times, o ne expects
that t he fra ct ion of those which give the outcome ill question is
~ouglil~ p, We shall not be at all concerned with analyzing or defin-
lUg t ~IIS con~l'pt i ll more d etail ; for no d epartu re from the concept
used III classica l st:1 ti:st ies is required,
WIJll~ .is.cllougcd, uud cbnngl'tl mdicu lly, is the method of cnlculeting
probahilities. The effect of this ehnngc is greatest wlrcn d ealing with
ol'Jccts of a to mic dillll·T1sious. For thi~ reason we sha ll illustrate the
~ws of quantum Ilicclaalli~ by dl':Scribillg the results to be expected
111 SOlli e coII C{'pl unl e Xnt.· • I d I·
o .B. . J " ru uen S co. IIlg W.ith n slIIgle electron.
0

ur II 11 gmury ('xlJl'rilucut is illus trul.et.l i ll Fig. I_I. At ..... we have

n source of electrons S Tl I
b t ". ' . IC C cc t rous III B nil huve the saU1C energy
U COrn e out III all directiolls to imp inge 011 n screen B. The screen
I Murh of t he IlIa h·riul llp...... nrin . I .
lecture I,y n P J' I '~ Jl: 1Q t 116 ehnpter- Was or lginnlly pr('t;f'ntNIM •
" . • C)'ntU/llI llll,1 I'ul ,liloll'd ~ " ·1 Co
I ' l'(:llIlIIi'·H in tile" I I ' K. I(' ,OJlf'('p t of I'ro lJllioilitJ in Quantum
p .. ..,I'f'Uhf k rkd.·y 8)·1 I -- .. . . ' d
rll!Jublllly, Ullivcrt;it II I C Iif . . • • II IONlIl tll on uJ at lll'lIul!l l·l,1 Shltl!llll':1 IIh
2 Y II "'tmll 1 rese, llcrkd cy, Culil., 195 1.
 T/le/llndamental eoncepla 0/ (luuntum mechanic"

I, J--
)---------i------- 2

A e c
F ig. 1_1 T he expcrtmcn tol nrrn ngement . El ect rons emitted a t A make t heir W fI) · to th e
detector at screen C, hut n screen IJ wit h two holes is int er posed , TIle .Ietrct or r('~ ist {'J'~ fI.
count for e ach electron ,,·hid l llrrive.!l ; ti le fract ion \\ hich a rrives when t he det ect or is
placed at u detence e from t he center of the screen hi measured nnd plot ted agnintlt x, nil in
F ig. ]-2.

B has two holes, 1 and 2, through which the elect rons may pass.
Fi nally , behin d the screen n at u plane C we have 3 det ector of elec-
trons wh ich ma y be placed at various d istances x from the center of
the scree n.
If the detector is extremely sensitive (as a Geiger count er is) it will
be discovered t hat t he current arriving a t s: is not continuous, but
corresponds to a mi n of particles. II t he intensity of the source S is
very low, the d etector will record pulses represent ing the arriva l of
individual part iclcs, separntcd by gaps in tim e during which nothing
arrives. T his is the reason we say electrons an' part icles. If we had
detect ors simulta neously a ll over the SCfl'CU C, wit h a very weak source
S . only one detector would respond, th en a ft er a little t ime, a nother
would record th e arrival of nil elect ron, etc. Th ere would never be a
half respo nse of th e d etector; eith er an entire elect ron would a rrive
or nothing would happen . Ami two detec tors would never respond
simultaneously (except for t he coincidence that t he source em it ted
two electrons within th e resolv ing I ituc of t he dct cct ors-r-a coincidence
whose p roba hility cun be decreased by furth er dcc n-nsr- o f th e' source
int ensity). In other words, t he detector of Fig. 1-1 records t he> 1':1$-
sage of 0. single corpuscular ent ity travel ing from S through u hole in
SCl'l'C11 B to the point r ,
T his particular experiment has never 1>cp11 done in just t his way .
In t he following des cript ion we nre stnt illJ!: wbn t t he res ult s would I"K.'
uecord ing to tile lnws wh ich fit every r-xpcrinu-ut of t hi,; IYIk.' which
bus ever been perfor med . ~O lll (' (' xI Jt' r i lll ('nl ~ whi ch d irectlv illus-
trute 11 m co ur-l us lo us w e' lin ' n'nchill~ lu-re ha ve lxx-n 11Il III.' , hut ~ III' h
ex periments nrc usua lly 1II0rc cemplicutcd . "'C'
p n.'ft·" Icr pl... I;IJo:1 1~i l'a l
 11'n~11.~. t 0 ~(' I.- ... I "xlV'nUl(,llts
. I"
which nrc
..
t he simplest in principle a nd
di...:n'~llfll ti ll' clillicull ics of nctually dOIl1~ t bem, ' .
. I I II if 0 11(' prefers nne could Just n~ well usc hp;ht IJ1Htcnd
I llC'u t'u u )', " , •
of electro ns in this expC'ri lUC'ut . 'file sumo POlllt~ w~u ld IK~ Illustrated.
TI ';'OUI1:'C S could be a source of monochromatic light aud th e Ii(mlji~
ti ~; ~1l'h'('lor 8 photoelectric cd l or, bett er, a ph otomultiplier which
would record p ulses , each being t h(' arrival of a s ingle photon.
What we shall 1UC'nJ:\u n ' for vari ous positions x of th e detector is tile
mcnn number of pulses per second . In other words, we s hall deter;
mine experimenta lly the [rvlnti vc] probability P that the electron
passes fro m S to x, as n fu nction of x.
The graph of this probnhility as n fu nction of x is t he co mplicntcd.
curve illustrated qualitatively in Fig. 1-2n. It has several maxima
and minima, Bud t here arc locations near the center of the screen at
which electrons hard ly ever arrive. It is the problem of physics to
discover the laws govc ruiug t he st ructure of this cu rv e.
We m ight at first suppose (since t he electrons behave as particles)
IhAI

1. Each electro n which passes from S to % must go through either

hole 1 or hole 2. As a consequence of r we expect that :
II. The chance of arr ival at x should be t he sum of two parts, PI,
the chance of arrival coming through hole 1 plus}>z the chance of
arrival coming through hole 2. 'J
We may find out if this is true by direct experiment. Each of the
component prooobilities is easy to determine. \Vc simply close hole

1 p ---- ~ ---
---
f'J feJ fdJ
. 'ig. 1·2 n~ull8 of IIltl CXp4"rimcl I' _.
nguinsl the Jlflsit iofl x of II .• I It . ffJ l.t1l llht y of IIrth ',,1 of elect roue lit 'Z IllotlCtI
Ilr·r(: nl (0). If 11111,)' one h ICi Ul' ector. 1'1,(, n- -ult r II " ." . I
' " 0 If' Cli.lll'rlmcll t or I' IJC . I_I l ~ ploW't
, II) To· • 0 c lB cpcu IlO t )1I' vleetr I ' II
III :. ror J1Il1l l,(,le 2 0 IK"A, it itI (el. Jr WI" O~18 r Ail gu t Irou R,h .JUtll Iloll' I , ti ll' rc.~u
11011. or t he otl lf'r we (:xp' I II - 1I1J1I~IIJC C'1 U" h vlre t rou ' ll",l goes tll rou~h one
·.1 ' "C
('oru.luf·naLly d i(Jcr~nl (r om ' 1 t .
, (: f"Un'(' (II) _ (b ) + I
e) WI ICII both IIOll"tl li n! op en. 1111s LS
..
'" III we lI t lUtlll,r get, (0 ) .
 5

1M

Fig_ 1-3 An enntogoue experiment. in wnve int erference, 'The com plicat ed curve P (z ) in
Fig. 1-2a is the sn mc 8 5 the intensity l (x ) of wnvea whieh would arrive at z tit nrti ng from S
and corni ng t hrough the holes. At some point s x the wnvc lcta from 1101('8 1 nnd 2 in t erfere
destructively (e.g., tl. cres t (tom hole I nr rivc-'i nt t he enme ti me as n trough from bole 2) ; fit
others, constructively. Th is produ ces tbe complicated minima and maxima of the curve
1(,).

2 and measure the chance of arrival at x with only hole 1 open. This
gives the chance P 1 of arrival at x for electrons coming through 1.
The result is given in F ig. 1-2b. Similarly, by closing 1 we find the
chance 1>2 of arrival t hrough hole 2 (Fig. 1-2c).
The sum of these (Fig. 1-2d) clearly docs not agree with the cu rve (0).
Hence, experiment tells us definitely that P ~ P, + P t , or that II
is false.

The Probability Amplitude. The chance of arrival at x with

both holes open is n ot the sum of the chance with just hole 1 open
plus that with just hole 2 open .
Actually, the complicated curve P(x) is famil iar, inasmuch as it is
exactly the intensity of d istribution in the interference pattern to be
expected if waves start ing from S puss through the two hail'S and
impinge on the screen C (Fig. 1-3). Thc eas iest way to represent
wave a mplitud es is by complex nu mbe rs. \Vc call sta te the correct
law for P(x) metbemnticnlly by saying tlmt P(x) is the a bsolute squa re
of a certain complex qunnt ity (if electron spin is token into uccount,
it is a hypercompl ex quantity} 4t(x) which we call t he proll(l!JiW!I amp/i·
t ude of arrival at x. Further more, 4t(x) is the sum of two cont rib u-
lions : 4>., the amplitude of nrrivul through hole 1, plus 4tt, the umph-
tude of arrival through hole 2. In other words ,
Ill. There nre complex numbers 4t1 end 4tt such thnt
p = 14>1' (1-1)

4> = 4>, + 4>, (I-~)

6

pnd

P. = I ~ I' (l-J)
1', = I~I I'
.
I t('I"S \\ C shall discuss in detail the actual calculation of
111 later CIPP , I
d A. JlrJ'C we AA""' ouly thnt ~h for example, may >c en culolcd
. 1 8 1) ~ =. J • . 1' f
~n ~U I t iIO JtO f a wave. equat
~,
ion representing waves ep rcnuiug . rom
t he source to 1 and from 1 to r . T his reflects the wave propertlcs or
electrons (or in the case of light, pJ~otons~ . .
To SUIiUllOri Z(": We comp ute th e lI1tcIlSltY .(I .C,., the absolute square
of the amplit ude) of waves which would nrrlv~ . m the nppnm~us nt.x
and then interpret th is inte nsity us the probability that n particle will
arrive at e.

Lo,::-ical Difficulties. What is remarkable is that this dual use of

wan' und part icle id C"3S does not lend to contrad ictions. This is SO
Du ly if great cere is tnken OS to what kind of s tatements one is per-
mit ted to make about the experi mental situation.
To discuss t his point in more detail, consider first the situa t ion which
aru..ses from the observation that our new law III of composition of
probabilities implies, in general, that it is not true that P = Pi + p",
We must conclude t hat when hath holes arc open, it is n ot true that
tile puttiele goes through aile hole Or the other. For if it hod to go
through One or the other, we could class ify all the arriva ls at E into
two disjoint classes, nam ely, those arriving v ia hole 1 a nd those arriv-
ing through hole 2 ; end th e frequency P of arrival at x would surely
be the sum of t he Irequeuey PI of particles coming through hole 1 and
the f n 'fluC>I1C)' 1':. of those coming through hole 2.
To extricate ourselves from the logicul dillicuitics introduced by this
startling coueiusion, we might try various artifices. 'Ve might say,
ro~ exulllplf', thut perhaps the electron travels in a compl ex trajectory
gO.l ng t hrough 1101(' ) I then ba ck through hole 2 and finnlly out through
J III SUllie cOI lI plieutcd Inanuer. Or perhaps the electron sp reads out
scJUll:'how •and ,..... nassS('S n.. II IIrrougn _ I bo
I , ... r y th holes so ns to even tual ly pro-
dlurc the IIIh·rfl."rt'ncc result Ill. Or perha ps the ehunee J\ th at the
e. cctron passes - .
throuel I I 1 IIn.~ not been d etermi ned correct I)•
~ I 10 e
Itl8sfllu ch ns elosine I 01 2 . 1 1 ' .
I10Ie 1. l\J DIlY sucl . ,., I c ling It rave iuflueneed the moti on nctn
I . I I ' ,
11 It . ~ e ns.s rce II II'C uumnus have been tried to C'XphUll
IIIIe rcsu ·1. \\ hell Iwllt .. pi1(J I OIl M nrc useu," ( Ill which , case the smn e I:1,\\'
CCllt~:)P, 'tWit).. the tw~ iuh'rfl>ri llg put he 1 and 2 enu he mude t~'bC 1\lIUl}'
I (. era apart. ( Ill space}
JlI "....,"'1 aI11I05'I ccrtn .lnly I cc
I' I 1;0
' .1
'
ru t the two ul n-rnetivc tmj C'et orl rs
.
>C UlUl'}>Clu..lcn l. Thnt the actual situat ion IS
 Ti, e fundamenla' con cept. oj q llo n l u m m e daani,...

more profoun d than might at fi rst be supposed is shown by the follow...

Ing experiment.

The Effe ct of Oh~ervQli on . \Ve have concluded on logical

grounds that since P y6 P I + P" it is 1I0t t rue that we ca n expect to
anal yze t he electron's motion hy the simple as su mp tion t hat the elec...
t ron passes throu gh either hole 1 or hole 2. Hut it is easy to design
a n experiment t o test our conclusion directly. 'Ve have rur-roly to
have a sou rce of light behind t he holes and watch to sec through which
hole t he electron pusse-s (sec Fig . 1-4). For elect rons scat ter light , SO
tlmt if light is sca ttered behind hole I . we m ay conclude t ha t nil d ec...
tron passed t hrough hole 1; nnd if it is sca ttered in the neigh borhood
of hole 2, the elect ron has passed through hole 2.
The result of this expe riment is t o show uneq uivocally t hat the elec-
t ro n docs pass t hrough either hole 1 or hole 2! That is, for every eloc...
t ro n which arriv es at th e screen C (ass um ing the light is st rong enough
that we do not miss seeing it) light is scat tered either beh ind hole 1
or beh ind hole 2, and neve r (if t he sou rce S is very weak) at bot h places.
(A more d elicate experiment could even show that t he cha rge passing
through the holes passes throu gh either one or t he other and is in all
cases t he complete charge of one electron and not e, fraction of it.)
I t no w appears that we have come to a paradox. For sup pose that
we combine t he two experiments. 'Ve watch to sec through which
h ole the electron passes and at the same ti me measure the chance t ha t
the elect ron arrives at x. Then for each elect ron wh ich urrivcs at x
we can say experimentally whether it carne th rough hole I or hole 2.
F irst we may ver ify that p. is given by curve «(,), because if we
select, of the elect rons wh ich arrive at r , only those which up pcur to
come through hole 1 (by scattering light there), we find the)' nrc,

Fi~. 1-$ A modifi ce t ion of t he

experiment of F iJl:. 1. 1. lin t!
we plll,·t' a lilO::llt sou rec 1. lwhiud

-- --- th,' se-rre n II nn,l look fc>r l i~ 1it

----
Sl,'nllr red h~' t he <'I('..- ( roll :< Il :l~""
init I hrouitl1 11(111' I or h,)I.' :!.
\Yit h II !' t r l1ll jt l i ~h t t'\' IIrt'(' ('\"t'ry
clee t ron i ~ illtlt·(·,1 ftllllu l 10 I\~'-""t
by 0 111' or t lU' lit her h n ll· . BUI
L now t he l) rO""" i l i l ~' of lu ri\ :11

~l
III r j " no IOIl t:.·r it i \ -I' II ,,~. I ll,'
eu rve of Fi l{. (.:!,I. hill i.11I1:oIl·I\,1
A gin 'lI Ly Fi ~ _ 1 ·~.I.
B
(.funll'''''' rr1('("lum i f'1I fUllI I HI". ill'('8"·I,,
8

. I I" ' n rn r h' l 1'lS1rl'1lUted ns. iu eurve '

(I,). (Thi!ircHultiHohtnill~
, _I I . .
)hI ('t"t , ll l) . • c1c~t'tl SO w e hnve verified t ULt UU'fC L'i nn
I II ' l o ll' 2 l:l Up t'lt Of . " . I I ) If
r I .: .) on tln- mot io n n car 10 c I. we tK~lC'tt

II
II
I
I'
W u- II r I

t l"t
' 1 Ihu' u('t' cl r o:- l1I ~ ....
su '1 ,II' I-tIro ns "'l,.'nltr n• ng Ii~' hL nt I)...., we get (very ncar.1y
. " I ( np .....-ars at ei t her 1 or 2 n
I ) P

uu w c ca n
,
2 of 1-ilt. 1-2c

H l'pu.rn te
•

II t ow C'UC' I t ' PC m u I"

II II . . I I' joint classes. So, if we take both together, we
our elect rons lit a ( IS I ' I" 2
,--I ,
'
m ll ~l ~l'l, t III' utsr r )1ution P = PI +
1'" illuatrntct
, 'I .III 'Ig,
_. l~ d. Anti
' .
expr-nmcn tally w' C do'• Somehow now the distri iu tion uoes nOlllhow
UIl' illh'rfcn'ncC' effects III of curve (a) I
Whnt hus !J('('1t changed ? " 'hen we .wat ch th e eI e~trons to sec
through which hole they pass, we obtaiu the result I = PI P,. +
Whell we do not watch, we get a different result,
p = 1<1>, + <1>,1' .. I', + P,
Just by wat ching the electrons, we have cha nged the chance that
the-e arrive at E . How is this possible? T he answer is that, to watch
th('~l, we used light and thc light in collision with thc electron may
IX' expected to niter its motion, or, more exactly, to alter its chance
of arrival at z-.
On the other hand, can we not usc weaker light and thus expect a
weaker cfTe'ct? A negligible disturbance certainly cannot be presumed
to produce the finite change ill d istribut ion from (a) to Cd). But week
light docs not mean D. weaker d isturbance, Light COmes in photons
of energy h", where" is the frequency, or of momentum hi)., where A
is tile wavelength, \Vc:lkening the light just means using fewer pho-
tons, 50 t hat we may miss seeing a n electron. But when we do see
one, it means a complete photon was scattered and a finite m omentum
of order hlA is given to the elect ron.
. Th e electrons t hat we miss seeing arc distributed a ccording to the
mh'rfctt'lIcc Iuw (a), while those we do se e c ud which therefore have
scattered ~ pl~otOI.1 ur~ive at x with the prohnhilit), J) = PI + PI in (d).
Ti le net dlstnhutlon I II this case is tllcrcforc th e weighted mean of (a)
und (d) , 111 strong light wbcn nearly all electrons scatter light, it is
ncarl,)·. (ll); and in very weak light, when vcry few scat ter it becomes
more like (a). ,
r ~t 1.I~ight st ill be 8U~C5tl'tl tha t si nce the momentum curried h)' the
~: l.~, L~ hlA, w(ll hr d TC'C ts ~uld .IJC. Produced by usi ng light of lon~r('r
_ \ J( 111,,'1.11 .), . Hut tln-re L.. n hunt to th is. If light of too IUII~ l\
\\n\'c:lc'uK!b 1!4 used we 'I II ( I II I
f rom ltd lllld . "oll~ I ( r 1 I 'J . I
I f) IU 110 'C' U J c to l" 11 whdhcr it was SCU Ul'n't
I _ ,
.carllmt I»(> lo('utt-u II. I JHp :1C 10 e - , or t It' source of light of wavelengt h "
'(1 .•
W U C WI I PrI' CIl'lIOIl ~rc!ltl'r than order x.
C IUS eve thut a ny physical agency desil(lIed to d etermine through
 TIle Jundamenlal concepts oj qunnhf.m medlOniCIJ
9

which hole the electron passes mu st produce, lest we have a paradox

enough dist urbance to al te r the dist ribution from (a) to (d). '
It was first noti ced hy Heisenberg, and st at ed in his un certainty
principle, that the consistency of the t hen-new mecha nics requ ired a
lim itation to the su bt lety to which exper iments could he performed.
In our case the p rinciple says that an attempt to d esign apparatus to
determine through what hole t he elect ron pa ssed I a nd d elicate en ough
so a s not to deflect the electron suffici enUy to d estroy t he interference
pattern, must fail. It is clear thnt t he consistency of quantum
mechanics requires that it must he a general stateme nt invol ving all
the agencies of the physical world which m ight be used to determine
through wh ich hole an electron passes. The world ca nnot be half
q uantum-mechanical , half classical. No except ion to the uncertainty
principle has been d iscovered.

1-2 THE UNCERTAINTY PRINCIP LE

We shall state the uncertainty principle IlS Icllowe: Any determi nnticn
of the nlternative taken by a process capable of following more than
one a lternat ive d estroys the interference between ulter nntivcs.
Heisen berg's ori ginal stat ement of the un certai nty prin ciple wa s not
given in the form we have used here. We shnll interrupt our argu-
m ent for a few paragraphs to d iscuss Heisenberg's original st a t ement .
In classical physics a particle ca n be described as movi ng along ll.
defini te traj ectory a nd having, for example, a precise po sition and
velocity at any particular t ime. Such n picture would not lend to t he
odd results that we have seen nrc cha rac terist ic of quantum mecha nics.
Heisen berg 's uncertainty principl e gives t he li mits of a ccuracy of su ch
classical id eas. For example, t he iden that a particle has both a d cfi-
nite posi tion and a d efinite mome nt um has its limit at ions. A real
system {i.c., one obeying quantum mechan ics) looked u pon from a
elnssicul v iew appea rs to be one in which the posit ion or moment um
is not definite, but is un certain . The uncertai nty in position ca n be
reduced by careful mc usuremcut, and other mcnsurcmeuts may ma ke
the momentu m d efi nite. nut, us H eisen berg stated in his principle,
both can not be nccurutcly known simultaneously; th e product of the
uncertainties of 1ll 01 il L' Ut 1l111 an d posit ion involved in nny oxpcriuwn t
ca nn o t be small er Until u n umber with the ord er of mngni t udo of h. t
Thut Much U res ult is req uired by physica l cousist cucy i ll the situntiou

t 1\ _ 11/ 2. _ U)t;4 X 10- 17 erg-see, where II - r llmd l,'d 1'OlUl tlUl t .

 Quantllm mcrhOllicfl olld po ll. illlc,rtlb

10
. . be l'hown by consider ing s t ill another way
we have M il d ISC:lISSlll g call
. .1 . _ ' c throu...h which holc th e elect ro n passes.
of t ry ing to UCI.·t: rnun eo

~
r..s u m p
IC.Notice
J\
th at if nn electron is d eflected in passing
•
through
I
~
our 0 I IItc J10 J...~, its vertica l componcnt of momentum IS C Ulng c u .
•
Further more, an electron arriving nt t he detector x after passlII g
t lI rOI I"~ h hole 1 is dcncctcd by a d ifferent amount, and. thus •
suffers u
ditT(,r<'llt change in momentum , than an electron ernvmg at x via
hole 2. Suppose thnt the screen Ilt B is not rigidly su~portcd, but is
free to move up nnd down (Fig. 1-.5). Any change 111 the vertical
eomponcut of thc momentum of an elect ron upon passing th rough 8
hole will be accompan ied by an equal a nd opposite change in the
momentu m of th e screen. This change in momentum can be Incas-
urcd by measuring the velocity of the scre en before a nd after the pus-
sage of all electron. Call 6p the d iffere nce in momentum change
between electrons passing through hole 1 or hole 2. Then an unam-
biguous determinat ion of the hole used by a particular elect ron requires
a moment um det en ninnt ion of the screen to an accuracy of better
thnn ~p .
If th e experiment is set up in such a way that the momentum of
screen B can be measured to thc required accuracy, then, since we can

~
:J ---__.. . ~ ~~ --__
---
F1g. 1-5 .An<ltL('r rnod ifir lll io" or tilt' t' . ' .
move \"<'rttrlllJy . H l be ~ltttrOI . , Xpt'rIlJ1('nt o r FJK. I-I . The s creen n is (crt free lo
:~mplC!J,. i~ . b ddl~lt'd uP","af~ 1:~f~~OI:,;. ~1I11 nrri \"('lil at tll~ d ct erlof {li t z _ 0, fUf
l"OUJ;11 \l: JII( h t he elee trcn pa.",-~ 'S C"n1 1.e .1 . t( .n /J ,.llouloi ft'tod duwnward , 'The huh'
6Crttn a l resr m d T ' I l.ll:l t-rlll lllt"11 fOf C I " I
II.eesen
" I I IIcw;u rml; ~· IJl· III (.r it ". .,. a c I !mlWoII KC I,>· l'l1n rt lllK Willi I Ie
x:rg'. unc t ' . Vi f'·(·UJ UrI( up I
tirrcen /J'" I.> I ~~ aUaly p,mt·i,,!f', l,oW~\·I'r 11" I
.. <1(1 u ...: InC OI ",. '. . . , r-
0.' ( (l ~' 11 " rtt'rwnrJ
I Ilrtt.·l'iC II' I
. Af"t o rt lillg 10
nol l. ~ I \.,Lo; e n t \'o"It ll Iln·ur I " k I Olllt'll UUl Illf'lI.:m n ·llIf"n t lil un
l)("b Urc t Ill tth e ~ t r . II t hoW''' 'Keor ·ts . I
gel lhjIJ srueercd I~ n l:r lIle or t !l(' II(j)l '... is r OITl'ttl • l V('rl IClll POSit ion, so we coub
II JlUe III the v~rtklLl If .' ~ L'let. I n lll t'lItJ or / ' (z ) o r Fig . 1_20, we
eecucn, 60 It looks like F ig , 1-2d.
 ThejlUldomentol concepts oj quantum mecllonica I
.~
II

determine the hole passed through, we must find that the result ing
distribution of electrons is thnt of curve (d) of Fig, 1-2. T he inter-
Icrcncc pattern of cu rve (a) 1HU!<lt be lost . How can this hnppcn?
~
o
To understand, note that the construction 01 a distribution curve in •!
th e pla ne C requires nn accurat e kn owledge of the vertical position •
of the two holes ill scree n B . T hus we must rnensurc not only t he
mom entum of screen JJ but also its position, 11 the interference pat-
tern of curve (0) is to be esta blished, th e vertical position 01 R must
I,,
be known to nn uecu racy of better than d/ 2, ,... here d is the spacing ,,l
between maxima of the C1U"·C (a). For suppose the vertical posit ion
of R is not known to t his uccumcy; then thc vertical positio n of every 11
point in F ig. 1-2a can not be specified with nn ac curacy greater than
d/2 , since th e zero point of the vert ical scale must be lined up with
some nominal zero point on B. Then t he vnlue of P at any particular
height x must he obtained by averaging over all values within a d is- 1
tance d/2 of x. Clearly, the interference pattern will be smeared out i
by this averaging process. The result ing curvc w ill look like F ig. 1·2d.
The interference pattern in t he original experiment is the sign of a.
wave-like behavior of the electrons. The pattern is the same for an y
wave motion, 8() we may usc the well-known result from the theory of
ligh t d iffraction that the relation bet ween the sepa ration a of the holes,
the distance 1 between screen B and the plane C, the wavelength X of
the light, and d is

(1-4)

as shown in Fig. 1-6. In Chap. 3 we shall find that the wavelength

of the elect ron waves is intimately connected with the momentum of
the electron by the relation

(1-5)

If p is the toto! momentum of an electron (and we assume all the elec-

trons have the same total momentum), then for 1 » a

~p a (1-0)
11 =::: 1
as shown in Fig. ]-7. It Icllowa that

d=~ (1-7)
~p
 • tin d ,nnth illl~6rob
QUOII,,,m n1rrl'lIIl1t:l ...

12

-e

CD

o
...L
®
r: d
1-
I
B C
Fi,:. 1-6 Two beams of light, start ing in pbese at IlOJCS 1 nod 2, will interfere conslnlc.
lin"I)' when tbey reaeh the screen C if the}" tnk e the same t ime t o travel from B to C. This
means t hat a maximum in the dilTr:u:tion pattern for light be am s passing t hrough two hoJes
will ceeur at t he cent er of the screen. As we move down t bc sc rcen , t he next maximum will
occur nt a detanee d, U'~ k h is (ar enough from t he center t hat, in t rnveling to th is point,
the beam from 1I0ie 1 will beve traveled exactly one wavelengt b x Iarther thon the beam
from hole 2.

11-- - - - 1 -- - --1
p

.j
'r~6PI
--
p

B
C
Fi s · 1..7 Th c dcRcct ion afan .-!cel roo ir .
a cbenge in ,?oment um 6p. T hill d um'; P Ill' I'oln /; tl lNltJp;h II hole in the s creen IJ is nd unl!)"
morhl'n t UJll Ul a dirl.'C:tion lIPPrtlJl:imllh .f , lthlount~ to tl, e a d d it io n of n s m al l eompoe cn t of
n Ie c"ll!mpe in ' ,) ,* r'K'Jld lCu la r I II "
.. cnCrr;y III ("om ple'tt ly " '" 0 IC OnK lIltIllIIOhlcn t u lIl ,'('d or.
mObl('n l um vect k net!; IIl:I • c . }"or II I '
,
III rI'IJret;Cllh .d t '
Inlt,,"
or l'('Jlf! t he 1';1Ime I (
II til e 't,. proxi
"'m n ( 'lIet tioh IUJ ~I t'S the lottll
t I ) .. •
frloln hole I ,. ; 1I " ('r)' goo d ll' llJf<lAiltlhl iun b,)' l ~ 1; 1'1l e )' . J hen til e deflec tion 1t1l~lc
rC:l.ea ILl' wu I ~1I0lu cn tu m III lIrK.! Ihe otl .('r ( ~ , 1·1. U h t"o (.. I("(,t ro ut'. one tll:tr ling
IOU!>t difTe;'~"~ point ~D U.e sereen C. tllch til(" '" II lIIR (r(>' ll Ilole 2 wil h moment um p~.
has come . , : aplJrtJxl~'lIItel)' all, [o;illl't. We " ,'n·n" ',n1 tI 'fUugh ",Ilid . till')' were lldlcdf'd
• .", tlll("('rlulIll y ' I 110 t;lly II I '
rocth'~ (on ~. « , ' I III ( .e \'t'rl iea! Cf ' I lI'"(1Ut; I willch hole UII elcetrcn
1'......<lUlg ( lroo I II . . l II lOrl('h t tI(
angl e. Thill.,', I ,RI lel;('",,-,ll lI m ufi t ll(" _ ' I
cs "' nllon I /
PI - P ~ I IPl _ /' II I I
II .' -
I' '
"'llLlv /I ('Ill to
alt.
,
Ili omelitum whid a the (']cd roh
'
II !'; Unccr lft lil ly in dellcetlon
 T/lcfllndamrntal conupt. o} quantum mee/lOnic.

13

Since experhncutally we find that th e interference pattern has been

lost, it must he t hat the un certainty 6% in the measuremen t of th e
posit ion of Il is larger- than d/ 2. Thus r.
h
6p6J: ~ 2 (1-8)

which agrees (in order of magnitude) with the usual statement of the
uncertainty principl e.
A simila r unnlys is CDn he applied to the previous measuring dev ice
where the scattering of ligh t was used to determ ine through which
hole t he elec t ron passed . Sud } an analysis produces the same lowcr
limit for thc uncertain! ies of measurement.
The uncertainty principle is not " proved " by considering a few such
exper iments. It is only illustrated. The ev idence [or it is of t wo
kinds. Fi rst, no One has yet found any experimental way to defeat
the limitat ions in measurem ents which it implies. Second, t he taws
of quantum mechanics seem to require it if their consistency is to be
maintained, and the predict ion of these laws has been confi rmed again
and again with great precision.

1-3 INTERFERING ALTERNATIVES

Two Kinds oC Alternatives. Fro m a phyeicnl standpoint the two

routes are ind ependent alternatives, yet the implicnt iou tha t th e prob-
a bility is the sum P, + P s is false. This means that either the premise
or t he reasoning which leads to such a conclusion must be false. Since
our habits of t hought a rc very st rong, many physicists find that it is
much more convenient to deny the prem ise than to deny the reasoning,
T o avoid the logical incouslstc ncics into which it is so easy to st umble,
they take t he following view : When no attempt is made to det ermine
through which hole the electron pusses, one cnnnot say it must PfUiS
through O TIC holC' o r t he ot her. Only in a situation where apparatus
is operating to determine t hro ugh wh ich hole the electron gars is it
perm issible to f'ny that it PIl ~";;I'S through one or the other. " -h£'l1 you
wutch, you fi nd t hnt it goes th rou gh either one hole or t he other hok-j
but if yo u O I'C 1101. looking , you ("l\1 111 0 t say thnt it ~Ul'S eith er c ue way
or Ow othe-r! Nature d cn muds tim! we wa lk u IngiC'1l1 t igh trope' if we
WiHl1 to (h ~('I' i1 K' he- r.
Coutrn ry 10 t hnt WRy of thi nking, we ,:;hall ill t hil'l hnnk follow till"
sUJU!;fost ioll Illlu ll- ill the fi [l<lt p.llrt flf thi s chapter IU IlI d,'u)' t ill' reusou -
i ' IK j i.c., we shal l not compute p robnbilitica hy add ing probnhilit ies for
 mke uc-finite ti ll! Il C\V ruh... for coml.illit,If
( 'N.' ln of(Il'r Io I ) - . f '
nil "Ur nt fi 1\ • . .
I T" it wi ll IlIC' ("OIl\('U
"' .,,1
• to (k fim' twu lItr.nlllllJ,!;~ or Llu! Word
• • •
lu'o hn II I 1('5, 'l •il t' IiIrs I ur 11,1-""-
• If ... cn rru's wi th It the cunr.f'I>1
- " "lc fin illlN
unltt·n mt." 'C'. I I 'I I nnd :! nrc cxr:l" ." i/·c f,ltalwlu'CII if one tlf
r l·x.d ll~lon . T ius 10 C'S I' "1.1. . .
Illpnmtu~ til a t eun 1111(1111 1I~1I 0US Y UClum lllr:
o "". l or if "
Uwm 1" cl ~'( or I ~O Ill C' I
I " operating. The oLher menumg 0 t 111 word
• r,
• I r
• - • c;:
which hole IS usrt 15 . '
. .. ' . '"II, it u eonce'pt of eom binntmn or I II e r crc llce.
unJ( r rnnl l\'c cnmcs \\ 1 . . ..
"r "'
(T he tenu 111 u l aC1lc ' e 1 11lS tile smue 1l 1('IUI III~ lu-re us It hns III optlC~. I
,
i.e., "\1
('1 rcr c
oust ., ructivc or <!C'::;Lruclivc interft'n . 'uce.) Thus I we shall
s:t.)., ,10 I('S 1 nn II ?_ present.
. ....." ' inlrr'rri"
J'
g allcrm,turrR •
to t he o cctron wh('11 •
(I ) bot h holes nrc O(K'II aud (2) no nt u·IlI ~1. IS mrulc to d c.tcruu ue
t hrough which hole t he electron passes. "~I.It," t he nlternativcs nrc
of t his interfering IJ IX', t he laws of probnh ility mus t be cha nged to
t he Iorm ginn in Eqs. (1-1) a nd (1-2) .
T he concept of inte rfer ing alternatives is Iu ud amcntal to nil 01
quantum mecha nics. In SOIllC sit ua t ions we may have both ki nds of I
alternati ves present, SUPPOl'iC we ask , in the t wo-hole experiment , I
for the probabi lity thnt the elect ron arrives at SOJne point, say , within
1 em of t he center of the screen. \Vc may lucan by that the proba-
bilit y t hat if there were counters arranged nil ove r the sc reen (so one
or a nother would go orr wh en the elect ro n arrived), the counter
'which went off was wit hin 1 em of :r = O. Here the various possi-
bilities arc that the elect ron arrives at some counter vin some hole.
The holes represent interferi ng a lterna tives, bu t t he coun ters a re exclu-
sive alterna tives. T hus we first add 91 + 4J: for a fixed x, square tha t ,
and t hen sum t hese resulta nt proba bilit ies ove r x from -1 to 1 em. +
It is not hard, wit h a little expe rience to tell which kind of a ltcrna-
tin 'S is involved. fo r exa mple, sup pose t laat lnfc nuatiou a bout t he
alternatives is nvu ilublc (or cou ld be mad e availa ble without altering

I'
the result}, but this iuform nt.ion is 1I0t used. N eve rt heless in this
case a Bum of pro In )1"'"I' I If'S (iIII the ordi nary se nse) must he carried • out
o'h·~r l exclusi!'c nlle rnntivcs. These exclus ive a lternut ivos nrc theM
w tc 1 could hove been sepa ra I eIy .I( Ieutjficd "
by the informa t ion .

" SOl ~_~ IlIluhtratio~lI. When a lterna t ives cannot possibly IJc
'50 \ h J Jy any cxpcrlll c t tI I " "
tru tioll f II · z.. - 1 n .. ley a ways IIl lt·rfl·rf'. A s triki ng illus-
of- ~ ·'1 . .
o 118 1::0 t he 8ca tlrr llw
. ""
or
I " I '
\\ a lIue CI at 000 ~a y i ll the c('n u 'r-
gravI y "'~tcm, as Illustrilt.t'tl · F. . " .
an a pa rt icle a nti n I III Ig . 1-8. Sup pose ..1 rl·prt·:.lo(·nho
A 18 •
Hentt.erctl to SOlli. e. ot Ie' r Ilucl(·u~. . AS k rUI· t Irc pruhabi"I"It )" IIIII I
P<>OIIOIl I nnd /1 to 2 1'1 " I' ,
tliJl ll(t ,2). TIIf! prnba bilit f I . _. . ro nt upl ituc C I~, SlI) ,
not dist inguish ""hat k:I:Jo~ t us IS P = . 1~A. II(I ,2>1:t. ~UPpO~(' we (~()
nucleus urrlVCt:! at 1 that is wh ether It
• •
 Tile fundamental concept. oj quontllm. mecllanin

IS
F iR. 1-8 Scnltcring of one
rfl' nud clltl II)' n n llt )tr f in th e renter-
of-~ mv it y 8ytllcm . T he sc ee-
lcrill" of t wo iden tienl nu clei

A - - - --;- - - -o . • B
~ I IO W H li t rik inJ;in (rr(crcnc(' effects.
T here nrc t "" 0 i n ( c rl(' ri n~ nlte-m n.
t iH"l( hcee. The pnrt icle which
IIrr i \' ~ at I, fillY. can hav e teee
3
~

"r

' tl ml ,,-hidl Hla rtro citber fr om A

I
-, or from n. If t he or iginal nuelei

rn~
were not «Ientienl, 1(.'81s of
ident ity at 1 could deter mine
whh-h nltcrnntive had act ually
bee n ta ken, Ml t he}' ere ('ltdusi" c
el tem utives a nd Ille s pn:ia l inlcr_ ~
Icrenee effects do not BJ'iae in -1
UIU case . 1
i
is B or A . If it is B , the amplitude is tb.t1J (2. J) [which eq ua ls t/I.4D (I ,2),
because we have to ken a gOo a ngle}. The cha nce that some nucleus
arrives at 1 and the ot her nt 2 is

(1,9)

' Vc have add ed the probabilities. The oases A arrives at I and B

arrives a t I nrc exclusive alternat ives beca use we could, i! we wished,
deter mine the cha racter of the nucl eus at 1 without dist urbing the
previous scat teri ng process .
But if A is an a pa rti cle, what ha ppens if B is also an a particle?
Then no experi ment ca n dist ingu ish which is which, and we cannot
know when onc a rrives a t 1 whether it is A or B. We ha ve interfering
alt ernatives, and th e probability is

14>' 0( 1,2) + 4>'0 (2,1) 1' - 4p (1-10)

This int eres ti ng result is readily veri fied experimentally .

If cleet rous scatter electrons, the result is differe nt in two ways.
Fi rst , t he electron ha s n quality we call Spi ll , a nd n gi VCII elect ron may
be in one of two states caU NI SI,i71 " l) a nd S1);n down . T Ill' spin is not
changed to firs t nppmxim ntion for scnttcring at low energy . Tho spi n
carri es a m ngnet ic momen t , At low ve locit ies t he main forces nr c
ch-et ricnl, owing to churge, and the mav;nt'tif: Inf luences h Ulk t' only n
s mal l cur reeti ou, which WI ! u(·v;h'cl-. ~o if elect ron A has sp in tip un d
IJ JUL" sp in dow n, we coukl I:t.t.(·r u·1I which arrived nt 1 by llu':,su rillJ:
its spi n, If Up. it is Ii j if d own , it i.~ B . The scattering llMlh:lh ilit,)'

•
I
16

is t hen
(I-II )
I~ (I .~) I' + 1 ~(2. 1) 1 · - 2p

in lhis cUSC. I I d R starl with spin up, we cannot Inter tl~1I

H, hOWM"r f , bot 1 J an ,
which is which and we would expect
I~_. . (I .~) + ~A.(2.1)1· = 4p (1.1 2)

ActUD II)'
thls i
-rcng and remarkably, electrons obey n different rule.
IS IS w I • . ' 1 " I I
I
lit Ie fo, nn event in winch t he identity 0 n pmr 0 c cct ron,
T I1(' nmp I ut
"IS rcvcrscc• con tributes lSOIl out of phase. •I' IJut "IS, t h C cese 0 1 be th
spin up gives
I ~A "( 1 .2) - ~A .(2.1) 1· (1-13)
In our C8:iC of 90° scattering 4>AD(1,2) = 4>Ao(2,1), BO this is zero. I
Fermions and Bcsons. This rule of the 1800 phase shift for alter-
natives involving exchange in identity oC electro ns is very odd, nnd
its ultimate reason in nat ure is st ill only im perfectly understood.
Otb cr pa rt icles besides electrons obey lt, Sueh particles a re called
Iennions, and are said to obey Fer mi, or ant isy mmctric, statis tics.
Electrons, protons, neutrons, neut rinos, a nd p. m esons nrc Iermions.
So are compounds of an odd number of these such as 0. nitrogen atom,
which contains seven electrons, seven protons, a nd seve n neutrons.
This 180" rule was firs t stated by Pauli am} is the full quan tum-
r ncehanicnl basis of his exclusion principl e, which cont rols the chnr-
acter of the chemists' periodic table.
Particles for which iutcrch uuge docs not niter the phase nrc called
bosous and arc said to obey Bose, or ay nuuct ricul, sta t ist ics. E xam-
pk-s of boscns are photons, 11' meso ns, uud syst e ms containing an even
number of Fermi particles such as an a part icle, wh ich is two protons
and tw~ ncutrous. All pa rticles ere eit her vile or the other boSOIlS
or rcrl~lons. These interference prop(~rti("S can have profound uud
my1:ilcrlous
. effects . Fa r eXJ.lI UP le, lreI"unu 1-I<IUIO " Illude of o.to ms 0 1
ntcmie mess 4 (boso ) •• _ • .
. ns au U:lll pcrnturL~ of o ne or two deg rees h.c1nn
COn flow wit hou t • I ••
Ii U1id any reststance t hrough sma ll tubes wherea s the
14 made of a toms r .. 3 (Ieru llOus)
. .. ,
T1 . 0 Inns.., docs not have t his property.
re concept of iUl'ntit.y of p lrf I . 1 I fi
nile ' . : re C':I 1.~ ur more com plete a mi ue •
callymh(~~npn ll lull.lI l lllecJII~lUc~ thnl~ it is ill cln."iSicul mechan ics, C lu.o.;si-
, r rc es w rich 6('('111 l(!<·utieul 1_' 1 . ' I r
id('llt ieul for nil ti 1 co u u >c ucnrly ItlcutlCll . 0
pruc ICtl purposes i l tI I be SO
clO!i(,·ly equa l that res . . , I U' ~' Ilsc t lnt they may .
P ent CXpcrllllclltal tec hniques cannot detect any
 r',e f,"ltlamenrnl concepta of quantum m ecllaniCIf
I
17

difference. However, the door is left open for some futu re technique
to esta blish t he differr-uce. In quantum mecha nics, however, the
sit ua tion is differen t. \Vl" en n give a di rect test to dete rmine wheth er
or not pa rticles arc co mple tely indistinguisha ble.
If the particles in t he experiment diagrnmed in Fig. 1-8, starting
at A und B, were only approxima te ly identical, then improve mcuta
in experimen tal te chniques would enable us to dcter miue by elOHC
scruti ny of the particle a rriving a t 1, for exa mple, whether it came
from A or B . In this situa tion the ultcmnt ivee of the two init ial
positions mus t be exclusive, end t here must be no interference bet ween
the a mplitudes describing; these alternat ives. Xow t he important
point is that this act or scruti ny would take place af ter the sca ttering
had taken plncc. This menus that t he observa tion could not possibly
affect the scnt tc rlng process, and this ill turn implies tha t we would
expect no interference between th e amplitudes describing the al tcruu-
tivcs (that it is either the pa rticle fro m A or the parti cle Crom B which
a rriv es at 1). 111 this case we must conclude from the un certainty
principle that there is no way, even in principle, to ever d istinguish
between th ese possibilit ies. That is, when a particle arr ives at I, it
is complete ly impossible by a ny test whatsoever, now or in the future,
to det ermine whether the particle started Irom ...l or B. In this more
rigo rous sense of iden ti ty, all electrons a rc ident ical, Il9 nrc all pro-
tons, etc,
As a second exam ple we conside r the scattering of neutrons from 0.
crystal . 'Vhell neutrons of wavelengt h somewhat shorter tha n the
atom ic spacing a rc scattered from the atoms in a crys tal, we get very
st rong interference effects, The neu trons em erge only in ecrtalu d is-
crete directions de ter mined by t he Bragg law of reflection, just as for
X rnys. T hc interfering nltcr uativcs which enter this exampl e nrc
the alternative possibilit ies tha t it is this, or thnt , atom which docs the
acnt te riug or a particular neutron. (The amplitude to sca tter neu-
trons Ircm any atom is so s mnll that we nerd not consider alter natives
in which a neutron is sca t tered by more thnn cue utour.) T he waves
or a mplitude describing th e Illation or n nout rou which stu rt from these
atoms interfere const ruct ively only in cortu iu definite di rect ions.
Now t here is all intcrcs t iug cour plieution whi ch enters t his appur-
ent ly s im ple p iclure. Neu trons , like elect rons, cnrry u sp in, wh ich
call he uunlyaed in t wo s tat es , spi u u p nud :-p in do wn. ~uPJ>()~ t he
scnt tt 'ri uj!; ruaterin l i:ol COlllptl'U-U or uu a t omi c :o>1)t'{' irs wh ich has n s im i-
lar sp in proper ty , I'lilch a s carbou-Ll. In t his C:l Sf' UII f'x !)(' r ilul' u t will
reveal two uppurvu tly difTt'f('ut typ~ Il f scu t toriug. Jt is Ioun d t hut
ht.o- sidL'K t he Hcu tu'rilli; ill discrete tlin' rt iults, ItS described in the pre-
I•
•

I
•
I
 . d patl. in'f!Sral~
Quontun1 n1edlfJlIl('$ fJll

18
h . d "lIused sealtering in nil directions. Why
ceding parngroph, t ere 1S a I
should th is be? f tl esc two types of scattering is provided by I
\. clue to t he source 0 1 ihi I
, " b ' (OJ Suppose nil the neutrons W lie 1 enter tll(~
the followmg 0 serve I I . I I ' . di "
. afro in such n manner t hat t rcrr spm U'Cctlon
cxpr n lll(>llt nrc prep . ' 1 •
.}s up. II t I,e ~P "Il1 d"I-~"' 1"L"\.:10
ion of the erncrgmg neutrons IS una y zcd, It
_ • •
will be fou nd t hnt there are some up and .some dow 11, those which
&1"II havc s in p up atel scattered
· only at the d iscrete Bragg angles, while .
those whose spin has been changed to down come out scat tered dil,
{usely in all directions!
1\0 ,. in order thnt a neutron flip its spin from up to down, the law
1 \ • I '
of conservation of angular momentum requnes that t ie SPin of the
scattering nucleus be changed fro m down to up, Therefore, in prin-
eiple the part icular nucleus which was responsible for scattering that
particular neutron could be determined. \ \'e could, in principle, note
down before the experiment the spin state of all the scattering nuclei
in the crystal. Then, after the neutron is scattered, we could rein-
vest igate t he crystal and sec which nucleus had changed its spin
from down to up. If no crystal nucleus underwent such a change in
spin, then neither did the neutron, and we cannot tell from which
nucleus the neutron was actually scattered . In this case the alterna-
tives interfcre and the Bragg lew of scattering re sults.
H, on the other hand, c ue crystal nucleus is found to have changed
spin, t hee we know that th is nucleus did th e scattering. There nee
no interfering alternatives. The spherical waves of a mplitude which
emerge (rom this particular nucleus describe the motion of the scat-
~red neutron, and only t he waves emerging Irom this nucleus enter
Into that description. In this case there is equal likelihood to find
the scatte red neutron comi ng out in filly direction,
. ~he concept of searching through all t he nuclei in a crystal to find
: hich one I~~ cha nged its spin state is surely a ncedle-in-t he-heystack
~ of ac tJ" lt~, but l1?lurc is not concern ed with the practical dim.
~: tres..O hl, ex~rnllclltatICJn . Thc importa nt fact is that in principle it
poSSI e Without producir diIS I urbunee of the scattered ncu-
trc I d O . I Ig any
n 0 etcrntina (iu this Jet te 1 )
which eryst I I . r case w rere the sp in states ChlUlgl'
this POSSihil7t nl~\::~ OJCluully d~d the scattering. The existence or
deten llinatiOl; we ~~: t 10.t even If we do not actually curry out th is
nonil1 terff'rillfl') alter 11.lc\Ocrthcless dealing with exclusive (uud thus
- ... lA: na Ives

On t he eth er hand , t he Iuct tI ° '

nntives in the situatio 'l rat ,~ e get IOtcrfl~ellce between niter-
ehnllged means that "I' n \\. icrc th.e'SP ill 8 t UI cs 0 It'te neut rons were noI
1 IS Impossible Co ' "
, v ell If' principle, to ever discover
 r/'ejnnr/ame,,'al corU''''''JI (if qfwn'"m m "dufn;r/ll ~
19 ,
which particular crystal nucleus did t he ecuttcring-r-impoesible at
lenst, without 1.1i~turbing th e sit ua tion during or before t he scattering .

1-4 SUM~I'\RY OF 1'1l0llADlUTY CONC F.I'TS

AItefnnth'CR and the Uncertainty Prin cipleo T he purpose of

t his introductory cha pter has been to explai n t he mea ning of n pmbn-
bility a mplit ud e a nd its itu port nncc in q ua nt um mechanics and to dis-
cuss t he rul es fnr m anipulat ion of th ese nm plitudcs . TI1U~ we have
stat ed that t here is a q uan ti ty culled a probalJilily am plit ude associated
with every met hod whereby an event in natu re can take place. For
exa m ple, a n elect ron going from n SOurce at S (Fig. 1-1) to a detector ,
a t z has one a mpl it ud e for com pleting t his course while passing through :-1
hole 1 of the scree n nt B a nd a not her a mpl itude in passing th rough 1,
~

hole 2. Furt her, we ca n a ssociate nn a mplit ude wit h th e overa ll eve nt

I
by add ing toget her ti le amplit udes of each alterna tive met hod. Thus,

i~
for example, the overa ll amplit ud e for a rrival at z is given in Eq .
(1-2) as

( I- H )

Next , we interpre t th e nbsolu te sq ua re of the overall a mplitude as

the probabilit y that t he event will happen. For exam ple, th e proba-
bility t hat a n elect ron reaches the detector is

p = 14>. + 4>,1' (1-15)

If we interrupt t he course of t he event before its conclus ion with

a n observation on t he sta te of the particles involved ill the event, we
disturb the construction of t he overall amplit ude. T hus if we observe
t he system of pnrtielcs to be in one pnrtieular state, we exclude t he
possibilit y t hnt it cnn he in any other sta te, nnd t hc amplitudes as$O-
eluted with t he excluded states cnn no longer be added in as nltcrna-
tives in computi ng the overal l a mp lit ude. Fo r examp le, if we deter-
m ine with t he help of some sort of measuring equi pmen t that th e
electron passe!" t hrough hole I , the nmp lit udc for urrivul ut t he de tector
iJol just ¢ I . Fur th er, it docs 1I0t ma t ter if we actua lly observe IU l(]
record the outcome of the mcnsur...·llll·llt or 1101 , so long IlS th e mens-
urilll!: eq uipmont is working. Obviously, we could observe t he out-
come nt any t ime we wished , T Ill' opera ti on of the IIH':L..uri ng eq uip-
IIWnt Lot ~m fli ci (' ll t to d ist urb till! sy stem nnd it:'! p ro b ability a mplit ude.
This la t ter Inet iHt he hn.... is of t he Heisenbe rg uncertainly princip le ,
 , I III is n nnlurnl limit to the fmh tlcly of nny cxpC'n.
wll1('h states t rn I(' I'C 1
mcut or the rl' filll'llIl 'lIt of nny 1lIC'w;u rcl1lcul.
Ihe AII1I,liltul c. 'The a mpl itude for nn event
The SlruC'lUt"C 0 r . I
, I II plitu Il'S for 1I1l~ vn rious nltcrnntr vc ways t ra t the
is the rom 0 1(' nm t • I _~. '
'l'IIL" F\I'r m its til(' a mpl itude to be una Y Z1:tJ III mallY
event can occur. I'~ . I' I
'lT I lcpcndin g on the diCTl'I"c nt elnsscs into W lie 1 th e alt er.
d I en-It WO)":01 ( , . '- . '
, I
net wcs cnn )Co I
d'\"I(I('(1•
The most dd fil ktl annlyais resu
•
lts Irc
•
m COli.
.
sidcring that n pa rt icle going from A to /J , for .cxull1 ph~~ III ~ gwen tllI,le
Int ervnl, cnn be considrrrd to have done th is ~y gomg III n. certain
motion (position \ '5 . time} or path in space n l1~ tune. .'Vc sl:nll th ere,
fore associat e nu ampli tude with each possible motion . fh e to tal
amplitude will be the sum of a cont ributio n from cac.1t of ~he paths,
This idea can be made more clear by a furth er cousidcrntion of our
experiment with th e two holes. Suppose we put n couple of ext ra
screens between the source and t he 1101e. CnIl these scree ns D Bud 1:.'.
In each of them we drill D. few holes wh ich we number D., D 2 , • • •
and I.'t. 1:.'t, • •• (H g. 1-9) . For simplicity , we shall a ssume the
electrons nrc constrained to move in the xy plane. Then there an
several ulternnti vc pa ths which a n elect ron may take in going from
t he source to the hole in screen B . It could go from so u rce to D:.
and t hen E., and then the hole 1; or it could go from the source to
D then E" and finally t o t he hole 1, etc. Each of t hese pa ths has
its"own am plit ude. Thc comp lete am plitude is the sum of ull of them.
Next , suppose we continue to drill holes in the SCreens D and E
until there is nothing left of the screens. T he path of a n electro n
must 110W be specified by the height XD at which the electron passes
 TIIIJ Jrmdllnlcntnl conttpU .,
OJ quantum m ec111mica
21

'0

A
roO.I.IO More and mo re holes nrc cut in t he 1ll' t(.ocn 8 nl "f) nnd •• ~~~ tu II II
--"-'5 tire romp Icte Iy r
'.'
lu<
"
II C( I " n.t II I10 I('S. nud tile electron Ims n
"nuo
.....nu
s. "., n -n n rY. Ie
'
""''-'-'' "u u. rn nge 0 ~I_
tjons;, up nnd .down alo ng me-It scree n , ,nt ,,:h ie), it ea n ptUi8 th roulI:h th e p'~i(ion or t he
f (l'ff'fl. In t his (:91'(" t he 6u n~ ~r nllcrnn tlves becomes n doulJlc in ll'gr nl over t he con t inu ous
p.'1 r:lmclrrs r o nnd r~ dcsrnblnJ!: the nlt crn nt ivc IICigiata nt which tile elect ron passes the
~it ioD of the screens at lID and JiE .

the position YD at the nonexistent screen D, together with the height

rE, at the posit ion YE, as in Fig. 1-10. T o each pair of heights there
corresponds nn amplitude. The pri nciple of superposition st ill applies,
and we must take the sum (or by now, the intcgml) of these amplitud es
over all possible values of XD and XE.
Clearly) the n ext thing to do is to place more and more screens
between t he source and the hole 1 end in cech screen dri ll so ma ny
holes that th ere is nothing left. T hroughout this process we cont inue
to refine the defi nition of t he path of th e electron, until finally we
arrive at the sensible idea that a path is merely height as n particular
funct ion of distan ce, or xCV). 'Ve also continue to apply the principle
of superposit ion, u ntil we arrive at the Integral over all paths of the
amplitude for each path.
Now we can make a st ill fi ner specification of the motion. Xot
only can we th ink of t he particular path I(Y) in space, bu t we enn
specify the lime at which it passes ea ch point in space. That is, a
path will (in our two-d imensionnl cnsc) he given if the two functions
x(l) , y(t ) arc given. Thus we have the ideo, of all amplitude to take
a certain pa t h x (t) , yet). The total amplit ud e to arrive is t he sum or
integral of t his amplitude over all poss ible paths. Th e .problem of
defini ll~ th is concept of u sum or integral over all paths III a mathe-
maticnlly more precise way will be taken up in Chap. 2:
Chuptcr 2 also contains the formu la for th e nm~l~ttl.de (or nny
given path. Once this is given, the Inws of nonr·(".lntl~'I:;;tlc quantum
meehnui cs nrc completely stntcd , uud all that rt.·ll1nn,L"t L~ u ~l'Ulon~tr~n­
tion of the upplieution of these luws in n nu mber of intcrestmg sJX'CUl.1
cee us.
1-5 SOME u n r.II "" "'G TJlO UGJlTS
WI" shnll fi nd that in q ua ntum mechanies, the a mplitudes 41 nrc ~Iu­
l ions uC:1 completely th'lt'rm inisl ic eq uation (the ~cll r(jdiflh'"Cr ('(llIn~lofl).
Knowled ge of ~ ut I = 0 implies its k nowledge at nil sul,s:CJllC'lI.t t lllU'S.
The int ('rp rt.·lnlion of /4'1 2 ns the probnbility of un event IS nn lIl?ctcr.
mini-tic iut crp rct nti on. It implies t hat t he res ult of an cxpcrn uent
is not exactly predictable. ,It is ,:cry ~ml\r~~b lc ~hl~t this intcrp ro, i
tatiou oOC'£ not Iced 10 uny inconsistencies. 1hat It IN true has bC'C!fl
a mply d emonst rated by a nal yses of many part icular si t ua t ions by
Heisenberg, Bo hr, Born, von Xcumnn n, a mi r unn y a l lier physicists.
Iu spite of nil these unalye .-s the Inet that no in consistency enn a rise
is not t horoughly obv ious. Fo r this reason quantum meehan ies
appea rs as n d ifficult and somewhat myste rious subject to a beginner. .
The mystery grad ual ly decre ases as more examples n rc tried out, b ut
one IIc\'Cr quite loses the feeling that there is somet hing pecul iar nb out
t he subject .
There arc a few interpretationa l problems on which work may still
be don e. They arc very d iffi cult to st a te until they arc completely
worked out. One is to show thnt the probability interpretation of •
is the only consiste nt interpretation of this quantity. ' Vc end our
measu ring iust rutneu ta nrc pa rt of nature and so nrc, in principle, I
dcscritc d by nil mup litude fu nction sa t isfy ing n dctenuinlst ie equation, I
Wit), ca n we only predict t he probability that a given experim ent will
lend to n d efi nite res ult ? From what docs t he un certainty arise ? I
Almost without d ouht it arise'S from t he need t o am plify the effects I
of single nt omic events to such u level thnt they tuny be read ily
observed by large systems, Tile details of this have bern unnlyzcd I
only on t he assumption that 1 411 ~ is n probability, lind the consistency I
of t his assu mp tion hns been 6 110 \\"n , I t would be lHI interesting 1' 1'01>-
lem to show l ilut J/(J ot ller consistent interprctntiou CUll be umde. I
Ot her problems wh ich mny be furth er unnlyzed nrc those d eal ing I
with t he t heory of knowledge. For exa mple, there &'t'm~ t o he n lark
of S)"11I1III't l)" ill t ime in our knowledge. Our ku cw led ge oC t he pal!>t is I
qual itat ively <..I iITcn 'll t Irc m t hat of the futu re. In whnt W6)' as onl y I
1111' pmb n bility of u futu re event a eccssiblc to us, whereas tile eertninty
of n pust event CUll often appare nt ly he ns."i('rl«.l ? 'l'ht'!'l' ma t t ers I
ugain Jln~'e tK" '1l nnlll)'7.,..1 to n ~n'tlt ext ent, Pos...ibly u litt It.' more I
~nn lit· ~al,d to clarify t he situa tion, however, Uh \' iou!o>ly, we ur e ugniu '
involved III t1 1(~ ('OIIst'(I Ue n C('S of Llu- lurg(' 6i7.l' of ou rselves unci of our I
Illt'tllmri llg equ ipment, The ueuul sr-parution of o bserver a nd observed I
I,
 Tlu!J"ndam~ntnl concepts oj quantuln m~clumiclJ

23

which is now needed in analyzing meaeuremcnta in quantum mechanics

should not really be necessary , or at leust should he oven more thor-
oughly nnalyxed . What seems to he needed is t he et ntisf.ical mcchu nica
of amplifying npp arntua.
The nunlyaoa of su ch problems arc, of course, in th e nature of philo-
sophical qUf's~iolls . •T hey arc 110t necessary for t he furt her develop-
rnent of physics. " c know we have n consistent interpretation of 1fI
nnd , almo st with out do ubt, the ouly consistent one. T he problem of
today seems to be t he discovery of th c laws governing thc behavior
of ¢ for phenomena involv ing nuclei and mesons. The interpretation
of 4J is Interesting. Uutthe much more intrigui ng quest ion is: 'Vhat
new mod ifications of our t hinking will be req uired to permi t us to
analyze phenomena occurring within nuclear d imcnsions?

1-6 TilE PURPOSE OF TillS nOOK

So far, we have given t he form t he quan tum- mechanical laws must

take, i.e., that a p ro bability ampl itude exists, and we have outli ned
one possible scheme for cal culating this amplitude. T here ere other
ways to formulate this. In a more usual a pp roach to quan tum
mechanics the amplitude is calculated by solving a kind of wave
equation. For particles of low velocity, it is culled the SchrOdinger
equat ion. A mo re accurate equatio n vali d for elect rons of velocity
arbitrarily close to the velocity of ligh t is the Dirac equa tion. In th is
case the proba bility am plitude is a kind of hypcrcomplcx number.
We shall not d iscu ss the Dirac equation in t his book, nor shall ""0
investigate the effects of spin. I nstead , we limit our attention to low-
velocity elect rons, extending our horizon somewhat in the direction
of quantum electrodynam ics by investiga ting photons, partic les whose
behav ior is d etermi ned hy Maxwell's equation.
In this book we shall give t he laws to compute the prohahility am pli-
tud e for non relativist ic problems in a mnnuc r which is somewhat
unconven tio nal. I n SOUle ways, pnrticulnrly in d eveloping n conccp-
tual understa nd ing of qun ntnm mechanics, it may he preferred, but
in others, e-g-, in making computnt jons for the sim pler problems an d
for understanding the lite rature, it is disudvant ngro us. .•
The mo re eonvcutionel view, via the Hehri: ..linger cquntiou , 15
already presented ill runny hooks, hut tho .views t tl h." prl'~'~l h'tl hen;
have appeared only in ebbrev iutcd form III PllPC~ III t il t' [ournnls.
lit. P. Fey ntuan, T Ile' S I' IIl't '- T iuH.' 1~ l tl.rtlll"h to Non-n·lz,ti\·i:llic Q UUlil UIU
M cclm llic-a, /(CI/. ft! (J(l. PAys., vel. 20. p. 3U7. 1U·18.
2\
A central aim of this Look is to coll ect this work into ~IlC volume where
it may he expa nded with sullieieut clarity and detail to he of usc to
the i ll h'~ tf'tJ student.
In order to kr...-p the subject within hounds, we shall not make a
complet e (((,'yC'lopull'ul of quantum mcchn uies " . ]1I~t.cnd, whenever a
topic has reached such n point that rurt.h~r c~ucJ(lntlon would best be
made hy conventional arg uments nppcurmg 1TI other ~>ooks, we refer
to those books. Because of this incompleteness, tlu!i book cannot
S<'CYC as n complete textbook of qu a ntum moohnnics, It can serve as I
an int roduction to the ideas of the subject if used ill conjunction with
another book that deals with the Schrodiugcr equntion, matrix
mochnn ics, a nd npplieatious of quantum mech an ics.
011 the other hand , we sha ll usc the s pace saved (by our not dcvel,
oping nil of quantum mechanics in detail) to consider the application
of the mnthcnrat tcal methods used in the formulation of quantum
mechan ics to other bran ches of physics.
It is a p robl em of the future to discover the exact manner of comput-
ing amplit udes for p rocesses involving the apparently more compli-
cet cd particles , nam ely , neutrons.protons, and mesons. or course, one
can doubt that, when the unknown laws are discovered. we shall find
ourselves com pu ting amplitudes at nil. However, the situation today
d ocs not seem analogou s to that preceding the discovery of quantum I
mechan ics.
In the 1920's there were mnny indications that the fu ndamental
theo rems and concepts of class ical mecha nics were wrong, i.c., there
I
were muuy paradoxes. General laws could be proved independently
of the detailed forces involved. SOllie of these laws did not hold . I
For example, each spec tral line showed a d egree of freedom (or nn I
atom, and ut temperature T each degree of fr eedom should have un
enec?y kT, contributing R to t he specific heat. Yet this very h igh I
s pecific heat expected from t he enormous n um ber or spectral linea did
not appear.
Today, any general Inw that we have been able to deduce from the
pri ncipl e of s uperposit ion of amplitudes, aueh us the ehaructcristics of
llI~gular moment u m, seems to work. Hut the d etailed interactions I
~tJlI elude us. This suggests that amplitudes will exist in n future f
theory, but their method of cnlculution muy be strange to us. I
I
I
I
,
.
,

•
•
•
•
1
•
•
•
•

2
The Quantum-mechanical
Law of Motion
 I s this ehnpter we' intend to complete our s~('Ci fi.CD.lioll of ~onJ'('lnli.
vistie qunut um nn-ehanics which we 1 J('J!;~U1 III .L hup. 1. f hcre WI!
noted t he existence of nn a mplit ude (or eneh tr:1JI~clory; here we! bhnll
~i\'(' tlu- form of t he a mpl itude for cec h trajectory, For ~ while', !or
simplicity , we shall rc-tr lct ourselves to t he CU;--;C of n partic le !1~OVlIlg
in one dimension. T hus the position nt nny ti me cen be specified hy
a coordinate x, a (un ct ion of t. By the pnth, t hen, we mean a Iunc-
t iou r (/) .
If a particle at an initial time t. starts (rom the point x. e nd goes
to n fi na l point x. a t t ime l ro , we sha ll roy simp ly t hnt t he particle goes
(rom a to b nnd our funct ion .r(t) will ha ve the property that x(/ = z, G)

a nd x(/.) = x.. In q uan tum mcehanica, t hen , we shall ha ve o.n a mpli-

t ude, oftcu called tx kcmcl, which we may write K (b,a), to get from the
point a to t he point b. This win 00 the sum over 0.11 of t he traj ectories
t hai go between the end points a and b of a cont ribut ion from each.
This is to be cont rasted with the sit uat ion in class ical mech anics in
which th ere is only one specific a nd pa rticular tmj cctory wh ich goes
from a to b, the so-called classical traj ectory, which we shal l la bel x(t) .
Before we go on to give th e nile for the q uuntum-mechanieal case,
let us remind ourselves of the sit ua tion in classical mechanics.

2-1 TIlE CLASSICAL ACfION I

One of t he most elegant wnys or expressing t he condition thnt deter-
mines th e particular pat h x(t) out of all t he possible paths is t he prin-
I
.1
ciple oj l(a~l action. T hat iSI there exists e certain quant ity S which
can he computed for ceclr path. 'The elussical pat h i is tha t for which I
S it; a rniuimu ui. Actua lly. th e real condit ion is t hut S be merely an
extremum. T hat is to say, t he value of S .is unchanged in the first
onl er)Ct!I.C path.l(/) is Jl!!)dlficu ~Iigh tly. - -
The quantity S is given by the expression

S - t L(x,z,t) dt (2-1) I
wher:c L. is t he lagrangian for th e system. For 11 part icle of mass In II
movi ng HI a potential l'(ZIt), which iH a fun ction of posi tion a nd time
the lagrangian is ' I
L = ;' x' - V(z ,t) (2-2)

T he form of t he ext rem um path ret) is determined wit h the usual pro- I
cedures of th e calculus of variatious. Thus, suppose th e path is varied I
}6
I
 Tile quanrum~mecllonicol la ", oj mOliun
27

uwny from % hy an Amoun t ~%(t) ; the condition that the end points
of r. nrc fixed requires
6>:(1.) = 6>:(4) = 0 (2-3)
The condit ion thnt x he un ext remum of S means
~S = SIx + 6>:] - S(x] = 0 (2-4)

to first order in ~x .. Using the definition of E(I. (2-1) we may write

S(X + 8I] = I." I,(:t + ~:t, x + ~x, t) dt

I.

= I. "[I (i,z,t) + atet. + ax oraL]

I. J 6:t dt

S( 1 + "(aI,+ b 8 1,)
-= x I. I. ~:to:t
ax
til (2-5)

Upon integration by parts, the variation in S becomes

6S = ~x aL It.~. _I."~x [!!:dt (al.)_8L] dt

ax I. iJx iJx
(2-6)

Since ~z is 0 at the end points, the first term on th e right-hand sidc

of this equatio n is O. Between the end points ax can take 0 11 a ny
arbitrary value. Thus the ext remum is that curve along which thc
following condition is elweys satis fied:

!!:dl (8L)
8:t
_aL
ax
= 0 (2-7)

This is, of course, the classical Iagrnngia n equation of motion.

In classical mechanics, th e [orni of the act ion integra l S = f L dl is
interestin g, not just the extreme val ue Sd. T his interest derives fro m
the necessity to know th e nction along n set of neighboring paths in
order to determ ine the pnth of Icast nction.
In q uantum mechan ics bot h the form of t he int egral an d the value
of t he extremu m arc impo rtan t . I n the following pro blems we shall
evalua te the extremum in a variety of situat ions.

P",hl,.,n 2-1 Fo r a Irce parti cle L = rJli'/ 2. Show that the

action Sd correspond ing to the classical Illatio n of u free particle is
s _ m (x" - Z. P (2-S)
(1 -2 t,. t..
()URllfUIn rnl'dfOnirll "nil IH'fh illf,.gt'.",

28
I
r ro II,('1n 2- 2
With T equal to I. -
For a hnnnouic oscillator IJ = (,"12)(zl - Wl,zl .
. . .
I. show that the elusslcnl action IS I
S = m.. 1(,.. + z,') c08 .. T - 2z"%,) (2-D)
tI 2 sll1wT~

Ptob Irnl 2-oJ• F IIId S<f for n particle under 0. constant force F, tha~
is, L = m,i:1f2 - Fe. \
Problem 2-4 Classi cally, the momentum is defined na
•
I
aL (2-10)
I' ~ at
Show that the momentum at an cnd point is

(2-11)

H inl: Consider the effect OIl Eq. (U) of a change in end points.
Problem 2-5 Classically, th e energy is defined as

. E ='L + tp (2-12)

Show that the energy at an end point is

(2-13)

H int: A change in the time of an end point requires B change in path, t

since all paths must be classical paths. '
'I
2-2 TilE QUA".ml - MECIIANICA L AMI'UTUDE

Now we can give the quantu m-mechanical rule. \Vc must say how ,'
much each t rajectory contributes to the tota l amplitude to go From
a to "" It is 1I0t tllat just the particula r path of extreme nr tion COl'· '
tributes ; ruther, it is tho.t all the paths contribute. They ccut ributc
I
equal amounts to til" tolul amplitude, hut contribute nt different .
phases . The phase of the eont ributin u Iro m 0. given path is the ac tion 1
S for thut path in units of the CI UllUlu lII of action ft . Th at i~ , tu 8 \1111- I
rnuriec: The probabilit y }1(",O) to go from 0. poin t r. at th,· time I. to
the point z. at 4 is the absolute sq uare }'(b,a) = IK(b,a) 11 or nil o.mpli:
 29
tude K(b,a) to go from a to b, This amplitude is the Bum of eentrl-
butlon 4'Ix(t)J from each path .
K (b,a) = I
ov ..r ,,11 1' 1111,"
<t>[x(l)] (2-14)
f ....m Q 106

T he cont rib ut ion of 11 path hee a phase proportional to the action S:

~[x(t)J = const ehlAlS 1:<(l1) (2-15)

The action is thnt for the corresponding clessieel sys tem [sec ECI.
(2-1» . T he const nnt will be chosen to normalize K conveniently, and
it will be taken up later when we d iscuss more mathematically just
what we moan in Eq . (2-14) by n. sum over paths.

2-3 THE CLAS SICAL LIMIT

Before we go on to making the mathematics more complete, we shall

compare t his quantum law with the classical rule. At first sight , from
Eq. (2.15) nil paths contribute eq ually, although t heir phases vary,
50 it is not clear how, in the classical limit. some particular path
becomes most important . The classical approx imation, however. cor-
responds to the case that the dimensions, masses, t imes , ctc., arc so
large t hat Stecncn nouein relation toft ( = 1.05 X 10- 27 erg-see}. Then
the pha se of t he contribution SIlL is some very, very large angle. The
real (or imaginary) part of 4J is the cosine (or sine) of this angle. This
is ns likely to be plus as minus. Now if we move th e path ns shown
in F ig. 2-1 by a small am ount OX, small on the class1cal sca{c, t he change
in S is likewise small on the classical scale, but not when measured in
the t illy unit II.. T hese small changes in puth will, generally, make
enormous changes in ph ase, a nd our cosine or sine will oscillat e exceed-
ingly rapidly betw een plus and minus values . The totnl cont rib ution
will t hen add to aero : for if one path makes n positive contrib ution,
another inf in ites imally close (on n clnss icul 5c:\I(') mnkea an equal
negat ive cont ribution, so th at no net cont ributi on arise'S.
T herefo re, no pat. h (('0.11)' IH'N::l t o be eons ldcrcd if the neighbo ring •
path has u d ifferent nction; fnr t he pat hs ill the neighborhood cancel
out tile eontributiou. But for the special path 1, for which S is nn
extremum, n small cha nge i ll path produces, in the first ON('r :It least,
no c h u ll ~e ill S. All til(' contributions from th e' pat hs in t his roejou
arc nvnrly in phnse at plmso R. ami do not cance l out . 'I'Iu-rvforc,
on ly for paths ill ti ll' vid uity of J'"" eun we ~(' t importuut cont ribut ions,
end ill the clueaicul limit we need only consider th is purt.ie ulnr t rujec-
 Qunntum nl(9("/'O" ;(,lI nnd pa th ;n fcSTO LJ

30

,
.I
X
.' iF:.2-1 The clnl'tojeRI pnth I, 1 {t), it! t bnt Ior which n ccrlnin intcgrnl, t he ncl ion S , is
minimum. U the puth is vuricd br u (l). to pnl lt 2, the integral 8UfTC1'8 no firsl-ordcr
change. This det ermines til t' equa t ion oC motion.
In qu nntum nL('('l mn n , tilt'! Amplituu e to gc from a to b is t he Bum of amplitudes Icr each
intc rfcrinll; eltem euvc pnlb . The empht udc Ior a giv en pnt h, t ·BI A, has n pbesc proper-
l K>nnl to t he art ieh.
If t ilt' act ion is YCI)· Jargc com pa red to Ii. ne ighboring paths such as 3 nnd 4 have eJighUy
d ifferent actions. Su('h pe t he win Ibeceesc of the smellnesa of M hnve very dirrerent
pheees. Th dr contributions will cancel out. Only in th e vi cinity of tile d nssKtll petb
l {t ). where t he act ion ch n n ~ lillIe when the pnt h varies, will ueigh boring petbe, eceb as
1 and 2, ('()flt rihu tc in t he M inI.' phase eed const ru ctively interfere " Thot. is why the
Dpproximu t ion of d Sb5it"ol pll}"t;i('t;- llml onl)' t he roth 1 (1} need be considered-c-ie vnlid
..ben tb c a clion is very large compared to Ii.

tory as being of importance. In th is way th e classicnllnws of motion

arise from th e quantum laws.
we may note that t miccterics which diller from i contribute as
long as t he action is still within a bout It of Sd " The classical traj ec-
tory is indefini te to t his slight extent , and th is rule serves as a measure
of t he limitations of the precision of t he classically defined trajectory.
Next consider th e deprnd ence of t he phU8C 0 11 til e position of the
end point (xt.,h) . If we change the end point a little, t his phase changes
0. great deal, and K (b,a) changes very rapidly. If hy n "s moot h
[unction" we mean cue like Sd which ehungcs only wheu cha nges ill '
arg ument which nrc upprecinble OU a elnssicnl scale urn urnde we 1I0te
that K (b,a) is far Irtun smoot h, hut ill this classical apprcxlnmtlou
our arguments shew t hat it is of th e form

K(JJ,Q) = "smoot h function" ' e U/l)S..

(2-16)
All U I('!:iC approximate considcrat iens upply to a situa tion on u scale
for which clne...leal physics migh t be c.peel<><! to work (8 )> ~) . But
 Till! fJ"n"'",,.-m cC'llflll it-nlln,c oj ", nrinn
3\

ot an atomic level, S may be comparable with h, and then nil trajce-

torics must he add ed in E(I. (2-14) in dctni l. No particulur traj ecto ry
is of ovcrwln-lmiug im portnuco, nnd o( CO U f1;(' £<1. (2- lG) is not Jl Ci:CS--
snri ly n good approximation. T o dea l with such cases, we shnll have
to find out how to carry out such sums as arc implied by Eq . (2-14).

2.1 TilE SUM OVER \'ATIIS

Analogy 'with the Ri emann Integral . Although th e qualitative

idea of a su m of a contribution for l'och o( the pat hs is clear, n more
precise mathematical definit ion of such a sum must be given. T he
nu mber or paths is a high order or infinity, and it is not evid ent what
measur e is to be given to the space of pat hs. It is our purpose in
th is section to give such 0 mat hemat ical definition. This definit ion
will be found rather cumbersome for actual ealeulatlon. In the suc-
ceeding cha pters we sha ll describe other and more efficient methods
of comput ing t he sum over an paths. As for th is sect ion, it is hoped
that the mn t hcru atieal difficulty, or rath er in elegance, will not d istract
the reader from the phys ical conte nt of the ideas.
' Ye can begin our understanding with 0. consideration of the ordi-
nary Riemann integral. We could say, very rough ly, tha t the area
A, u nder a curve, is the sum of all its ordinates. Better, we could
say t hat it is proportional to that sum. But to make the idea pre-
cise, we do th is : take Do subset of all ordinates (e.g., th05C spaced at
equal intervals h). Adding t hese ordinates, we obtain

(2-17)

wh ere the summation is carr ied out over th e finite set of points Xi, as
shown in Fig. 2-2.
The next step is to define A as thc limit of this sum as the subset
of points an d thus the subset of ordinate'S, becomes more compl ete
o r-e-beca use 0. finit e set is never any mensurab le part of thc infinite
conti nuum-we may better say us the subse t be comes more represent-
ative of the complete set . ' Ve can pass to t he limit in all orderly
mnu ncr by taking conti nuully smaller nnd sruu llcr values of 11 . 11\ so
doing, we would obtain a d ifferent ~UIU (or (' Ildl value of h. No I h~, i t
exists. I II order to oh tu in n limit t o t his process, we IU U~t specily
HOl lie normnlising Inetor which should depeud o n h. Of cou rse, for
the Hicmnnn iutcgrnl, t hiAfacto r is j U!4l h i L~dC. Now the limit exis ts
 QunnWIII n1fO('1lRtlIC'lf ond pRII. i'.'f'Il Nlb

32

/
h
} (

I
.lo x. Xz I ,
"Y ',-t-' K

Fi,.2.2 In the definition of t he ordinary Riemnnn int('~rl~ l , n set of ord inntee ~ drown
(rom the a bscissa to th e curve . The ord innt es lite spaeed n d ts t n n~t> h upnr t. The IhtCKrnI
(artll between the curve nnd tile nbscissn) is AI)proximAtn l by h IIIII CS th o s um or the ordi-
nat es. Th is npproximntion nppr onclJ<'S t ilt> C'O~t('d value ll~ 11 " PIJrollChcs ~ero •
•.o\n analogous definit ion can be used ror pnth IhtCJ;.tllls, 11 1 ~ III C'lI 1;Ure wh ich goes to zero
in tbc limit precess is t he time inleTVnl t bet ween discrete pomte on the petbe.

and we may write the expression

(2-18)

Constructing the Sum. 'Ve can follow through an analogous

procedure ill defining the sum over an paths. F irst, we choose a sub-
set of nil paths. To do this, we divide the independent variable time
into steps of width e. T his gives us a set of values t. spaced n distance
e apart between the values to and 4. At each t ime Ii we select some
special point x;. 'Ve eonstruet a path by connecting all the points 1;;0
selected with stmight lines. It is possible to define a sum over nil
paths constructed in this manner by taking a multiple integral over
all values of Xi for i between 1 and N _ 1, where
N£ = It. - tIl
• = 4. - ~
to = I.. (2-19)
Xo = z,
The resulting equation is

K(b,a) - fJ .. . f ¢[x(/)) dx, dx, • • • dXN_1 (2-20)

We do not integral<> eve d d
'
pOInts x and x TI . cr .to or XN beca use these arc the fixe en
. )
" fl. us equation corresponds formally to Eq. (2.17 .
 Til e '/tlonru m.mecllotlico' IRu; oj m o'ion
33

In t he present case we can obtai n n more representat ive sample of the

complete set of nil possible paths bet ween a a nd b hy mak ing t: smaller.
However, just us in t he cnsc of ti ll! n il'm o.lIll integral , we cannot pro-
eccd to t he limit of t his process because t he limit does not exist . Once
again we m ust provide som e norrn e tieing factor which we expect will
depend upon e,
Unfortunately, to defi ne such a normalizing factor scorns to be a
very d ilJieult problem nnd we do not know how to do it in general
te rms. Bu t we do know how to give the defi nition for nil situat ions
which so far Sl-'C1n to have pmetienl va lue. For example, take the
case where the lagrangian is given by Elr. (2-2). The nurrna liaing
factor turns ou t to be A- ...., where

A = (2m~,)" (2-21)
'"
We sha ll sec la ter (e.g., Sec. 4-1) how this result is obtained. With
t his factor the limit exists Bud we may write

K (b,a) = lim .!-

~oA
II ...I r
e !ilM S 6,4} dx l dx" • . •
A A
d XN _l
A
(2-22)

where
Slb,a] = f.... L(x,%,t) dt (2-23)

is e line integral taken ove r the traj ectory passing through t he points
Xi wit h straight sect ions ill between, as in Fig. 2-3.

F11if. 2-3 The sum ever

ptlt bs is defined us & limit,
in which at fi rst t he pa th is
.spcdfi cll il}· giv ing only its
cooroi nlltc Z a t 11 la rge nurn-
bet of spcd tit..1 t i nu.':i scp e-
f,'~,
I, • rat ed h}· n 'r)" s ma ll intervale
~ . T he pa th sum i.~ thcn an
illt C'J::,ml ever nil t hese epe-
Ia eitic coord ina t es. Tlu-n to
aC'hic\'l' t hc c'o r tl,<" t m r lUlUtl',
t he limit i ll ta ken as I
1\11Ilr"Ol\ c"h l'tl O.

'.
 I trs · possnue '11 t 0(,-loflnc 111C path in n somewhnt • .. more elcgnnt . manner,.
'1 '
I Ill ' l i lt I of st rni..htIi ucs 1)('1wI'('11 the 1)()lIll~ t und , -I- I, wo could use
l' ... I 0 ' II ' .
sections or rill' rlll ~... i('lli or bit . Then we could My l ra t .J 18 U~ 1l1l.1iI~
mum \"11 Ilit' ef II.c. - " III'IP
l"'
rul. of the Ingmnginu .
over all the paths which
. , •

go through tlH' specified ~OII1(S. (r••l.) . 'V.th this definition no recourse

is nmde to urbitmry straight Iiuce.

The Path Integrul, There nrc many ways to define n subset of all
the paths bet ween a RlH] b, The p"rticllhl~ definition we have used ,I
here 1119 ,)' not be t he best for 5-0IH ~ ma t homnt ica l PUfJ)OSC13: For cxnrn- I
pic, suppose the lngruugjnn depends upon the nc~clc~tl~n of:, In
the way we h3YC constructed t he path, the velocity IS discontinuous
at the various points (ro,l;) ; thnt is, the ucceleratiou is infinite at these
points. It is possible that t his sit uat ion ,,"DuM lend to t rouble. Ilow-
ever , in the few such examples with which we have had experience thc
substitution

i =
•~ (X,H - 2x j + Xi_I) (2-24)

has been adequate. There may be other cases where no such substl-
tut ion is available or adequate, and thc present definition of a sum
over nil paths is just too awkward to usc. Such n situation arises in
ord inary integra t ion in which the Rieman n definition, as in Eq. (2~18),
is not adequate 811d recourse must be had to some other definition,
such ns thnt of t he Lebesgue .
T he necessity to red efine the method of integration docs not destroy
the COIlC<'pt of iutcgratiou. So we feel that t he possible awkwardness
of the special d efinit ion of the sum over all paths las given in Eq.
(2-22)] 1UUY eventually requ ire new definitions to be formulated.
Nevertheles s, the COIlC('pt of the sum over nil paths, like the concept
of nil crdinury inbogrnl, is indepcnc.J £'l lt of n special d efinition and valid
ill spite of the failure of such dcfillitioJls. Thug we sha ll write the sum
Over nil pat hs in a Jess rest rict ive notation us

K(b ,a) = lab C(I/AlSllJ,ol1)x(l)

(2-25)

wh ich ~ve s!lnll call ~ pull, irllc(Jrul. The identifying notntion in this
C.~Pres:'IOIl Is the scnpt ar, Only rarely shall we return to the Iorm
given III Eq , (2-22),

P,fJ',lena 2-6 The class of functiollals for which path integ rals can
be d efined is surprisingly varied, 1:50 far we have considered Iunc-
 The quontum-mechanic-al laUl oJ morion
35

'1".
~
•
,~ Fill. 24 The path of a relativistic pnrticle
lrnvl'lin$C ill two dim cnJolion!'l i!'l a t igzap; of

" f
8t rail(bt flf'J!:rnclllJl. TI le s tope of t ile ,.t-'Jl:~
mente is ec nstnnt in rungnit ud e Anll di ffcn
only in Ili p;n h um xiI{ 1(1 Zflp::. TIle Am plitude
for n pnrticull1r pAth, ns well M Ill!:! kernel to
I,
go from a to 1,. depends on t he nu mber of
"t corners Jl Klonp; n path. as shown by Eq..
(2-20) end (2-27 ).
I
•
•
•t t ionals such as that given in Eq. (2-15). Here we shall consider (Illite
n different type. This latter type DC functional ar ises in u one-d imcn-
sionnl relat ivistic pro blem. Suppose a particle moving in onc dim en-
sion can go only forward or backward at the velocity of light. For
convenience, lye shall define the u nits such that the velocity of light,
the mass of the particle, nnd Planck's constant nrc nil unity. Then
in the xt plane 0.11 trajectories shuttle ba ck and forth with slopes of
+ 45°, as in Fig. 2-4. The amplitude for such a path can be defined
as follows : Suppose t ime is divided into small equal ste ps of length e.
Suppose reversal s of pnth direction can occur only ut the boundaries
of these steps, i.e., at t = t.. + ae, where n is an integer. For this
relativistic problem the amplitude to go along such a path is d ifferent
from the amplitude defined in Eq. (2-15). The correct definition for
the present case is

<I> - (if)" (2-26)

where R is the number of reversals, or corners, along the path.

As a problem, th e reader may usc thi s definition to calculate the
kernel K(b,a) by adding together the contribution for the paths of one
corncr, two corners, etc. Thus determine

K(b,a) = r N(R)(i f)" (2-27)

"
where N(R) is the number of paths possible with R comers. It is
best to CalC\118te four separate K's, na mely , the amplitude n +-+(b,a)
of starting u.t the point a wit It u positive velocity uud coming into the
point ls with a positiv e velocity, lin- ampl itude K . _(lJ,«) of :o;hlrt ill~
at th e point a with n ucgntiv c velocity RIllI coming into the poin t b
36
. . a.. . I ' ty and tho amplitudes K-+ and K __ defined hi
with R ~ ltl\ C \ e OCI I
6 similar Inshicn. •. , r I ' ,
" t he unit of time IS defined ns Ii /me . ] t 1C tnnc mtcr,
l " rxl lO UPVO-"'" • I . ,
'
va I IS very 0 11 I g (I• -
t•
» !l Ime') and the
. "
nvornge vc ocit y IS snlQll
// (I - I 11 show Umt the res ulting kernel lli approxnuntl!ly
IX. -XtJ, ......... C l l . ' I I
th e same as that for a free particle fgh'~I~ in ~(1' (:l-3) I except for ~
factor cxp ( ;"'(" / 11)(/. - 'll))' The definition given I~c~c ~or t ile nmpl i-
t ude, nnd t he resulting kernel, is correct for a rclntn:lt'\tlc t!ICOry of n
Irce pa rticle movi ng in one d imensicu . The res ult 15 eq uiva lent to
th e Dime equation for that case.

2-5 E\"El'iTS OCCURRI:oiG IN SUCCESSION

The Rule for Two Events, In this section we shall derive an

I
important law for t he composition of amplitudes for events which I
occur successively in time. Suppose t~ is some t ime between f. and I•.
Then th e nction along a ny path between a and h can be written B.9

Slb,a] ~ Slb,c] + Slc,a) (2-28)

This follows from th e definition of the action as an integral in t ime

and also from th e fa ct t hat L docs not depend on derivatives higher
than t hc velocity. (Otherwise, we would have to sp ecify values of
velocity and perhaps higher derivatives at point e.) Using E q. (2-25)
to define t he kernel, we can write
K (b,a) = Je ( oI " I SI~.cJ+ I "")Slc,..llJ :ox (l) (2-29)
It is possible to split any path into two parts, T he fi ",t part would
ha ve th e end points x" and z, = z(l c ) , nnd the second part would have
thc cnd points z, fi nd X6, us shown in Fig. 2-5. It is possible to inte-
grate o~('r all paths fro m a to c, then over nil paths from c to h, ned
?Ilnlly integra te t he result over nil possible values of xc- In perform-
109 the first step of this integration S lb,c) is constant . Thus the result I
CllI1 be written as
I
(2-30) I
where integmtioua must now be carri ed out not only over paths
I
between c a nd b but ulso over th e variable end point xc. In thc next
I
lSl~'p we cnr~y out t he intcgrntiou over ull pnths betw een
wit h an arbit ra ry e, a nd t he poi nt b. All that i~ left is
some point
an integra l
I
 The quanlum-medlofl ;co"O Ul o} m o rion
37

, Fig. z,.S One wRy t he BUm ever all

b p alilAenn he t nken is hy firllt su mmi ng
over paths whk h go through the
po int a t r . a mi ti me f. e nd Inl er
8ummin.c ove r I!I(' pointe r . o TI le
n.mJ.llitUflc on eac h pnth th nt goes
c (rom (J to b via C i-'t n prod uc t of t wo
(a ('tol"8 : (I ) an a mp litude to go (rom
a to c nnd (2) an a mplitu de to ft,O from
c to b. '111m is t hl'rcforc vnlid nJ!'!O
Icr t he su m ove r nil p nt hs t hrc ug h c:
t he totnl am plitude to go (rom a to b
vin c is K (b,c)K{t' ,f1 ). Th us !lurnming
over the a h~r n nli\'(,9 (vnl uf':t of z. ).
we get ror t he total a mplitude to go
from a to b, Eq. (2-31).
I

oyer all possible values of xc' T hus

K(b,a) ~ L K (b,c)K(c,a) dx. (2-31)

P erhaps the argument is clearer starting from Eq. (2-22). Select

onc of the discrete t imes es leo Thus let Ie = II: and Xc = XI:. First
carry out all the integrations over :r" such that i < k. This will intro-
du ce the fa ctor in the int egral K (c,a). Next carry out the integrals
over all x" such that i > k. This introduces the factor K (b,c). All
t hat is left is an int egral over X
h The result can be written as Eq. (2-31).
T his result can be sum marized in the following way . AU alterna-
tivc paths from a to b can be labeled by specifying the position Xc
through which they pass at t he ti me le. T heil t he kernel for a particle
going from a to b can be computed from the rules:
1. The kernel t o go from a to b is the sum, over nil possible valu es
of z, of amplitudes, for t he particle to go from a to c and t hcn to b.
2. The amplitude to go from a to c and th cn to b is the kernel to
go (rom a to c t imes t he kernel to go from c to b.
T hus we have the rul e: Amplitudes f or events occurring in succession
in time muUiply.

Extent;ion to Severnl Evenfe. There nrc muny applicat ions for

t his Important rule, end severo} will be developed in succeeding
chepu -re. Here W (~ ..hnll show the npplientiou wlwrr-i u we follow till
altern ative route ill deriving th e equation for the kernel , E ll. (:!-2:!) .
 · rf II · I'Vl.'lsihlC' to make two divisions ill 0.11 the: putba : 0 110
I 11·1)(" " ' ) '·- If ,. , .
at l~ ami the otllt'r Ill, sey, (.I. Then the kernc or n par tc e KOlllg
from a to b ('1Ul he written as

X (b a) =
,
f'.'4
f X (b,c)l\(c ,rI)l\(d,a) dr, dr, (2-32)

This monns that we look at u particle which goes from a to b as if it

went fi rst from a to d, then fro m " to e, und fi na lly from c to b. The
ampl itude- to follow such u path is the prmluct of the kernels for ench '
part of th e path. T he kernel taken over nil NUCla paths th~t go Irom
a to b is obtained by iutcgmting this product over all possible vulues
of :r~ and Xd.
,Yc ean continue this process until we have the time Beale divided
into .V intervals. The result is
,I
K(b •a) = f f .. . f
'I Z. • ..._ .
K(b, N - I)K(N - I, N - 2) ..
I
X(i + 1, ,) . . . K(I,a) dx. dx, . . . dXN_. (2-33)
This means that we can d efine the kernel ill a manner different from
that given in Eq. (2-22). In this al ternative definition the kernel for
a part icle to go between two points separated by an infinitesimal time
intcrvnl E is

K(i + I,') = ~ exp [~ L ("'+1,- x,, xO+'/ x,, 1,+1/ I.)] (2~)
which is correct to first order in E. Then by the rules for multiplying
a mplitude of events which occur successively in time, we have
N -I
4>[r(l)) = lim n K(i + I,,)
_0 i - O
(~5)

for the amplitude of a complete path. Then, using thc rule that nmpli- j
tudes for altemafive paths add, we arrive at a d efinition for K(b,a ).
It can 00 seen that the resu lting expression is actually the same 85
Eq . (2-22).
I
I
2-6 SO~IE RE~IAnKS I
I
In the rdntivihtic tJ ~('ory of the elcctron we shall not find it possi ble
t~ expres s the alll phluu(~ for a path as CI~/", or ill a lly other simple
way . JIowc\'cr, the Inws for eombi uiug a mpli1udes still work (wah
 The quantum.mechanlcal'alD oj motion
39
some small modifications). The amplitude for a trajectory still exists.
As a matter of Iect, it is still given by E£I. (2-3;1) . The only differ-
ence is that K(i + J, 1.') is not so easily expressed ill a relativistic theory
as it is in Eq. (2·34). The complications ar ise from the necessity to
consider spin and the possibility of the production of pairs of electrons
and positrons.
In nonrelntivistic systems with a larger number of variables, and
even in the qunntum theory of electromagnetic field, not only do the
laws for combining amplitudes still hold but the amplitude itself Iol-
lows the rules set down in this chapter. That is, each motion of a
variable has nn muplitude whose phase is I /A times the action associ..
nted with the motion.
'Vc shall take up these more complicated examples in Inter eheptera,
\

I
l
 3
Developing the Concepts
with Special Elxarnpfes

I
I
 IN this chapter we shnll develop the keruela governing some Elpccinl
types of mot ion. W(' t'lmlJ explore the pbysicn l m~nni l~K of. t,he muthe..
matirtll results in ord er to de velop some physicn l intuition nhout
motion under qu uutum-nwchun icni laws. The wave function will be
introduced nnrl its relat ion to the kernel will be described. 'This rep,
resents the first step in conn ect ing the present approach to (Iuantum
mechanics with the more tmditiounl nppreaehcs.
We shall al so introduce some specinl mathematical methods for com.
put ing the sum over nil puths. The ideo. of a SUlII over all paths WDS
described in Chop. 2 with the help of a purticular computational
met hod. Although that method may clarify the concept, it is an awk,
ward tool wit h which to work . T he simpler methods to be int roduced
in this chapter will be of great usc in our futuro work.
Thus the present chapter hes three purposes : deepening our under-
standing of quautum-mcchnnical principles, beginning the connection
bet ween our present approach a nd other approaches, and introducing
some useful mathcmntical rnethods,

3-1 TlIE FREE PARTICLE

The Path Integral, The method used in Chap. 2 to describe n

sum over all pat hs will be used here to compute the kernel for a frcc
particle. The lagrangian for a free particle is
.,
L = m~ (3-1)

~hus. with the help of Eqs. (2-21) to (2-23) the kernel for n free par'
ticle 15
I
. N
I
K(h,e) = ~~ If . . • Jexp [~;". ,-II (XI - x",)']
I
dXI • • • dXN ,1
(?' ) '"
-::" ' . (3-2)
I,
I
This rep resents a set of gnussi • tc I · •
f[cxp ( _ 2») dx J[ Ian2 In gru a, r.e., iutegrnls of the fonn
gaussjnn ~ s . . or e~p (-cu + b.l)1 dx. Since t he integral of"
ga m a ga ussian we may -,.,
r, . .
. II , . Plo o.u I I" re U1t e~ru.tlons
.
011 one
varia) 0 after the other Aft the ] .
limit m b tnk '. or . re mtcgratlOlls nrc completed the
uy e en. 1 he result 18 '

K(h,e) = l2.-it.(t. -
III
I.)]"" im(x. - x.),
exp 2 h(1. _ I ) (3-3)
42 •
 De l'eloping tile concep ts wid.. lfpecial e xa lll/lle.

The calculation is carried out as follows. Notice first th at

J__- ( ---;n- m,( XI -

2r ih')- " cxp ( 21tu X.)I + (XI - I
XClP) dz.

2rih . 2') - " [m ]

= ( m exp 2iA(2,) (x, - x,)' (3-1 )

Next we mult iply t his resu lt by

2r ih') - " exp [ 2itif

m (x a - XI)' ]
( --m- (3-5)

and integrate again , th is time over X l. T he result is similar to th at

of E q. (3-1), excep t that (x ! - %0)2 becomes (x a - %0)2 and the expres-
sion 2f is replaced by 3E in two plac es. Thus we get

(
2riA• 3')- "
m
[ m
exp 2ifl. ' 3E (X1 - XO)1
]
I~ this way a recursion process is established which, after n - 1 steps,
gives

(
2riAn,) - "
m
[ m
exp 2i fl.. nE (z,. - XCI)!
]
Since ne = I. - to, it is easy to see that the result after N - 1 steps
is ident ical with Eq . (3-3) .
T hcre is an al t ernative p rocedure. Equation (3-1 ) can be used to
integra te over nil the variables x. for which i is odd (assuming N is
even) . The result is an expression Iorrnally like Eq. (3-2), but with
half M many varia bles of integratio n. T he remain ing variables arc
defined a t poi nts in ti me spaced Do distance 2E apart . Hence, at least
in t he case t hat N is of the form 2· , Eq. (3-3) results from k steps of
this kind .

Problelll3-1 Thc probability t hat a particle arr ives at the point

b is hy defi nit ion proportional to the a bsol ute square of t he kernel
K (b,a). For t he free-part icle kernel of Eq . (3-3) this is

I' (b) dz ~ 2 j ( /'" i-,\ <Ix (3-6)

r' !J... ..
Clea rly this iNn rel ative probability, since ti le lntcgrn! over the com-
plctc rull~(' of r d iv('rJ,tNl. " ' hllt does t h h~ particular nornmlieat iou
m('llll? S how t hut thiN cor res ponds to n chUol.... it'a l pict ure in wh ich B
particle I:Ilnrts Iro m t he point a wit h ull momeuta equally likely . Show

•
I
 \I

R/(K)

Fil:_ ),1 TIle ft'fll p:lrl of amp lit ude 10 arrive at vnrious d isl tlnC~ z from the origin after II
ti me I . TI le i nm ~i n :t. r)· pnrt (nol l'JlOwn) is an d nllloJ:Oll~ wave ~ out o f plUllK", 110 thnt l h4!:
absolute sqU:lo rt' of t he amplitude is eonst en t. . TIle WR\·c!rn.-:t." IS 8h or~ nt larg e x , nnmely.
"'bcre . dtL.~ ic.:r. 1 JlllI"t icic rou k! nnl" C only if It moved with h l~1t \'('IO<'lIy . Generally, t he
wan k ngtb en d etessieal momentum are im'crscly rf'lalctl lEq . (3-10».

that the correspond ing relative probability th at the momentum of the

particle lies in the ran ge dp is dp/ 2"".

Momentum and Energy. We now study some of the implications

of the free-part icle kernel. For conveniencc let the point a represent
t he origin in both time and space. Tbe amplitude to go to some other
point b = (x,l) is
2rilit) - H:
K(x,I;O,O) - ( m- exp
i n /.XI
2fd (3-7)

J(time is fixed. the amplitude varies with distance as shown in Fig.

3.1, in which the real part nf Eq. (3·7) is plotted.
'Vc sec th at as we get further- from th e origin thc oacillnt lous become
more and more rap id. If x is so large t hat many oscillations huve
occurred , th en th e distance between succc~sivc nodes is uenrly con-
stunt, at least for the next few oscillntious. T hat is, t he' amplitude
behaves much like n slue wave of slowly varying wavelength. It is
iutcrestiug to evuluute thi s wevelcngth "-. Cha nging z by ). must
increa se the phase of the a mplitude by 2. . T hat L"I,

2.. = m(z + "-)2 _ mx 2 = mx). + ~).t

2M 2M fit 2M (3-8)

Neglecting thc qu uutity rela tive to (that

we find
).2 x).
~, ass uming z » A),
~ = 2""
m(x/ l) (3-9)
 DCf,'cloping IIle concept. uill. Ilpecial f'zample.
4S

Fro m u clnssieal point of view a particle which moves from the origin
to x in t he t ime interval I has n velocity z l l and a momentum mxl L
From the qu nntu m-meehauical point of view, when t he motion can
be ad equately descr ibed hy assign ing u c1n...sical moment um to the
purt.icle of 'P = mIl l, then the amplitude varies in space with the
wavelength

x- -ph (3-10)

'Vc may show this relation still more generally. Suppose we have
some large piece of apparatus, such as B magneti c analyzer, which is
supposed to bring particl es of a given momentum p to a given point.
' Ve shall show that, whenever tile apparatus is la rge enough that clas-
sical physics offers a good approximation, th en the amplitude for a
particle to arrive at the prescribed point varies rapidly in space wit h
a wavelength equal to hlp. For as we have seen, in such a sit uation,
the kernel is approximated by

K ~ exp [ /. S,,(b,a)] (3-11)

Changes in the position of the final point x" cause variations in th e

classical ac tion. If this a ction is large compared to A (t he seruiclasaica l
approximation), the kernel will oscillate very rapidly with chan ges
in Xt.. The change in phase per unit displacement of the end point is

(3-12)

hut as..laxt. is the classical moment um of the particle when it arrives

at the point x" (sec Prob. 2-4) . T hus p = Ak . T his quantity k, tho
phase change per unit distnuee of u wave, is called the ~\'lll'C n~mtl)('r,
nnd it is very convenient to usc. Since the wnvclength, IS th~ dl::;~:ln~e
over which t he pha se chuugcs by 2Jr, th(,11 k = 2Jr/>". Equation (.I. U )
is de Broglie's formula relating t he moment um to the wuve num ber of
u ,.."(w e, P = flk. .
Next . let us st udy the time dependence ?f the free-particle kernel
given by E CI. (a-7) . Suppose we hold th e lhstn nc~ fixed l\n~1 ,.~ry U~e
time. T he variation of t he rcul pur t of th e ker nel IS sho wn In Fig. 3~ ....
Dot h frtXl UCII CY 1111d muplitude chunge wit h I. . " .
H Ull p OSC I i!'l very Illr~t~ uud 1I(' J!;lt'ct the chn~,gt' 111 nmphtude '~'lth
variat ions of L The period of oscililit ioll T IS defined us the t unc

•
I
Qunnllu" mrrhonic'. and lH1th inlelml.

46
1(KJ

Fill. 3-2 Tho nmplitudc

tn lind tho pnrtidD l\l a
given point vnriu w ith
l ime. 'Thn real port ia
plotted here. The Ire-
quency or tile OIlCillatloll8
_+I-+- --\- - -/- - - -\:-- f - - - I is Ilroportionnl to the en-
crJI:Y t1l0.t n d A.88ir-al pnr~
tid e would hove to ho.vc
to arrive at the point in
qucerion within the lime
intervel L

required to increase the phase by 27. Thus

mx' mx' mx' ( T ) (3-13)
27 = 2M - 2h(t + 1') = 2h1' 1 + Til
By introducing the angular frequency (oJ = 2'K/T, and assuming t» T,
we can write this equation as

m
'" ~ 2fl
(x)'
I
(3-14)

Since m(x/ t)' / 2 is the classical energy of a free particle, this equation
says
Energy = '"" (3-15)
This relation, like the one relating momentum and wavelength,
holds for any apparatus wh ich cen be adequately described hy classical
physics ; and, like the previous relation, it can be obtained from a more
general argument.
Referring to Eel. (3.11), any variation of the time 1&of an end point
will cause a mpid oscillation or tho kernel. The resulting frequency is
1 as"
'" = " iit (3-16)

T he quantity as,,/at ie interpreted classically .. the energy E [refer

to Prob. 2-5). Thus

(3-17)
 Developing tile concepts tdtll special C%anrplf'B

47
In this way th~ concepts of momentum and energy arc extended to
qua ntum mcchnnice hy the following rules:

1. If the amplitude varies ns COh, we Bay that the particle has

momcntu m Ii"·.
2. If the a mp litude bee a d efinite frequency varying in t ime as e-~'
we say the energy is ftw . '

'Ve have just, shown that this ru le will agree with the definition of
energy and moment um in the classical limit.
Problem .1-2 Show by substitution that the free-particle kernel
K(b,a) satisfies the ditTercntial equation
h oK(b,a) _ h' a'K(b ,a)
- i a 4 - - 2m a",'- (3-18)

whenever t" is greater than ta.

3-2 DIFFRACTION THROUGH A SLIT

TIle Coueeptuul Experiment. We ron learn more about the

physical interpretation of quantum mechanics and its relation to clas-
sical mechan ics by considering another somewhat more complicated
example. Suppose a part icle is liberated at l = 0 from t he origin and
then, at an interval of ti me T inter, we observe that it is at a certain
point z o. Classically, we would say that the pa rt icle has had a velocity
I' D = xo/T. The implication would be that if a particle were left a lone
to continue for a nother interval of ti me T, it would move an additional
distance vor. To analyze t his quantum-moehanistically, we shalt
attempt to solve the following problem ;
At t = 0 the particle sta rts from the origin z = O. After an interval
T we shall SUPpO~I) that it is known that the particle is with in the de-
tance + b of r D. 'Ve ask : After an udd it ional interval T, what is the
probability of fi ndi ng the particle at a u ad ditional displaeemcut z from
t ho position x o? T he net am plit ude to arrive at the position x at the
t ime l + T can be considered as the su m of contributions from every
traj ectory that goes from the origin to t ho fi nal point, provided. that
that traj ectory lies in the interval + b from X o at th e t ime T .
We sh all calculate t his in a moment, but first i t is worth remarking
on wha t k ind of nn experimen t we nrc (~Il templatillg here. How (':111
we know tlmt th e pnrt.iclc passes tilt! point X II within the iutcrvnl ± b?
OUI) way would be to make un observation of the particle ut the t ime

,
i
QUlIn""U rurr/lRnirs arul,m'h in'f'INIlll

III

TT

t
I
I
I 2b
I
T ...j r
1 I
'. ,
nF:. 3-3 A pnrtidt' sla rtinf1; nt r - 0 when f 0 is determined ~ pese bet~-cen x, - II
co
and z~ + b nt f - T. WI' ,,·k;11to rnleuletc th e probahility of find mg t he pa rtlrlc at some
reint x at a l ime r Inler, i.c., when f ... 7' +
8('(' According t o elcss lr nl tnwe, th e pnrticle
T.

would hevc 10 be betw een z J.TIT ) + 6( 1 + TIT) a nd r rJ.,TIT) - /,(1 + TIT ), that is.
between th e rectilinear t'). ( ('~ion" of th e original ..lit. However, qunn tu ln-lIlcchn nical
hun; she w Ihal such particles have a nonzero probab ility 01 ap pearing outside tb ese
l'1s......o;iC'al limits.
We cannot lloppronc:)1 th le problem by a single application of tile Irce-part ld c law 01
motion, since the particl e ili nrlually const rained by the slit. So we b reak th e problem up
into two successive Irec-perticle mol ions. The fi rst takes th e particle Irom x = 0 at l ",. 0
10 z - z~ + Y at I - T, where 111'1 < b. The second takes the pnrticle from Xo + 11 at
• - T to:r at' "" T +.... The ovcrarl amplit ude is an integral of th e product of tb eee two
frec-p4rt id c kerne ls, as ehc ...·n by Eq . (~H ).

T to sec if it is within th e interval +b. Thi s would be the most natu-

ral way to proceed, but it is somewhat more difficult to analyze
in detail (because of the compl icated inte ract ion between th e elec-
tron and the observing mechanism) than another way of doing the
experiment.
Suppose we look, say, with very strong light, everywhere all along
the x axis except within + b from the point 1'0 at the time T. If we
find t he particle, we discontinue the experiment , ' Vc consid er only
those c?Scs in which a thorou~h lnvcstiget lou of the region , rxcrpl for
th e region + b, shows 110 particle is present. 'That is, all t rajectories
which pas.' I outside the limits +b from 1'0 arc rejected . The cxperi-
mental situation is diagramed in Fig. 3-3. The amplitude then can
be written 8.5

Hz) = J_,' K(z + Z' oT + T; Z. + Y. T}K(z , + Y..T; O. 0) dy (3-l9)

T his expression is written down in uccorda nen with th e rule for COJ1l#
bining amplitudes of events occurring in succession in t ime. The first I
event is that the particle goes from the origin to the slit. The second
•
.1
 De l·elop ing "Ie conup ' . lI:i ll, If~ial exa m p les

49
event is t ha t t he particle proceeds from the slit to the point x further on.
'I'hc slit hns u fi nite width, and pussngc tilrough eneh elcmcntnl inte rval
of the slit represent s nil ultcruufive wny of proceed ing along t he com-
plcte path. T hus we must integrate ovr -r t he width of th e slit. All
pnrtk h's which mise t hc slit arc captured and removed from th e
f'xpc'rimcnt, Ampl itudes for such pnt ticles nrc IIOt included . All the
particles which get t hrough the slit I HOVC ns free particles with kernels
given by E q. (3-3). Thus the a mpl itude is

~(x) - J' (2rit.r)-"lox [ im(X2ft?"I--if)']!

- I> m
p

eri::'!:)-ll Icx [ im(~~,~ Y

p l']! dy (3-20)

Th is integral can be exp ressed in terms of Fresnel integrals. Such

a reprcscutntion contai ns the physical results we nrc utter, but in an
obscure way owing to the math emat ical complexity of th e Fresnel
integral form . Rather thn n confuse the phyaica! results by mathe-
mat ical complexity, we shall set up a different, but analogous, expres-
sion which leads to 0. simpler ma thematical form.
I•
TIle Gaussian Slit. Suppose we int roduce a function G(y) as e
factor in the int egrand . If th is funct ion is defined as unity between
I
y = -b and y = + b and zero elsewhere, th e limits of integration can
be extended to infinity without an y change in the result. T hen

~(x) = f-·. 2",,".rn;(y)

y:;r 2" f(x-. y)' + (x. +T Y)']!)ely
(cx lim p (3-21)

where

G(y) = 1 Cor -b ::; y ::; b

= 0 Cor IYI > b
I nstead of t his. suppose we defincG(y) to be a. gaussian functi on, thus:
G(y) = C,l I 2l.' (3-22)

This fu nction has the sha pe shown ill Fig. 3-4: T h.c rffccl.;l-C u·idth of
such a curve is related to th e pnnn uetcr b. 1-or this part ~cubr func-
tion, approxima tely t wo-thi rds of t he nrcn under the curve 11('s be t ween
-b . I<d +b. . . .
" '(' do not know how to dvxiJ!:1I mctnl purts for ou r nungmnry ('x.llt·n .
ruent which . will
, product' sue II n gauss' "I u •~ ti t. Il owvvor, t here I ~ uo

•I
i
so

GI,I

FlA'. 3.4 The form 0( t111~

RRu!I!lian (un ct ion (/<lJ ) •
C)-W
1m l
• • The cu rve Ill~ the
flnme ehnpc IUl the nOrtnCi.1
t1 i",l,rillutioh with n 811lnd.
nrd dcviut ion fl.

conceptual difficulty. \Vc now have a situation in which the particles

at time T nrc distributed along the x axis with n relative amplitude
proportional to the fuuction G(y). (The relative probability is pro-
portional to IG(y)J2.) If the particles move classically, we would
expect, after a succeeding interval of time T, to find them similarly
distributed along the x axis with e new center 0. distance Xl beyond Xo
and an increased width parameter hi given by

(3-23) I

as shown in Fig. 3--5.

.I
With such 0. gaussian slit the equation (or the amplitude is
I
•

0t Iexp [im
J
II-(x) = t:
_ . 2>rih m 2f, (x,
-;: + x')
;.
+ imh
(_ r:l: + x7'.) Y + (im im - 2b'I) u:-J)rly
2"~ + 2h7' (3-24)

This integral is of the form

t: [exp (ax' + /lx» ) rlx = ~ "a exp - :~ for ne (a) <0 (3-25)

which is ~ntcgrotcd by completing the square in the exponent. ThO'

the nrnphtude becomes

II-(x) = ~2:" [T, G+ } + b~;') t exp [~;; ( : ' + xT') ,

_ (im/h)'( -x/T + x./T)'
4(i"'/2/, )(I/, + 1/7' + hi/b 'm)
]
(3-20) I
 lkt'eloping ' h e conupIII toitllllpccial eJramplclI

Sl

The classical velocity to get from the origin to the center of the slit
is t o - xol T . Whr ll we usc t his as u substit ution a nd rearrange some
or t he termss, th e expression for tile amplitude becomes
'..,.
.
'I
!/-(x) = ~2:fj (T+ + ~~2)-}i T TT

r. im ( , x,\ (m' /2h 'r' )(x - v,,) ]

cxp 2h r v, T + -;} + (mlh )(i!7' + i/T) l i b' (3·27)
We shall consider first th e relnti ve probability for th e particle to
arrive at var ious points along th e x nxis. This pro hnbility is propor-
tional to th e a bsolute square of the amplitude. The absolute val ue
of an exponent wit h an imaginary argu ment is 1. So, by ra tionalizing
the second fnetor and the denominator in the last exponent of Eq .
(3-27), we obtain

m
P(x) dx = 2w11T h
Ax exp
[-(X - V'')'] dx
(t.x)' (3·28)

where we have used the substi tution

(t.x)' = h' (1 + ; ) + ::~;,

"'. ..,. b 2
1
+ m'b
7th'
2 (3-29)

2',

Xo x
Flg.3-S TIle rw l 1l8 01 pnrlid~ movinK th rough a JtIl.ussl~n . !in~ . ]( T lb
+eY' part " • ohf")"ro,
icles vc t he
. ,- . -, . ( 1it'll'2l Al l llnl! woo" ne
d W1P!lf'" al la \\-II tll llIol~lfI . t llt'n t h e d llltn m llon U pur l' 1 I I,·, ou t
. . 7' ' 1 n r n:hrr woo u )(' Oil )' II ~ lln::U I';
I!llrne form "J'I the t1i"lri1JUhOl~ II I Illite • 1(' t I. \ . ,,;jllt h uf the d b tr ihulillli Wtlllit l he
" lI)pm l iu fl ral lo lIw t i llll: o( Ih ~ h t . ' 110 d lltrnr h"l"l:oh I . I •. .1
Illr +
. n 'lUfl'd (ro lll 2-'. to :!b l, IV1Il'r e h , - u' (T .)IT , . Fur q tl:t n lu lll-m ~' I K nlCtl 1110 toll, IU
IIcl uuJ Illlrt'mlilig ill greu h~r li l/Ul tliUl.
52
. -~lrtl the tli:4 rihution is B gnussinn centered nhont the
As wc expec , I r I .
IlOlIl ' - ' • However, till! Hpn~.tll o t rc d l1'\ tril..,.
. I I I = "t,T of 1'...-'1. ('1·')'1) •..
tiou ,u, i~ l:uW'c limn t he expected vuluc b1 of g ' l· (:J ~2:J) . T hi!i can
he interpret ed i ll th l' full()w i ll~ IlUU UI ('C. SI1P I'~e U I and al n~c ~""o
indt'pl.ntlent rnudom vn riublcs whose ~t-lII en.II-:S(l uurc tl~~UltIOIIS
ab out t heir n\"t'rn~c va lues nrc res pectively 0'1 and 0'2· 1 hen if
a = a + at th o ruts d eviation of al ubout its uv crngc val ue is
0 : = (~11 + ~,~) h. ~ O\\', th e rms deviation in u purt.icular d istri.
burien is u measure of t he spread , or width, of the distribution. As
1f1b1
a muller of fact, for t he gaussian d istribut ion e- · t ile rms vol ue is b.
Th us in t he present case we find t hat the q uuutum-meeha nienl sys-
tem nets as if it hnd un extra random variable X l whose rms d eviation is 1

~T
lui = - (3.:JO)
mb
It is th is ext ra deviation Ax l , or spread ing; rather than the appa rent
ext ra variable I I , which has p hysical sig nifica nce . That t his k rill is
qu auturu-mcchani cal in nature is clea r Irom th e inclusion of the con-
stant fl. Such a term is important for particles of s mall mass and for
narrow slits.
T hus quantu m mechan ics tells us that for small p articles, passage
through a narrow slit makes the future posi tion uncertain . T his
uncertai nty .0.%'1 is proportional to t he t ime interval T bet ween passage
throug h th e slit null the next observation of posit ion. If we int rod uce
the classical notion of velocity I we enn say t hat passage through a slit
C3 tL')CS a velocity uncertainty whose size is

~
60 = - (3-31)
mb

w e could take t he width para meter 2b of the s lit as n m easure of the

unccr~illty of position of the particle at the timc it passed through
thc slit. If we coli this uneert uinty OJ: and write the product mv as .1

the momcntu u, P, thcu Eq. (a-31) becomes

~p ~x = 2A (3-32)

~Il~e more we ha ve a rrived at a statement, of the uuC<'rtain ty

principle. It tells us that, although clu...sically the ve locity might tIC I
k Il OWII, the future posit ifJll hn!'! a u IHltJit iunul uncertuiuty as t hough tl
rn."dOIIi 1ll011U'lIlUiu had beeu J;('lIl'ruu-d hy plL!"si ll~ through a slit of
Widt h cU" If c1assil'ul. - ('f 11 .1 PI s uru
Ie' . US('(
. I to tksl"rlhe
' t he res ults 0I
llua ll t ~I.U mechu uics Illla liluliv('ly , th en we would say that. kn owll"llge
of POSit ion ereatea uncertainty in moment um,
 lk~lop;nlf ti,e concept, with .pedal ('zample"

53

Wllnt about the facto rs tbat appear in front of the exponent in

Eq . (3-28)? If we integrate this expression over the complete range
of x from - co to + co I the result is

P(any x) = 2r'"AT b V"

_r
(3-33)

Th is m ust be the proba bility that th e particle gets through the slit,
since th e integration includes th ose particl es and only those particles
which did get t hrough. Hut we have another way of obtaining this
result . Suppose we take th e ab solute square of the kernel K (x o + y,
T ; 0, 0) , wh ich com prises the second half of t he integrand in Eq, (3-20).
Th is is just the probability per unit distance t hat the part icle arrives
at the point %0 + Y in til e slit. Thnt is,

P(r , '" dy
+ y) dy = 2rAT (3-34)

-
'"
fI This probability is independent of the position along the slit. Thus,
if we were to multiply it by the width of this slit, we would obtain the
" total probability for the particle to arrive at the slit . This implies
that the effective widt h of our gaussian slit is V; b. Had we used
,
" the origi nal sharp-edged slit, we would find the effective wid th to be 26.

•0: Problem 3-3 Dy squari ng the amplitude given in Eq. (3-20) and
then integra li ng over a, show that. the pro bability of passage through
the original slit is

P(going through ) = 2;;:T 2b (3-35)

,,~
In the course of this problem the integral
i
~

• J-"" e-' dz (3-30)

will appear. This is the integral representalion of the Dime 6fu nction
of a. t
Thus the qunntum-mcehunicul results agree with the idea thnt the
probability t hat a part icle goes through a slit is cqunJ to the p robe-
~
," biJity that the pnrt icle arrives at the slit .
~ Momentum UI)(.I En ergy. Next we shall verily again that, when
"
~'
the moment um is definite, th e am plit ude vu rics Il S e'''' . 'Vc return to
t Sec tho tII,Me vC in l4'p;rllll4 in till' AI'pl'mlix a nd I.. J. ~hilT. " QUlUIlu m
'I I . " •• W ."' · J McGraw.lHU lloo k Company, N~' Yurk o 1t156.
, - -, PII. UV-oI-
j l (.0(: 1n.IIlOl, ~ l....,... .
51
. stml • of the ampl itud e ~ivr.n in ~CJ ' (3-20). ThiH time. lYe
n dctmlN.l . ) 1'1 ' . 'III our l'x l)('r nncn l so thu,t the pnrllf:le
I lit· to urrungo coni 111m.
S IU • f) . II 0 1l1.11 the slit is known nstLccumb'ly M pM"Ii lJlc.
,,1."10('11\' ark r p·l..... III~ rr l'" ' .1 I' II
, ' 'f •
U
• unnlUm-ll11'chanicnl COI IS lu (' ru lOllS, tore i,
QUltC' npnrt rom n ) (I • F . _
n elassicnl Ullc('ltninLy of biT in the ,'(·I~c~ty. I ' 0' , nn~ glvTcn Rilt
, - k thi unccrtninty Il('ghglhl c )y C roosmg very
width we cun run c IlS U t U
large. \\' c can also make Xo cx.tr<'mcly hlr~c ~ III io averoge
l IT - .10CS not go to O. COllslllcrlllg Vo and T us con,
vc octty ze - 1' 0 U • I' 'I fl T-
. - 0"011 for the nn1plitudc III t he Hili 0 urge Is
stant ~ I tb c express
const [ imZ! mt(x - TVo)' ] (3-37)
~(x) ce -VI + ."Iimb' cxp 2". + 4"'.'(imI2". 1/2b')
Next we must arrange that the quantum-mechanical uncertainty in
momentum Illb is very small. That is, we take b v ery large, so we can
neglect l ib!. Thcn the amplitude can be written as

imvo im t'o2 ) (3-38)

~(x) ce const exp ( T x - 2ll r

This is an important result . It says that, if we have arranged thin~

80 th at the momentum of a particle is known to be p, then the ampli-
tude for the particle to arrive at the point x at the time t is

~(x) ce const exp Apx (i _ iA2mp' I) (3-39)

We not ice that this is a wave of definite wave number k = pIA. Fur-
thermore, it hDS a definite Iroqu oncy (at = pl/2mli . This means we
can say that a free part icle of momentum p has n definite q uantum·
meeheuical encrgy (dcfiucd es A times Irequcncy) which is p!/2m just
as in classical mec ha nics.
The pro bability of arriving at any particular x, which is propor-
t ional to the square of the ampl itude, is in this ease independ ent of L .
Thus exact knowledge of velocity means no know ledge of position.
III arruugiug the experiment to give un uecurutc ly kn own velocity we
have lost our chances for an accumte prediction of position. ,Yc heve
a lready 6 C'Ctl that th e reverse i H true. T he existence of the qunntue'"
mechanical spread, inversely proportionnl to the slit with 21,. i1upliCS
that .an exact knowledge of position prec lud es uny knowl edge ~
velocity. So, if you know where it is, you ca nnot say how Iust it IS
~?i~ lg ; n~d ".if you know how fa st it is J;oiuJ!:. you cannot suy where it ls.
lilts again illustrates the uncertainty principle.
 55

3-3 RESULTS FOR A SHARP. EDGED SLIT

Leavi ng the limiti ng case, supJ>05C we ret urn to a situatio n in which
th e slit width and quantum-mcehnnieal spread nrc comparable in size
and the times and distances of trove! nrc not extremely huge. We
have SC('n that u gaussian slit leeds to n gaussian distr ibution. If we
usc th e morc realistic sharp-edged version and work out the resulting
F resnel integrals, th e probability distribution a t the time r after passing
through th e slit is like that shown in Fig. 3-6.
0J3

k
,,
3 06
r-,
,
"\
2 PM 04
r-,
PM
I o2
r-,
\: I"
0
: '- 0
'<,

o 1
,2 3 4 o ,I 2

(rJJ {bJ

,
0.045
•I
l-,
Q04 3

P(xJ
004I
"
'\

0.039
1\
1'\
7 I 2
x
Quont''''. lUrc/ldni,.. and ,mil' i.. rcItNJ "
56
This dist rihut.ioll is expressed hy

Per) dr ~ 2Th(,'"+ 7')~

' I IC(II, ) -
C( II,)1' I
I •
+ -2 18 (11' ) - 8 (u,»)' ,dx
_I
(3-40)

where
r - T1', - + ,IT)
b(t x - Ttl, +
/>(1 + ,IT) (3-41)
II, - (T",l mHI + , IT) II, = (T",/JIl)(1 + ' IT)
a nd C(ll ) and Sell) a re the real and imnginnry parts of the F resnel
integral. The fi rst factor in this probability d istribution is identical
to th e probnbility distribution of u Ircc particle given in E q .: (;t-{j),
T he remaining fact or contains a combination of real Bud imaginary
Fresnel Int egrals.' It is th is factor which is respon sibl e for the veri-
atious shown in th e curves of Fig , 3-0.
Thus for both slits th e geucm l result is the same. The most prob-
able place to find th e particle is within the classical projection of the
slit. Beyond th is t here is UJ(!' qua nt um-mech a nical spreading.
We have treat ed this problem as if it were a combination of two
ecpcrute motions. First the particle goes to thc slit , and then it goes
Irom the slit to the point of observation. T he motion seems al most
disjoint ed at th e slit . It migM be asked th en, how does a particle
with such a disjointed motion "remember" its velocity nnd bend in
the gcneml direction predicted by classical physies f Or, to put it
another way, how docs making the slit na rrower cause n ' 11055 of
memory" until, in th e limit, all velocities are eq ually likely for the
particle?
To unders tand t his, let us investigate the am plitude t o arrive ot the
slit. This is just th e free-pa rticle amplitude given by Eq. (3-:J), with
Xv = to = 0. x" = X II + .'/ . and t" = 1'. As we move across the slit (vary
y), both real and inmginnry pa rts of the amplitud e vury slnusoidully.
As WC' have seen, the wuveh-ngth of this variat ion is connected to the
momentum Irdt·r to Eel, (a- lO)J. The subsequent motio n is n ",soH
of opt ical-like int erfcrenec muong these wan'S. T he interfere nce is
~Ilstru ct ivc in t he ~C'III'rul direct ion pred icted by elass icnl phys ics and.
III genera l, destruc tiv e i ll other dirvet iona.

.If there are J~U\Il~ wn\'('II' Il ~UI!; ucross t he slit (i.e., the slit is "Cf)'
wide) t1le. f('stJ l tlll ~ IIl l~' rrf~f('IlCe pnttr-rn is quite »hurp a nd lIll' motion
IS approximately classieul. But suppose the elit ili made so narrow

. ' n f'(l'r to ~, :I-I of Eo J rllankf' and F, EnJde. " TuLICti uf Funcficne," Dever l'ultlica-
IlonM. ' nc.• New York , 1tl43.
 Deteloping the concept. with ..pedal cxomplcil

57
thnt 1l0~ f'V~" one wh.ole wSl.v.clml1;th is included. There a rc 110 longer
a ny osciilntlons t o J!:lVC all intr-rfereuce, uud velocity information is
lost. Thus in th e limit n.~ the slit widt h goes to zero all velocities arc
~ CtlUally likely for t he particle.

3-t TilE W,\VE FUNCTION

We have developed the amplitude for a particle to reach a particular

point in space and time by closely Iollow iug lta ruc tion in gettillg there.
However, it is often useful to conside r t he a mplitude to a rrive a t a
particular place without auy special discussion of previous motion.
Thus we would say "' (.r,t) is t he total a mpl itude to a rrive at (x,t) from
the PASt in some (pe rhaps unspecified) situa tion. Such an amplitude
has the same probability characteristics as those we have already
st ud ied ; i.e., the proba bility of finding th e particle at t he point x and
at the time t isllf{x,I)1 2. We sha ll call t his kind of a mplitude a wave
function. The difference between th is and t he a mplit udes we have
st udied. before is just a matter of notation. One often hears the state-
men t : The sys te m is in the "state" 1J;. This is just a nother way of
saying: The syste m is described by t he wave fu nction 1J;.
T hus the kernel K (x2,t2;xl ,l l) = ~,.(x2,12) is actually a wave function .
It is t he amplitude to get to (X2,12). The notation K (x2,12;X1,11) gives
us mor e information, in pa rti cular, that this is th e a mplitude for a
special case in which the par ticle came fro m (Xhit). Perhaps this
information is of no i nterest to th e problem, so tha t there is no point
in keeping track of it . Then we ju st usc the wave function notation
~ (x, .t ,).
Since the wave function is an a mplitude', it sa tisfies th e rules for
f
combina tion of a mpl itudes for events occurring in succession in time.
,
r
Thus since Eq. (2-31) is t rue for all points (r l,lv, we sec that the wave
function satisfies the integral equat ion
, ~(x,.t,) = t: K(x,.t,;X,.t,)~(x,,t.) dx, (3-42)
,
f This result call be sta ted in physical terms, The total amplitude
to arrive at (.r2,f2) {t ha t is, !J'{.-r~h)} is t he sum ~ or int t'grnl,. over nil
1 possible vnluos of .ra of t he totnl a lllplituc.lf' to nrnvc a t the pomt (r 3,h )
i [that is, !J'(X3,IA)I multiplied by t he alHplitlld(~ to go from ;1 to 2.lt hnt
is L' (,. t .• t ») This IIU'UIlS t hnt the L'lTl'cts of ull th e p ust history
·, 1'\ .<-2,2 ," 3, 3' . '. . ' If
of a pUl-tid (! call he expr(.s,'wd ill h'rlll~ .of u Hmp;lc.function. .we.'
forget every t hing we knew nhout u particle.' excep t Its wave Function
(Jlldut" ". ".rrho" irll cuul IHJth int,."rolll

58
at. n p.'l.rti('ulnr time, th en we enn ctllculnt.c everything that can happeu
to th nl pnrticle a lter t hnt Iir uo . All of 11I~torY 'M .(·lTcc ~ upo n the fut:u rc
of the universe could be obtained from 11 sm gll! gigantic wave fun cbon .

Prt.blem 3--' SUPllOSC n free pa rticle has n definite 1~'lOmentum at

th e' time t = 0 (t hat is, the wnve Iunction is Cc·,'d~) . W it h tlu: help of
EllS. (:~...1 ) and (:1-1:2), show that at some later t lln? t he pnrfielc lilLS
t he SAme definite mome ntum (i.e ., t he wave functiou depends on z
. .III till11C os C(- l p l/ 2... Alf• T h·IS
t hrough t he funct ion C' l'zIA) nild vnrres
means that th c pa rticle hns t he definite energy p2/ (2m).
Problem 3-5 Usc th e results of Proh, 3-2 a nd Eq. (3-42) to show
t ha t the wave funct ion sa t isfies the equation
~ iJV, ~. a'-f (3-43)
- i ar = - 2m ar 2
which is the SehrOdingrr equation for a free parti cle.

3-5 GAUSSIAN INTEGRA LS

" ' e a rc finished wit h the physical portion or this chapter, a nd we now
proceed to mnthcmnt ieal eonsidcra tlons. \Vc sha ll introduce some
additional mat hema ti cal techniques which will help us to compute
t he sum over paths ill certain sit ua t ions.
Thc simplest path integrals n rc t hose in which nil of t he variables
appea r up to t he second degree in e n expo nent. \Vc shall call tho n
gaussian integra ls. In quantum mechanics t his corresponds to n cesc
in which the a ction S invo lves the path x(i) up t o a nd incl udi ng t he
second power.
T o illust ra te how t he met hod work s in such a case, consider n pur-
ticle whose lugrangian bas the Ionu
L = a(t),;' + b(I),;z + « t)x' + " (I)'; + c(l)x + f (l ) (3-44)
The action is t he integral of t his function wit h respect to time be twc<'11
t wo fixed end poi nts . Actually , in th is form th c lagra ngian is a Iitl le
mor e general t huu necessa ry . The fa ctor .t could be removed from
th~ Icr.llls i~1 wb ieh it is linea r t hroug h a n integra t ion hy putts, but
t his Iaet IS unu nportuut for our p resent purpotic. We' wish to d ctcnnlse

K (b,o) ~ f.' ex p UJ.:' [, (,;,x ,I) ] :llr(t) (3-1:,)

the integral over nil pa t hs wh ich go Ircm (xQ,IQ) to (x&,/&) .

 De teloping the concept. Kith special clfo mp lclJ
59
I Of course, it is possible to cnrry out this integral over 0.11 paths in
\ the way which was fi rst described hy dividing th e region into short
t ime elerneuts, a nd so 0 11 . T I16t this will work follows (rom the fact
t hat t he integrand is un exponential of a quad ra tic form in the vari -
nblcs i: and r , Such integrula can always he carried out. But we
shall not go through this tedious cnlculntion, since we can determine
the most impo rtan t characteristics of the kernel in the following
nmnnC'r.
Let .r(l ) be the elnssica l path bet ween the specified end points. T his
is the path which is an extremum (or t he action S. In the notation
we have bee n using
Sdlb,aJ ~ S(x(I») (3-46)

We can represent z in terms of x and a new variable y:

z= i +Y (3-47)

That is to say, instead of defining a point on the path by its dista~cc

%(0 from an arbitrnry coordinate axis, we ~~urc instead the devia-
tion y(t) from the classical path, as shown lD Fig, 3-7.

t
b

j
~

x
I . I t h f (t) nnd some ~ih k! 1Io !t('mnt il"e
I Fig. 3-1 The d ifference hcLween the d afl.!l't'n, I'" .t I II, , ....ch the Rune Nl<1 l-li nts,
• !o: ' t he ..... t UI mus XI ~ ..
JWlth d t) ill t he fn nf"t 1Ofl y( f ). • !nrc' t ·· · ) I ' c env ' (lr lll ~i nN' t he rL\.~irn.l
I If (l .) - 1/(4) .... II. III hct wecn t IIl'toC 1"11 IX} ·
d illt !'l N(' ('li n IlJ<
ti
• •
t h r (/) r.s ,..... u iv al cn t (0 t h l" esso-
• 1 ' t" ·n t he altl." mll l\'Cptt ' I .
pnth III co DlJllc tcly fiu~, • nllY vnrln 111111 . th ·n l". , u 1 t1\4' ,>n th lIil1l'n'llh:tlll.r(l)
"(, . .
"lilted v nr iu tioll ill Ih (' , III1I'rt'II(' (' V '
(I)
"' ) +
T I IlI!l III II I Il I I
(0
. •
III (I,is ro rlll i'{l) is n ,"tllll,(llIlL
ea n lie rl."llIl"m l IIy 1Jy (l J, nlll i tl w l"Ilil
. . ovr-r 1m IIIS. {'
;reo hy 1(,' ,II. I~ll h Vllr iuh k fltt) i8 rl'lIlril'l l"l1 In
"'urllJ{'rIllO"~ " I It't iIII "I 1, t" 1\ nnth "Illh'j!;rnlllll . I" 1)('11\ I('II'
fI,r tile mll'j( f!. llfln
. '11 " I IlI1Itu 1011 e ll l. ,.
b kl' t h C" VIIIIIC n lit hll th c u d ))()U1 111. 1111 till
lIf I'lkl-poillL Jl0f<itiolllJ.
 At ('nrh I th e vn rinbles z nnd ll d ifT('f hy the cOlu~tn~l t.f. (O f COUNl c,
th is is n d ilTl·rt·nt constant Ior each vnluc of I.) Therefore, c)('lu ly,
tI.ri := ,fYi for each specific point I , in the subdivisio n of time. hi gen•
eral , W. lIlay sny :Dx(/) - :Dy(I). .
Thc integral for t he action can be written

srx(t) ] = sr.i (I) + y (llI = I.:' (a(I)(;!' + 21ft + Ii' ) + . ..J dt (3-48)

I£ nil the terms which do not iuvolvc 11 arc collected, thc TCsultirlg
int egral is just S{i (t) ] := Sci . H nil t he terms which contai n y as 0.
linear fact or nrc collected, the resulting integral vanishes. T his could
be proved by ac tually carrying out the integration (some integrution
by parts would he involved} ; however, such a caleulet ton is un ncces,
sary, since \\'0 already know the result is true. T he fun ction i (l ) is
determined by t his very req uirement. That is, .f is so chosen that
there is 110 change in 8, to fi rst order, for variations of the path around i .
All that rema in are t he second-o rder ter ms in y. Th ese can be easily
picked out, 50 that we can write

S(r(I)] = S,,[b,a] + I.•." [a(l )y' + b(t)yy + « t)y'] dt (3-49)

The integral over paths do cs not depcnd upon the classical path, so
the kernel can be written

K(b,a) - «,,,)S.• "~J J: (cxp MI.:' [a(l)y' + b(l) yy + « t)y') dt ) ) :Dy(l)

(3-50)
. Since all paths y(l) start from and return to ti m p oint y 0, thc .0;:;

Ult~grnl over paths ca n be a fun ction only of t imes at the end points,
'I'his means that thc kernel can be written as

(3-51)

~ K is determined except for a. fun ction of I.. and I". In part icular,
I ts d ependen ce UpOIl tile spatial vnriables r " and Xli iJi cmuph-t ely worked
out. ~t should he ,noll'd t hat th e dcpcnd t'llee of til e kernel Up Ol1 till'
C?CffiC I£> l1t.S of the lincnr t erms rI(l ) a ut! c(t) and the remnining eoctli-
cicnt J(I) IS also compl etely worked out.
• T his ~I11S to be churacterist ie of various met hods of doi ng path
mtegral!!; a grea t deal ca n be worked out by som e general met hods-
 Del'e loping LI,e concept, with special e~tJlnlJ'e,.

61
bu t often n multiplying Inetor is not Iully determined. It must be
determined hy SO Ul f! other known property of t he solut ion, ns, for
exnmpk-, hy Eq . (2-31).
It is i l1 t('rC'~tillg to note that the approximate expression K"" e's.J'"
is exact (or th e case that S is n qundtutic form.

n Probtonx 3...6 Since the Iroo-particle lagrangian is B quadratic,

show that (Proh. 2-1)
(
K(b ,a) -- F(Ib,t..) exp im(x.-
2~ (h
x.),
ttl) (3-52)
•
"
t
, and give an argument to show that F can depend only on the difference
F(I. - I. ) .
Problem 3·7 Furth er informat ion about F can be obtained from
,
I
the prop erty expressed by Eq . (2-31). First notice t ha t the results
, of Prob. 3-6 imply that F(h - to) con be written as F (l ), where t is
the li me Intcrv al r, - t,.. By using this form fer F in Eq. (3-0') 2) and
substitut ing into E q. (2-3 1), express F (t + 8) in terms of F (l ) and
F (s), where l = 4 - l., and 8 = lc - t G • Show that if F is wri tten as

F(I) = ~2;;f,t I (t) (3-53)

the new function 1(1) must satisfy

1(1 + s) = 1(t)/(8) (3-54)
This means that 1(1) must be of the form
I(t) = e"' (3-55)
where a may be complex, thnt is, a = Q + £p. It is diffic ult to obtain
more informat ion a bout the fu uet ion f (l ) from t he pr inciple'S we have
so far laid dow n. H OWf!VC f , the speelnl choice of the nnrmaliaing con-
stant A d efi ned in E q. (2-21) implies thnt f(f ) = 1 to Iirst order in f .
T his correspo nds to sett ing a ill Eq. (3-.:j 5) equal to o. The resulti ng
value of F(t) is in agreement with Eq . (3·3).

It is clear from th is example how t he impo rta nt pmpctties or path

integrals may he easily obtained even t hongh the iut cgruud mny bo n.
compliented function . So 10l1g us UI4' i ll l l'g ru llIl Is It tl ex ponentia l
Iunet iou which eontuius the puth va rinhlcs only up to t he second
order n solut ion 1I11l1 will he eotupletc CXC('p t possibly Ior some si mple
multi plyi ng Inctora CUll be oh tniucd . 'I'hie is true regurdh-ss or tho
<""I111'Um nlM"Ilnnir.. orul IHI'" 1"'f'll r ,.I.
1>2
number of vnrlnblcs, Thus, for example, n path Integral of the fonn

J.' f: ...f,' cxp 11I"Ir(/),y(I)• . • • ,z(I)1I

:Dr(/) :Dy(t) • •• :Dz(t) (3-r.n)

contains us its importunt factor cF.." where Rd is the, eX,tr(,l~l um of .E

subj ect to the boundary condi tions. The on ly restriction 18 that In
tenus of the vnrinblcs x, y, nnd 50 a ll, 1': is n funct io." of t he second
d('gI'CC. The remai ning factor is n function ,of the tllnc~ at the end
points of th e pa ths. For most of the p'~th J ~tegra l5 which ~'c shall
study , the im po rtant iuformnt ion is contnu~cd 10 th e exponout jal tcrm
rat her t han in the latter fnctor. In fact III most eases we shall not
even find it uceessnry to evaluate this latter factor. This method of
solving path integrals will be usodfrcquently in the suececdi ug chaptera.

3-6 MOTION IN A POTENTIAL FIELD

One simple application comes in the classical limiting case in which

the act ion S is very large compared to Pla nck's cons tant A. As we
have already pointed out for this situat ion, the kernel K is apprcxi-
mntcly proportional to e- 's",". \Ve can now sec more mathcmntieally
th e basis of this approximation. Only those paths qu ite ncar to th e
classical path x are important, 60 suppose we make the subs titution
x = x + y. Now if the particle is moving t hrough the potential V(x),
we can write
VCr) = 1' (r + y) = V(r) + yV'(r) + Y -' V"(r) + !!.., V"'(r)
2 6
+ . ..
(3-.57)
where th e prime indicates diffcrentiatic u with respect to x and all
differentials arc evaluated along the classical path.t. Only small
v.alues of y are imp ort ant, !30 suppose V is a sufficiently smoot h fu nc-
tion that we can neglect terms of order yl and higher. This means
tha t we assume that yl V'" and all higher-order terms nrc negligible
compared to the terUiti kept.
1!ndcr tI~i!i asssumpt ion t ~le integra nd ca n he expressed ns a quad-
ratic form Ill? I II ..f~l c t,. :-IIlICe X utnk cs S ext rem e S = S... + t erms
second order III y. I he unportunt tenu ill t he result is ('. S"I " , where
:I~W, of C~u~Sf', :l.)d contains t he pot ential r ei) Illtmv; t he clussicul pnth -
I he Tl~l llal1 l111g iutcgrul 0 11 y goes Ircm 0 to 0 uud is of the form of the
Inst ~nclor ill Eq. (3-50). It provides a SlIloot h fu nction us a Iector
to e oS.,JA.
 De r;eloplnlt 'h e concep '. rdLl• • peeial exam p le.
63

The result is t rue in situa tions other tha n the classlc nl limlting case.
For exumple, suppose 1" is n quadratic Iuu etion of x. T hen th t'! solu-
t ion is exact, since t he expansion of V ~ in Efl. (3-57) contains no
n. poWCN higher tlrun the second. Some exa mp les of this type arc
given i ll the problems. As a nother exa mple, !lUp p OSC I" is a slowly
vary ing Iuuction. I n pa rticular, if the thi rd and higher deriva t ives
~
nrc extremely small, the result given a bove is 11 very accura te
approximation. T his par ticular case is calico the WJ{D a pproxima-
•• tion in quantum meehn nies.
There arc other situa tions in wh ich the approximation is good.
Suppose the total time in terval for the motion is very sh ort. If a
parti cle moves along a path d irT"riug greatly from th e classical pa th,
it must have a v ery la rge extra velocity (t o go out from th e init ial
poin t a nd the n return to th e finnl point in t he allotted t ime interval) .
The extra kinetic en ergy is proportional to t he sq ua re of this large
veloc ity, and t he act ion contains a term roughly propo rt ional to the
kin etic energy m ult iplied by t he time interval (thus, the square of the
v elocity mu lti plied by the ti me interval). The action for such path s
will be very large, a nd t he phase of th e a mplitude will vary greatly
for closely neighboring paths. I n t his case aga in it is reaso na ble to
, drop tbe higher-ord er terms in the expansion of V.
I
I Problem 3-8 F or a harmonic oscillator the lagrangian is
I
m """,
L =-,;'-
2 --
2 x'
(3-58)

Show that the resulting kernel is (sec Proh. 2-2)

K = F(T) exp 12h:':",T [(x. ' + ",') cos ",T - 2r.r,l) (3-59)

,. where T = lJ. - 1... Note that the mult iplica t ive funct ion F (T } has
not been exp licitl y worked out . It can be obtai ned by other mea ns,
and for t he harmonic oscilla to r it. is (cf. Sec. 3-1)

F(T) ~ ( 2.-ih"""
. ill ",T
)" (3-W)

Problem 3-9 Find the kernel for a part icle in a constant external
field J w here the lagrangian is
(3-61)
 (3-62)

where T = t. - 1...
Problem 3-10 The lagrangian for n particle of charge c nnd massm
ill a constant external magnetic field H, in the % direction, is

L - ~ (t ' + 11' + " ) + ':c (xii - yi) (3-U3)

Show that the resulting kernel is

K = ( m )" (
2rihT
.. T/2 ) ex
sin .. T/ 2 p
(im.
2h
;(%, -T z..)'
+ 2.. cot "2
..T [(x, - :r.)' + (y, - y.)'! + .. (x.y, - x,y. ) )) (3-64)

where T = t" - t., (oJ = en/me.

Problem. 3-11 Suppose the harmonic oscillator of Prob. 3-8 is
driven by an external force /(/) . The lagrangian is
m mw'
L = - i' - -
2 z' +/(/)z 2 (3-65)

Show that the resulting kernel is

where

Sci "'= 2 8~",T [ (cos wT)(X6 2 + x.!) - 2x.xo

+ 2z, I." .
;;;;; t, f(/) SID ..(I - I.) dl

27. I."
+ ;;;;;, ,. f(/ ) sin ..,(/, - I) dl

- m'..,'
2 ,. 1."1.',. f(/)f(o) sin ..,(1, - I) Sill " (0 - I.) do dl ] (3-00)

with T = t. - I•.
 De~elopinB the concept3 kith 3pecial e~Qmple3

6S

This last result is or grcnt importance in many advanced problems.

It bus purtlculnr np plicutions in qu antum electrody namiea because
tilt' olect romngnct ic Iieid cnu bc represented us u set oCforced ha rmonic
oscillato rs.
Pro ble m 3-12 H the wave funct ion Ior a harmonic oscillator is
!, (at 1 ~ 0)

II-(x.O) = exp [ - ~; (x - a)'] (3-67)

then, using Eq. (3-42) and the results of Prob. 3-8, show that

II-(x.TJ = OX p
I-
i.,T
- 2- -
""" .
211 Ix' - 2ax......T

+ }<la' ( l + .......T)I) (3-68)

and find tho p robability d istribution '11-\'.

3.7 SYSTEMS WITH MANY VARIADLES'

Suppose a system has several degrees of freedom . A kernel for such

a sys tem can be represented by the form of Eq. (2-2;j ), where the
symbol ret) now represents several coordinates rat her thun just one.
\Ve lake as a first exam ple a particle moving in three d imensions.
The path is defined by giving t hree fu nct ions x (l), y(I ), and z(t). The
action for a free particle, for example, is

m
2 ••
J."(t (I)' + 0(1)' + : (I)'J dt
T he kernel to go Irorn some initial point (ro,yo,z..) at time 10 to a final
point ( XlJ IYb,Z,,) alto is

K(:r.. y. ...,1. ;X••y•••••t.) = J.' loxp [U~' ; (t ' + y' + :') dt]j
'!>x(I) ~g (1) X..(I) (3-69)

The differential is written as 1lr(1) n y(1) :Oz{t). If the ti me is divided

into intervuls e, th e positio n at the time Ii is given by t hree varlublce
2\, y" z, und th e integral over nil vurlnblea is Jr il dyo, dzo for cuch i in

I H.. P . Fey nllmn, SPIlI't'-T illie Al' llrollr h to Non-nolBt ivistic QUlln tunl
Mcd ll\Uir.Ho J(rfI . M url. /"1. 118., \ '01. 211, no. 2 , I'· 371, ItHS.
Quan ru rrt ml'C'hnniC''' 111111 parh i"'''ll m b

• lik F. ("_"") (:\Iot'f' ~l"nC'mIlY t if we rf'pr C'HCllt the

nn C'xprt's.. .ton I (' .C] , - -- , I J'lT '
, '. ' , ' . uc s.. d imeu.. . iulllll spnee , t III {I r-reutiul at
posltUlll h,)' n \ ec to r r III ~Ol C . ' • I •
each poin t i..• tlu- volum e l" l ('IIIl' lI l tiP. or fl",. end we ca n \\ rile, t re proo_
uct (If Ih(':'t' for ('nch in..... U ri') , .
, . , r) ' (') "" ) is used then th e uOrllmhz lIlJl; conl'llnnt
Jf the d t'll1utlO ll 0 '. C] . - - - - I , "
-l IE (')_.l l)) must he included for each vnrinhlc tn ea ch t U11C mterval.
T husf)if ; b; tot al time iutcrvul is brokcn. up into N steps of length I,
the fact or .'1 _3,\' must hl' iuclndcd in t he 11 '.t("~ral.. •
Another sit ua tion invo lving severa l variublca IS t hat. of two in t er,
a cting systems. Suppose one sys te m consists of a po.rtl~lc of mn.s~ 171
with coord ina tes given by c a nd t he other system con ta ins n p article
of mass .\1 a nd coordinate X . Sup pose these two sy stems Intera ct
through a potent ial ' "(x,X). The resulti ng action is

S[x(t),X(t)] - J.:'[; x' + ~: s» - V(x,X) ] dt (3-70)

60 that the kernel is

K(""X~I.;X.,X.,f.) - J:J: (cx p Ii

S(x(/),X (/») I) :OX(/) :oX(I) (3-71)

One might understand t his genera liza tion of Eq. (2-25) matbe-
mati caUy. Thus one m igh t consider t he motion of n point in some
abstract two-d imen siona l space of coordinates z, X. However , it is
much eas ier to think of it phy sically as rep resent ing th e mo tion of two
separa te particles whose coord inates arc respectively % a nd X . Then
K is t he a mpl itude t hat th e particle of IIUl.';S m goes from the po int in
space-time (x. ,I..) to (r ",t.) nnd t he particle of mass M goes from
(X ••,.) to (X . ,t. ), T he kern el is t he n t he su m of an a mplitude taken
over all possible pat hs of both particles be t ween their respect ive end
points. T he a mp litude for a lly particular combina t ion of paths [i.c.,
both x(1) a nd X(I) nr c specified] is eiS Il , where S is the action defined
in £':1. (3-70). :\(l'lthcmoticnlly, the amplitude is a functi onal of h 'O
independent fun ctious x(1) end X(t), and the integral is oyer both of
the variable (u nctions.

3-8 SEPARADLE SYSTEMS

Supposewe have u sit ua tion in wh ich two particles nrc present, both
JJlO\'lIIg III one or perhaps more d iuWIl!SiollS, Let t he vec to r x rcprc-
sen t the eoord inntea of one part icle and t he vector X rep res ent t he
 DerelopillS die t on cep h IClith apeciol examplea
67
coordi nates of t~e other, as in the paragraph above, except th at now
we extend the .plctu ~ to n three-dimensional space. It may happen
that the resulting ucuou con be separated into two parts, as
S[x,XI = S.lx] + SxIX] (~-7 2)
where Bz ~m:olvcs ~nly : he paths x(1) and Sx involv es only th e paths
X (/) . ~Ius IS the situation when th e t wo particles do not interact.
In this case the kernel becomes t h(' product of one factor depend ing
on x and Another depending on X alon e. Thus

K(x.,X.,I. ;x.,Xo,t.) = J: J: (cx i IS. [x) + Sx(XII) :O'x(t) :o'X (I)

p

= J: (cx p Ii S.(x) l) :ox(l) J: (cx Ii S xIX]l) :OX(t)

p

= K' (",4;X.,I.)Kx(l4 ,4;X.,I.) (3-73)

Here K, is the amplitude computed as if only thc particle of coordi-
nates x were present , and K x is defined similarly. Thus in a situation
invo lving two independ ent nonintcrocting systems the kernel for an
event involvin g both systems is t he product of two independent kern els.
These arc the kernels for each particle to carry out its individual por-
tion of the ovemll event.
The wav e function in a situntion involving several particles is defined
in a straightforward manner by analogy with the correspond ing kernel
as If(x,X, . •. ,t). It is interp reted as the amplitude t hat, at time I,
onc particle is at the point .x, another particle is at t he point X, etc.
The a bsolute square of the wave function is the probability that one
particle is at t he point x per unit volu me, another part icle is ot the
point X per unit volume, etc. Equat ion (3--42) , which holds for the
one-dimensional case, can be immediately extended to read
1f(x,X, ••. ,I) = IIK(x,X, .. . ,' jX' ,X', ,t' )
"'(X',X', ,t') dx' ax' (3~74)

where dx ' is the product of as man)" differentials as there arc coordi-

nates in x' space.
In case two independent particles nrc roprcsentcd by the sets. of
coordi nat es x and X, th en the kernel K is the product of one fu nction
of x and I and anoth er of X and I, as mt~ntioncd above. However, t l.lis
does not imp ly t hat, in gonernl, '" is such u product. In th~ spec ial
cuse t hut If is at HOllie pnrf.i eulnr time R pI"Ul.lllct. of a ft~llc ll() 1l of x
and another of X (thus '" = I (x ) . v(X)I. t hen I t \ \"IIII:I'II I1U lI loin for nil
t lme. Euch factor will change as it would for the pnrtinl system alone,
QIIII"fUni rIIn/uUl io (U1f1,JII'" in'rgrnb

since the kernel K represents the ilit!t'pcmknl motion of two pnrtlcl('f:l .

But. th is is 1\ special ruse. J ust because th(' pnrtieles nrc h ldt'pmu.l(:llt
no w tI()(·~ not men u t hut U1('Y always were. 'l' hcre mny have I"!cn
SOIll C' interaction in the pnst, which would imply thnt .y is not u simple
product. . .
Even though the nction S docs not appear as a simple product in
th(' ot igiuul coordi nat e system, th ere is oUru a transformation (Huch
as tha t of ecntcr-of-grnv ity and internal coordina tes) which will make
it separable. Since th e sa me form for the notion is used in cluantUln
mechanics as ill elassicnl physics, any tmusfortuatiou which will sepa,
rate a classical system will nlso scpnrute t he correspo nd ing quantum.
mechanical system. T hus a purt of the great body of work in classical
physics can be applied directly to quantum mecha nics. Such trans-
format ions nrc very importnut . It is hard to d oul with a sys tem con-
sisting of several variables. Separation of variables permits Us to
reduce a complex problem to u number of simpler problems.

3·9 TilE PATII INTEGRAL AS A F UNCTIONAL

When a problem contains more than one variable and n sepnration is

not possible, the analysis is generally very difficult. Later on we shan
discuss some approximations which can be applied in this casco Here
we shnll describe one very powerful tool which can sometimes be
applied. Consider the kernel given by Eq, (3-71). This can be
written out in detail as

K(b,a) = /.'
40
i I." ':' x· dt + 11.'.2
/.'/ex [_A,.2
p sI." AI s» dt
+ tI.:' V(x,X,t) dt]l Dx(t) DX(t) (3-75)

First, suppose. we carry out the integral over the paths X(l), The
result can be written formally as

[(b,a) = J.' [ex J.:' ; .t' dt)] T(x(t)] Dx(t)

p (;. (3-76)
where

T(x(t)] - J.' (ex p /H:t: x» + V(X,X,I)]I) fit DX(t) (3.77)

These results nrc iut crp 'led ' tI f II .

. II I . . re I~II Ie 0 O\nllJ!: ma nner. Jllte~rnting
over u pat IS availa ble to th e .\: particle produces n jUllcliullal 7', A
 Oct-eloping di e COlicep t s with Rpccial examplelf

69
functional is a nu mber whose val ue depends on specify ing n complete
funct ion. For exam ple, t he nrea under u curve is u functional of the
curve A = fl (lI) dll. To find it, a fu nct ion (the curve) must he
specified . We write n Iunct iouul as A (J(II)] to i nu icat.c~ t hat A depends
on the fu nction I (y) · We do 1I0t write A (f(y» , for that migbt be
interpreted as a function of n fun ction, i.e., that A just depends on
wha t value I tnkcs at some specified point y . T his is not t he case.
A (J(y)J depends on the enti re shape of the fu nction J(I1) . It docs not
depend on y in any way.
The fun ctional d efined in Eq . (3-77) is the amplitude that th e X par-
t icle alone goes between its end points X a and X,. under the influe nce
of u po tent ial 1' . T his potential, which d epend s upon both x and X,
is computed assum ing x is held to be a fi xed path as X changes. T hus
it is the poten tial for t he X particle when t he x particle is mov ing along
a specific trajecto ry. Clearly , this am pl itude T depends upon th e tra-
jectory chosen for x (l ) , so we write it as a functional of x(l) . T hen
the total amplitude is obtained by summing over all pat hs a func-
tional consisting of the product of T and th e free-particle kernel
for x (t).
T hus the amplitude X, like all others, is a sum over the amplit udes
of all possible alternat ives. Each of these amplitudes is a product of
t wo Jesser amplitudes. T he first of these is t he amplitude T that th e
X particle goes between its given end points when x has a specified
trajectory. The second is t he amplit ude that x has that specified
t rajectory. T he fi nal sum over al tcruutivcs becomes t he sum over
all possible trajectories of e . It is important to understand this con-
cept clearl y, Cor it includes one of the Iundamcntul pri nciples of
quantum electrodyna mics, a subject which will he taken up in a lat er
chapt er.
Of course it is not practicnl to usc th is method unless th e integral
T can actually be work ed ou t, either exactly or a pproximately , for
th e possible val ues o! the tr~jeet~ry x~t? As we h~\'-c _S~C~1 (d . l:r:ol!:
3-11) onc exact case IS t hat II I which ~\ IS a ha rmonic oscilla tor. 1.111:;
is a very importa nt practical case. For example, when a particle
interacts with a quant ized field, the field is an oscillator.

3.10 INTEIlACTION OF A I'AIITICU; AND

A IIAIlMONI C OSCI U.ATOIl

We Hlml! oousid cr ill more detnil the interact ion of II pnrf.iele ami 0.
ha rmonic oscillator. Let t he coord ina tes of the pnrt id e be x und
.0
those of the oscillntor be X. T he octio» can be written o.H

.~lx,X ) = S , lx)
I. "
+ ,. Olx (I),I )X(I) ,It + I.",. "2
AI (V'.
A
'X')
.,
dl (3-78)

where So is the notion of the part icle in the absence of th e oscillator.

I n t lu' d iscussion above we n."~U111cd t ha t this action co rn.ospo lldcd to
t hat for n. Irce particle. This assumption is not necessary. The
motion of x could he eomplieuted by t he existence of n potential
depending upon x and I only. Thus, for exam ple, the action S,
migh t be

S olx] = I.:'[; t ' - V(x ,l) ] dt (3-79)

T he second term in Eq. (3-i8) represents the interaction between

the particle and the oscillator. Xotc that this term is linear in X.
Omission of a dependence upon X docs not imply any l OBS in gener-
ality, since if such a term were to occur, it could he removed by an
integrat ion by parts . \Vc can call the eocffieient 0 th e coupling
eocllicicnt , Its dependence upon x(1) is ind icated, but it could also
depend upon other va riables, such as x(l). Since the analysis we are
p resent ing is genera], it is not importa nt to write do wn t he exact form
of g. Th e last term in Eq. (3-78) is, of course, the ac tion of the oscil-
lator a lone. By combining this with the second term, the function T
of Eq . (3-77) ca ll be written as

Tlx(l)) = J.' [ (i J.:' Ift; (X. --

ex p .,·X')

I
+ olx(t),I)X(t) dl)] :oX(I) (3-80)

Now as far as X is concerned, the situation is just that of 0. forced

hBnn~nic oscillator. The forcing functi on O(Z(I),11 is some special
fun ction of t, say ,J(t). T hus the poth integral is t he sam e as thnt con-
sidered ill Prob. :1-11, with f (l) repl aced by Olx(l) I) and the initial and
fi Jl~1 c~ordj nat~ values (x~,x..) rcpluced by (~,~i.
l or IlIlliitm.tlVc purposes, to simplify t he expressions somewhat, we
take t.h ~ special case JII which the oscillator initially ami fiunlly is at
the cngm, 8~ Xt. = x.. = 0 {th e genera] case is just US easi ly ha ndled).
T hen nccordi ug to Prob. 3-11 in this case we have

T = (21r1'/=~1 W7')"" exp {/~mw :illw1' /,~. f~ U[Z(t ) ,I]O(z(s),s]

si n .,(h - Ihi n w(s - I. ) tis d ll (3-81l
 DCl'f!loplng rIle co n cep fB u:itll Ilpecial c%amplell

71

Therefore, the kern el (or the present situa t ion can be written

K(II,a) = (21rfl/:l wT)ULb(exp ~ {~l f,~' x(l)1 dt

- """ sin •• t:
I .,T i: •• O[. (I),IJO(, (, ),. I sin .,(1. - t)

sin .,(. - I.) d. dt I) :1).(1) (a-R2)

with a similar (but more complicated) expression for arbitrary X~ . x".

This is n morc complicated path integral than uuy we have had to
solv e so far . It is 110t possible to proceed further with thc solution
until various methods of approximation have been developed ill suc-
ceeding chapters. Note that the integ ra nd of th is path integral call
st ill be thought of ns being of the for m C(·f A) S , but now S is no longer a
function of only X, x, end t, Instead , B contains a product of varia bles
defined at two different times, 8 and I . The separat ion of past an d
future can no longer be made. This happens because the varia ble x
at some previous time affects the oscillator which, at som e Inter time,
reacts back to affect x. No wave function "'(X,i) can be defined to
give t he amplitude t hat the particle is at some particular place x at
a particular time t. Such au amplitude would be insufficient for con-
tinu ing calculations into the futu re, since at any time onc must also
know what the oscillator is doing.

3-11 EVALUATION OF PATH INTEGRALS BY FOURIER SERIES

Consider the path integral for the harmonic oscillator problem (Prob.
s-s). This is

K(b,a) ~ 1.' (cx p IH:'[;(;;' - .,'x') dl]l) :Dx(l) (3-83)

Using the methods of Sec. 3-5 this path integral can be .rcd u('cd to n
product of two (u nctions, as in Prob. 3-8. The more Important of
th ese two fun ctions depends upon the classical orbit for a harmonic
oscillator and is given in Eq. (3--59) . The re maining function depends
UPOIl t1 w time interval only uud is written down in Eq . (3..t.iO). This
latter funet ion call he written as

(3-84)
('11m,'''"1 mt'f'lulfIlf'lt and IHI". in '''IfNl/II
-:2
W(' sha ll solve this, nt l(,fiSt 1-0 within n Inct or indc'.)('lIdcnt o.f w,lly a
I\lrl hol! whirh illustmt cs stil l nnot her wuy of IUlIUlhllJ!; path 1I1lf'l;mlll,
~i ll(,(' nil pill hs !J(t ) It.0 fro m 0 nt I = 0 to 0 at I = T, such pntllH COIl
1M' writ ten I\S a Fourier sine series with a fuudnmental period of T.

Thus

(3-85)
•
It is possible then to consider the paths as functions of the cocm.
clouts of a.. inst ead of fun ct io ns of !/ at nny particu lar value of t. This
is a Iinear trausform nti ou whose jacobian J is a constant, obviously
ind epe ndent of "", 1tI , a nd fi.
Of course, it is possible to eva lua te this jacobian d irectly. However,
hero we sha ll avoid the e valuation of J by collect ing all factors which
arc independent of w (including J) into n single constant factor. We
can always recover the correct factor at the cud, si nce we know the
value for'" = 0, F(T) ~ "';",/2";1,7' (a free particle).
The integral for the action ca n be written in terms of the Fourier
series of £<1· (3..s5). Thus the kinetic-energy term becomes

1.o
T •• d
u: t = ~~ If
~ ~ 12.
r
mr a a
.. ..
1.
0
T
(·ctJ
nrl
T
m7f't
('O" T dt
• m

(3-86)

and similarly the potcntial-encrgy term is

loT y'dt ... T'~l a..' (3-87)

•
~n the nssum~tiOl.1 that the timc T is divided into discrete steps of
IenJ;:~h. e D.8 for ]',q . (2· }9) so that t here nrc only a finite number N of
eceflicients 0 .. , the path iUh'grol becomes

F(T) = J J'- .. J'- .. ... J.-. (ex ILf p 0:

.-, 211

[(';.)' - "'']a.'j) ~~' (~~' d~"v (3~OS)

Since th e ,r~poJl(,llt can be sepa ra ted into fact ors, the iutvgrnl 0\'('1'
eaeh coelhclCllt a. ca n be done tiCpnrntely . The result of one suell
 Deteloping ti'e concept. u:ith IJpecial exomples
73

integration is

J_.. Ic.'XP [in> w r

'fi" - .) a.. ']1 da.
2h ("",. If - ( -1'
"""1 - wt (3-89)

Thus the path integral is proportional to

EI (";' - -r -E. (n;}".~, (1 - ::::r

N N N
(3-00)

The first product does not depend on wand comb ines with the
jacobian and other Inctors we have collected into a single constant.
The second foctor has the limit (tlin wT)jw7T B as N - 00 J that ts,
as E - O. Thus

F(T) = C ('i:~~-li (3-91)

where C is independent of w. But for w = 0 our integral is that for 0.

free particle, for which we have already found that

F(T) ~ (2:r.T)" (3-92)

Hence for the harmonic oscillator we have

F(T) ~ (2rit: wT)" (3-93)

which is to be substituted in Eq . (3--59) to obtain the complete solution.

Problem. 3.13 By keeping track of 011 thc constants, show that

the implication is that the jacobian satisfies

N N 1
JVN;- n ii-+
(f) .-1 1 (3-!J.l)
 4
The Schrodinger
Description of
Quantum Mechanics
 Tm; pnlh int l'~ml:o which we hnvc discussed so Cor ~with the ~xc('Pti.on
of Eel. (:I.....'\:!») hnve intcgrnnds which nrc cxpollellt.l6l~ of uctioua Wllh
the property
S I2,1) = S(2,3] + S[3,IJ (4-1)
Such path Iutcgrnls can be nnalyzro in terms of thc properties of inte-
gml cquntious which can be deduc ed Iro r» them. w e hn~c a!rca.dy
eecu this ill Chnp. 2 [e.g., Eq . (2-31») nnd Chnp. 3 [e.g., I'.ll· (.1-42)).
A still morc convenient method is to reduce the path intcgrnls to
differenti al equa t ions if possible. This possihility ex ists in q ua ntum
mechanics eud is, in (act, the most convenient way to present t hat
thoorv. It is in almost eve ry case easier to solve t he differ ent ial equa-
tion than it is to evaluate the path integral directly. The conve e- ,
tional presentation of quantum mechanics is based on this differential
equ at ion. called the Schredinger equa t ion. Here we shall derive this
equation from our formulation. 'V
c shall not solve t his equation (or
a large nu mber of exa mples. because such solut ions arc presented in a
deta iled and sat isfactory fnshio n in other books on quantum mecha nics.'
I II th is chapter our purpose is twofold : (1) For the rea der primarily
inte rested in qu a nt u m mecha nics our aim is to connect t he path inte-
gral formul ation with other formulations which nrc found in the sta nd-
ard lit erature and textLooks so that he can continue his study in thos e
books a nd can learn to translate back and forth between the two dif-
ferent lan guages. (2) For the reader primarily interested in path
integrals th is chapter will show a technique which is available (or a
certain class of path integrals to reduce these path integrals to differ-
ential equations. This te chnique is best shown by the particular
example of quantum mechanics which we shall develop here.

4-1 TilE SCIIIlODINGEIl EQUAnON

The Differential Equaflon Form. Thc reason that we ean

develop u d iffeccnt ial eq ua t ion is that til e relut.innship of Eq. (4-1) is
~rrcct for, a ny valu es of the points 1, 2, and 3. For example, the
t~n~c II . "1;11\ IJc .ollly an illfiuite:;illln.1 time e grunter t hnn the t ime h .
1: h.ls Will permit us ~o relate the vulu e of u pnth integra! for on e time
to l.ts valu e ~ short tun e later. III th ls mUllner we cun obtain a d.ilTcr~
ential equuuou for the path integral.

I Fur e XIlIIlI,h!, Ik'\.' I.. I. &ltilT, " Qunn t u lII !'llti:llILn irp ," 2d cd., McGraw-Hili
flock Coml,uny, ~cw York, HIM .
16
 Ti'e Sc'lre;dinger description oj quantum medtaniCB

77

'Vc have already , found ,that as a consequence or Eq

• . (4-1) we can
define a wave function . I' urtherrnore, we know that the equation

,,(x.,I,) = t:. K(x••I, ;X"I')"(xl,I,) dXI (4.2)

giv~ the wave function at a time I, ill terms of the wave function at
a tune 11 . J,n ol'dc~ 1.0 ~h~in the differential equat ion that we seck ,
we apply thi s relationship III thc special ease t hat th e ti me I diffe
onIYIl)' a u 111 uit esimal iinterval E from II. Thc kernel K (2 1)2 is ro-
infiiuitesima rs
portional to the exponential of i l li times th e action for th~ intc':val
II to I f. " . For a sh~r~ interval E the action is approximately Eti mes the
lagrangtan for this interval. That is, using the same approximation
l1S that of Eq. (2-34), we have

,,(x,l:- .) = t. ~ exp HL(x ~ Y, x~ Y)],,(Y,I) dy (4-3)

'Ve shall now apply this to the special case of a particle moving in
a potential l'(x,t) in onc dimension, i.e., that for which L = m.:i;' /2 -
V(x,I) . In this case Eq. (4-3) becomes

,,(x, t +.) = t.~ !cxp [im(x; Y>']\

• !cx i. (x ~ .1)]\
p[ - V Y, ,,(y,t) dy (4-4)

The quantity (x - y )'/ E appears in t he expo nent of the fi rst factor,

It is clear that if y is appreciably d ifferent from x, t his quant ity is very
large and the exponential consequently oscillates very rapidly l1S y
varies. Wh en this factor oscillates rapidly, the integral over y gives
a very small value (because of the smooth hchavior of the other factors).
Only if y is ncar x {where the expo nential changes more slowly) do we
get important contrihutions. 10'01' th is reason we make the substitu-
tion y = x + '1 with thc oxpectot ion that appreciable contributions to
the integral will occur only (or small 'fl. We obtain

T he phase of th e fi rst exponential changes by the order of t radian

when TJ is of ti le order yt!i!m, so tlmt most of the integm l is eoutributcd
by va lues of TJ ill this order.
We may expand if; i ll R power series. We need only keep term s of
order e, This imphee keeping I'lecontl~nler terms ill fl · T he term
QUallIUIII mf'f"llnlilclf nnfl pad. irl'ttgn.b

78
.I'((r +(,)/2, I} II1n)' he rrpln ""d hy ,V(r,l) be~aU8e th e error i~ of
higher order t hnn I . Expand ing the lert-hand side to fi rat o~er 10 I
RUtI the right-hand side to first order in I and second order In 1J, we
obtaiu

of(r,t) + ,:t = f-". ~I c-~/..• [I - ~. l'(r,I) ]

X [of(X,I)+ , : : + ~ " :~] d, (4-6)

If we take the lending term on the right-hand side, we have the quan-
tity of(r,l) multiplied by the integral

1J.-. c··.·-.... d .41(2.-ih.)"

-A d /" · '1 = - -
m
(4.7)

On the left-hand side we hnve just of(x,t), In order that both sides
agree in the limit f approaches 0, it is necessary that A be so chosen
that the expression of Eq. (4-7) equals 1. That is,

A - (2
- .-ih
')"
m
(~)

as we have seen previously [ef. Eq. (2-21». This is a way of obtaining

the quantity ..t in morc complicated problems also. T he ..\ must be
60 chosen that the equation is correct to zero order i ll f . Otherwise,
no limit will exist as e approaches 0 in the original path integral.
In order to evaluate the right-hand side of Eq, (4 -G), we shan have
to usc two integrals
. -1 e...
J- . A .,./ IA. 1J d1J = 0 (4-9)

and

J--. A1 . '/.,
- e'''''' .... 1]'dJ} = iftl
-
m
(4.10)'

Writing out the right-hand side of Eq. (W) gives

of +. aof = of _ i, Vof _ .h,- a' of (4-11)
at h. 2i ,n iJx!

Th is will he true to order E if 'It satisfies tile differential equation

h aof h' iJ'of
-
J
0 -
iJt
= - --
2m iJx! + l'(rl )'" J "
(4-12)
 Th e S rlaradi nser d earrip' ion oj qllan'flm m c dlonic8
79

This is t he SchrtHli llRC'r equation for ou r problem of a particle moving

in a ile d imension. Co rn~pol1l.l i llg equa tions in more complicated sit u-
a t ions can he worked out in the sa me way. as demonstrated by the
following probl ema.

Probl~tn ,1· 1 Show thut for a single pnrticie moving III three
d imensions in a potential I' th e Schrodingcr eq uation is
AO'f A'
- i at ~ - 2m '17"1- + V,I- (4- 13)

This equation was discovered hy Bchrcdi nger in 1925 and formed the
central featu re of the development of quantum mechan ics thereafter.

The Operutor Form. T he equa tions which result from various

problems cor respondi ng t o different forms for the lagrangian can all
be wr itten for convenience in the form

(4-14)

Here H docs not represent a nu mber but ind icates a n operation on !/t"
It is called th e hamiltonian operator. For example, in Eq. (4-12)
d ~~ t his operation is

H=- -
Ira a'" + V
- (4-15)
2m' ax'"
't j Such a n equation with operators on both sides means this : If any
function / is written afte r each opemtor on cnch side, the equa t ion
will be true. T hat is, Eq. (4-15) sy mbolizes the state ment: The
relat ion

HI = - -
A' a'i + VI
- - (4-16)
2m 2 iJx'
holds for a ny fun ction [ ,

Problem 4-2 Show t hat for a charged particle in a magnetic field

for which th e lagrangia n is
mt' e (4-17)
L = - + - t oA - <<I>
2 <
where t i~ t he velocity vector, c is the charge, c is the velocity of liJ!;.ht,
a nd A and 4J urv th e vector a nd ecnlur pc tcntinls, the corresponding
QUfI'n'",,. "u,,.Iuwif"1I ami ,HI'" in'PNN,11I

110

Sehrodlugcr equat ion is

_ ~i a",
at = _I (~'" _~ A) .(~ '" _~ A) '" + c#-
2m J C J C
(4-18)

'Thus the ha miltonia n is

11 = _1 (~'" _ ~ A) . (~ V- ~ A) + <<I>
2m! et C
(4-19).

Problem .J-J Show that the complex conjugate fu nction If·,

defined as the funct ion Ijt with every i elmnged to -i, aut isflos

A af' (4-20)
i8/ = (IIW
The nota ti on for opera tors ca n be described by giving 8 number 01'
exam ples . Fo r example, the opera tor x menus multipl ication by %,
t he opera tor .:t ~ menus multiplicat ion by x 2 , t he operator Vex) (some
fu ncti on of z) means multip licnt ion by Vex), the operator a/ax means
partial diffcrent int icu wit h respect to I , iJr/t/iJx l etc.
lf ..t and B arc operators, t hen the opera tor A B mea ns thnt we first
ap ply B a nd t hen A . that is, An", means A (B Ij-) . Thus, for example,
the operator zeal aI ) means x t imes aljt/ ax. On the other hand, the
opera tor (a/ a:r).r menns t he partial derivative with respect to x of~.
or (a/ ar )(xf ) - r (a",/a r ) + "'.
We sec t hat in gene ral the operator AB and the operator BA nrc
flCJt iden tical. We further define th e opera tor A + B by the rule that
.tl + B opera ting on ~ is A Ij- +
n",. For example, the previous equa-
t ion can be written us all equation a mong opera t ors as follows :
a
- z - z - +1
a
ax ax (4-21)

th e meaning being that (a/ar )rf = z(a/az)f + f Cor nny Junction f.

Problem 4·4 Show
at ()t a
-a- , z - z - , + 2 - (4-22)
I, iJz ax
and therefore that, lor t he U oC Eq, (4-15),
Hz - zll = _ A' ~
m ax (4-23)
Th is ~perotor notation is used a great deal in the conventionnl
for mulati ons of quantum meehauies.
 Tile SchriHUnger description oj quantum lIIecllOllic.
81
TIle Scltrotlinger Equation for the Kernel.. Sin ce K(2 I)
· , ,
th ongI.t of as n funct ion of t he va ria bles 2, is a special wave function
(na mely, t hnt for a particle which sta rts a t 1), we sec tha t K must
01:'0 satisfy a Sch rOdi uger equa tion, Thus for the case specified by
Eq. (4-1;; )
h a h' a'
- i ai, K(2 ,1) = - 2m ax,' K(2,1) + V(2 )K(2.1) (4-24)

for II > I. . I n general we have

- ~ aK(2,1) _ 1l,K(21) ~ 0 for II > I.
~ ~Iz ' (4-25)

wherein the operator liz operates on the variables 2 only.

l t~ Problem 4-5 Using the relation
.s.~~ .
fI; I K (2.1) = J_""K(2,3)K(3,1) dx . (4-26)
~. C:!
with 13 - LI = E, an infinitesimal, show that if t z is greater than t l , the
kernel ]( sa tisfies

+ ~ a~, K(2,1) - lit K (2,1) = 0 (4-27)

....
w.. where III now operates on variables 1 only.

T he funclion K(2 ,1) defined by a palh integral in Eq. (2-25) is

.
fr..' defined only for t z > t l . T he function is not defi ned if I : < II. It
will prove to be very couvenicut in Inter work (e.g., Chap. G) to define
](2,1) to be zero for Iz < It. l'V ith this convention Eq. (4-2), for
example, is valid only if tz > I..] With the condition
r K (2,1) = 0 for I. < I, (4-28)
it is evident that Eq. (4-25) is satis fied also for I:, < II (in a trivial
Ieshion, or cou rse, since K = 0). But this equat ion is not sat isfied
at the point I z = II because K (2,I) is discontinuo us at I z = [I.

Problem 4.6 Show that K(2 ,l) _ O(X2 - xJ us 12 - II + O.

From the result of Prob. 4-G we see th nt the derivative of K with
respect to 12 give'S a delta function in the time multiplied by the height
of the jump, 6(X2 - XI)' Helice K (2,t) satisfies
I
_ ~ aK(2.1) _ ll,K(2 1) _ - ~ 6(x. - x,)6(1. - t.) (4-29)
i a/! ' ~
82

Thi!l equation plus lh(' boundary eou dition of ECI _ (4-28) ~olll~ t:«~rv(!
to cll'lilll' 1\(2,1) if nile' \\"('1"(' to huv e s turted out Irmu til(! HC,'II"tHI11IK!'r
equnt iou ns t he fu udnmentnl defin it ion i ll quantum lIH'ehu~ lICH. It ill
CII'Sf that the qu antity K (2,l) is n kind of Groen 's Iunc ti ou for the
ScllI'i idingcr equat ion.

The Conscrvat ion of Probahility. The hamiltonian operator

given hy Eq . (4-15) hns the interesting property that, if i, 0 nrc BhY
fun ct ions which fall off to zero at infinity,

J--_(Uu)·fd.t ~ J--- u·(Ufl d.t (~)

The meaning of the symbols is this. On the left we nrc to take 0,

operat e 011 it with II (forming I/y), and t hen take the complex conjugate.
The result is then multiplied by f and integrated over nil space. T he
res ult is t he sa me as Ink ing ll] , m ult iply ing by the co mp lex conj ugate
of g, cu d in teg ra t ing. It is rosily verified that this is true by inte--
grati ng the term f (Jlg)-1 dx (by parte, where necessary).
For our exa mple ill Eq. (4-15) we have for the left side of Eq. (~)

- -A' J"
2m - . dz'
-d'U·
- f dx + J"
-.
I'U·f dx = - -A' (d- u' f - U' -d~
2111. dz dr
1+-
-.

- -A'
2m -.
J"
U· _d'f-dx
dx J
+ J- - .
VU·fdx (<h'll)

{integrating by parts twice) . If 1,0 fall off at infinity, the integrated

parts vanish a nd Eq. (4-30) is esta blished . All operator which hns t he
properly given by E(I_ (4-30) is ealled hermitian, I II nil eas es of
qua ntum mecha nics tile ha miltonia n is bcrtuitinu . For more gcnerul
cast'S than tlmt considered above- t he integration over our c ue-d imcn-
sio unl variable x beco mes un integration (or sum) Over nil the variables
of the system.
If we put f nnd U equal to Hx,/), we get

(<h'l2)
and if 1Jt satisfies the wove equation (4.14), this becomes
mJ-. D~
d
Jat '" dx + J",. at <Ix = <II (J ",.", <Ix) = 0 (4-33)

. T hat is, r",-", dx Is a eoustaut illd('Pf: lldront of time. This is cnsil}'

mt(·r~rttl-d . Fer if '" is 8tl~lu)'ly lIorllluliz('d, "'-'" is the p robnuilit)'
of lrt'wg found at Xj so the integral is the prchuhility of Iwi ng fouud
 rile Srllrodinger d e",.,iplion oj quantum m echanic.

83
somewhere, which is certainty (or 1) and is constant . Of course as
fa r as the W~\'C ('{Iuntioll. is concer ned tit ca n he mult iplied by a ny con-
'I stant and still he a sol~ tlOn. T hen "'-'" is multiplied by t he square of
th e eousta nt , an d the integral is t his eonatant sq uared.
It is (~J1llnmcllt.al.to . OUf d efinition of '" as prohability a mpl itude
t hat t he I II tcgm l of '" tit IS constant . 111 te rms of the kernel t his mea ns
that if f is t he wave function a t t ime 'I, thcu at time /, i t has the same
SQuare iutogrnl. T hat is, if

"'(2) = JK(2,I)f(l) dx, (4-34)

U'(2)",(2) dx. = Jf'(I)f(l) dx. (4-35)
I~
or
JJJ K'(2;X; ,It)K(2 ;X.,I,)r(x;)f (x.) dx, dx; dx.
- Jr(x.)f(x.) dx. (4-36)
For this to be true for arbitrary J we must have
,. JK' (2;X;,I.)K(2;X.,It) dx. ~ I(x; - x.) (4-37)
T hat is, in order to interpret '" as a probability amplitude, the kernel
must satisfy Eq. (4-37) . We have derived th is by means of the
SchrOdingcr equation. It would be nicer to demonstrate this and
other pro perties, such as Eq. (4-38) and Prob. 4-7, directly in terms
of the path integral definition of K instead of coming through the dif-
ferential equation. It is possible, of course, but it is not so simple or
neat as a derivation of such a fundamental relation should be. One
'I
can verify E q. (4-37) as follows: For a sma ll interval wit h = " - e,
Eq . (4-37) folIows directly from the expression e i dJlI for this interval,
By iuduction, the complete Eq. (4-37) results. One disadvantage ot
the approach to quantu m mechanics through t he path int egra ls is the
fnet t hat relations involving "'. or J(. arc 1I0t sell-evident.
By m ult iplying Eq. (4.37) by K(1,3) and integrating 011 XI, we can
show
JK'(2,I)K(2.3) dx. = K(I ,3) (4-38)

where t. > It > It. Compare this to JK(I ,2)K(2,3) dx. = K(I ,3) for
'. > II > tao 'Ve may d escribe the S('COIU] relation this W8)' : Stur ttng
t at ,~, K (2 ,3) gives us the nmpfitudc at ti le lntcr ti me l~. If we wish
to go to n st ill Int er ti me I" we C8 1l do SO h)' u~i lll!: t he kernel 1\(1 ,2).
0 11 t he other ha nd if hav ing t he a mplit ud e at I, We' wun t to work llock
to find it at all cn rfier t ime I I < I., we can do tl li~ II)' using til l' Iunc-
Quan.um 1IIf'C'/lRrlir" OIul IM"1 i'ltellrrl 11t

81
t iou 1\·(2,1) acconlillp; to FA}. (4-38). 'rhat is, we ca n sny K· (2,1)
undoes t he work of K(1,2).

Problem ./ _. Show that if I, < I" th e lett-baud side of Eq. (4-38)

equals /\'(3,1 ).

4-2 TilE TDIE _ I:'iDEI' E:'iDE:"T IU ~IILTONIAN

S t eDd)' S tn h"S of Definite Energy. T hc specia l case that the

ha miltoninn If is indep endent of t ime is of great p ract ica l importance.
This eorrcspoud s t o t he case tha t th e actio n S docs not de pe nd on the
t ime explicitly; i.e., the potentials A a nd V, for example, do not con-
tain t. I n t his rose t he kernel eunuot depend upon the absolute time
but instead is a function only of the iutcrval z, - II. As a consequence
of t his fact, t here exist wave fu nct ions that depend periodically on
the timc.
It is easiest to sec what happens by studying the d ifferential equation.
Starting from t he Sehrodiugcr equa tion (4-14), we try a specia l solu-
t ion of the form '" = ! (t)9(r ) , 11 Iu uct iou of a t ime o nly multiplied by a
function of position ouly. Substi tutio n gives us the r elation

- ih F(/)4>(r) = HJ(/)4> (r) = J(t)JI 4>(r) (4-39)

or

(4-10)

T ile I.eft-hand si~c of this equa tio n docs not depend upon x, whereas
th~ rlgh~hand Side is independ ent of t. If they nrc alw ays equal,
neither Side can d epend UpOIi eit her vnriuhle I or x, 'fha t is, each side
must be a constant , Let us cull this constant J.,:. T hen ! = _ (i/ Mt1,
O.f f . C-· ~'I. with un a rbitrary constant factor. Thus t he special solu~
tton 18 of the form
1/-(%,t) "'" e- C./ A)I:'41(x) (4..11)
where 9 satisfies

(4-12)

TI~n~ is, for this sp ecial solution the fun ction oscillates with
WBV C
a defi•nite frequency
, •
\ Vc "".. " 1 •• , f .
U \\ " IU" ... ie requeuey with winch n wa\
-e
function oscillates corrcsp . L · I · . .
OI IUlS, III C usaicul physics, to the cllCllP '
 The Sch,Qdinse,. description of quantum mecllOniCIJ
85

Therefore, we say that whe n the wave fun ction is of this special form
the state has a definite energy H. For cnch value of E a different
particular funct ion t/J In soluti on of Eq . (4-42» must be sought.
T he probability that a particle is at :r is the absolute square of the
wave fu nction 1ft or 11f11• In view of Eq. (4-41) this is equal to ItiJI2
end docs not depend upon the time. That is, the probability of find-
ing the particle in ally locat ion is independent of the time. We say
under these clreu mstancos that the system is in a stationary statt-
,
<
stationary in the sense that there is no variation in the probabilities
as a functio n of ti me.
-, Th is sit uation is somewhat related to the uncertainty principle; for
I,
in u situa t ion in which we kn ow that the energy is exactly E we must
be compl etely uncertain of the time. This is consonant with th e idea
that the properties of an atom in a specific state are absolute ly inde-
pendent of the time, so that at any time we would obtain the same
result.
Suppose that E 1 is a possibl e energy for which Eq. (4-42) has B solu-
tion ~1 end that E" is another value for energy for which this equat ion
has some other solution 4»2. Then we know two special solutions of
the SchrOdinger equation, namely,
"'1 = e- li/AlE,I4>l ( X) and "'2 = e- W A) E,I4>2( X) (4-43)
Since the Sehredinger equation is linear, it is clear that if tI is a solu-
tion, SO is CJ/!. Furthermore, if .pI is n. solution and tI" is a. solution,
then the sum of and "'1 "'2
is also a solution. Evidently, then, the
function
(441)

is also 0. solution of the Schrodlnger equation.

:t' As a ma t ter of fact it can be shown that if all of the possible values
of E and the corresp~nditlg functio ns ~ nrc wo~kcd. out, any soluti? n
of", of Eq. (4414) can be written as a linear eomhiuaticn of these special
solu tions of defi nite energy. .
The total probability to be anywhere is constant, us we showed In
Sec. 4-1. This must be true no matter what the values of Cl and C2,
so that, using Eq. (4-44) Cor tI, we have
I",-", dz = c~cIII4»112 dx + ctcse(ifA)CE1-SaltI 4>: 4Jt dx
+ clc:e- WA)(II',-li'IH[4>I4>: dx + c:c.I4>:4> l dx (4-45)
Since this must give a const ant result, th e ti me-van,uble tc~1Us {i.c.,
terms includ ing cU;/~)(HI- Ii'I)f) must vuu ish for ull possible choices of CI
86
and Ct. This menus

t: 4J:'" dr ~ t: 4J1~: ch = 0
WhrTC two fuuctionsJ, g satisfy fr odx "'" 0, we say they nrc orthogOflaJ 'I
Thus Eq. (-i-Hi) ~lYS that tw o statr-s of d ifferent cll~~rgy a rc ortllOgfJftal.·
Later we shal l lea rn 811 intcrpretntio n for expressio ns s~lcb ux II', tIt, '
and we sha ll fi nd that Eq. (4-Ui) records the fnet that If D. particle b
known to 1111\'c all energy f.'a (a nd hence 0. wave ~ullction Ifl = e;e,lJ.~J,
t hen t he a mpl itude that it is found to have u d ifferent energy E. [I.e., '
\\'6"C fun ction e'''',I'''I/>.) must be O. 1

Problem ·1-8 Show from the fact that 1/ is hermitian that E is J

real. [Choose I ~ 9 = 4> ill Eq. (4-30).) I
Problem ·1-9 Show from the fact that H is hermitian that Eq.
(4-46) holds. ICbOO5C I - 4>., 9 = 4>. io Eq . (4-30).) I
I

LinenI' Combinations of Steady-state Functions. Suppose

that our (unct ions corresponding to t he set of energy levels E. are
not Duly orthogonal but also normalized , i.e., tha t the integral of the
absolute square ever all z is 1. Thcn we shal l have

f __" 4>.(x)
. 4>.(x) dx ~ 6._ (~7)

where Ii....., thc Kronecker delta, is defined by Ii..... = 0 if n ¢: m and

Ii... = 1. ~]aIlY (un ct ions CUll be expressed as 0. lin ear combi nation I
I
of such ~:s. . In particular, any func t ion wh ich is lik ely to arise 8S I
a wave function can be so expressed. That is,

I(x) ~ r.-1" a.4>.(x) (~S)

The coefficicnts a. nrc ensily obtained- for by multiplication of Eq.

(4-18) by the qu antity 4':(x) a nd iutcgrnt icn over all x we obta in

(-1-491

T hat is,

a. - t: 4>:(x)!(x) dx
 TIle ScllrooiRger delJcription o} quantum mechoniclI
87

Thus we have the identity

"
f(x) = L
.-. ~.(x) /-' , ~:(y)f(y) dy
<
"

,
f:, [L
.·1
~.(x)~:(y)] f(y) dy
= (4-51)

•
!' An interesting ulternatlve way of expressing this result makes use of
'l the definition of the delta function. We write
"
!(x - y) = L
.-. ~.(x)~:(y) (4-52)

It is possible to express the kernel K in terms of these funeticns ~..

~ and the energy values E,.. \Vc do so by the following consideration.
Let us ask this: If f (x) is the known wave func tion at th e time It, what
is the ,,,tWC Iuuction at the time ,2 1 It can be written at any t ime t as
;
I. f(x,O = L
"
c.'-('J"E··~.(X)
•• 1
(4-53)

for it is a solution of the Sehrodingcr equation, and any solution can

be written in this form . But at the time we have 'I
"
,r f(x) = ",(x,t.) = Lc..-(""··'·~.(x)
" .. I
= La.~.(x)
'

,._1
(4-54)

~I since we can always express fez) in the form of Eq. (4-48). So we

conclude
(4-55)

Putting this into Eq. (4-53), we have

.p(x,tz) = l" cnc- Wft).f;.fl¢n(X) := L a..

'
e+(·/Al Btf,-r.) tjJ.. (z) (4-56)
n _l n- I

Now using ECI_ (4-50) for the coefficient a.., we obtain

, .
",(x,t,) = L
.-1
~.(x)e-"'''··''-'·)f_', ~=(y)f(y) dy
,
~ f_
", L ~. (~)~;(y)e-"''' E. l'·-'''/(Y) dy
.-.
(4-57)
 I
QUOllrilm m"d'Dn't'/f alUl ptllh in,,.,rob
I
88

Th is Iinnl expression determines the wave Iun ctlo u .at the tin lC 'I
I
eomptetely ill tt'rlUl'l of f (r) , th e wav e function ~t the time '.. l'rcvj. \
ously WI ' represcutrd Lhis rclntiou by th e equation

-I-(z,I,) = f-". K(z,I, ;Y,I,)/M dy (4..18) 'I

Compari ng this to Eq . (4-57), we finally obtain the desi red expression I
for th e kernel 1\(2,1), I
K(Xt,II;.:t'.,t.) = L" ¢,,(XI)4>:(ZJlc-(':f~)Il'..(lI-'I) for I, > I•
• -1
=0 Cor I, < I, (4-09) I
Problem 4./0 Verify t hat K as defined in E q . (4-59) satisfies the !
Sehrodiogcr equat ion (4-29). ,
,
Th is expression for K is very useful for translating expressions to I
more convent lonnl representations. It expresses the kernel, which I
was originally a path integral, entirely in term s of solutions of the
differential equation (-1-42).

Problem 4-11 Show that for free particles in three dimensions the
solutions
4>, = e(i /Al,.., (4-60) I
go with th e energy E. = p'J2m. Consider the vector p as an iadcs
n and note the orthogonality. T hat is, as long as p ;! p', I
/' 4>;4>,. d'r = 0 even if E, = E.. (4-51)
Therefore the free-particle kernel must be
K c(r"I, jfJ,tl ) = r e-hIAI' "lr, - r,l e - il" U, - tl)J ' '' ''' (4-62)
•
Since the p's arc distributed over a conti nuum the sum over the
"hrdicca" p i9 rea lly equivalent to an iutogenl ever t he values of p, \
na mely,
I

l( )-/'( (4-63) I
•
T hen-fore, we find t hat the free-particle kern el is given by I
K o(r" l, ;r"ll) = f I' e- WAI,..(,,.. ,,Jc."'(Ir-I.JJ:.' .s»:
(2.11)'
(4-61)

,J
,
 The Sc/lrudill8f!r dC14cripl.;on oj quantum mechanic.

89

Problem 4-.12 Ca rry out t he integral in Eq . (.1-64) hy completi ng

th e StI UOft' . Show t ha t tile Iortn of t he Irce-partiele kern el results
[i.e., th e thrce-dimcnsionnl version of E(I_ (3-3)).

4-3 NORMALIZI NG TIlE FREE ·I'ARTICLE WAVE FUNCTIONS

:rhe d('ri.vnti on of t he ke rnel for n Iroc particl e, 8.'1 given in Prob. 4-11,
IS unsnti sfuetory for tw o related reasons. First, th e idea of a. sum
over d ist inct s ta tes n used in U I_(.1-G2) is not satisfactory if t he sta tes
lie in n conti nuu m, as t hey do for n free porti clc where a ny p is allowed.
Second, th e plane-wave fun ctions for free pa rticles, a lt hough orthog-
ona l, cannot be normalized, that is, 1--.
4J*t/1 dx = 1--..
l ox = co , so
th e condit ion of Eq . (4-47 ) used in deriving Eq. (4-(;2) is not satisf ied.
Both of these poin ts can be remed ied to get her in n perfectly st ra ight-
forward mat hemati cal way. Starting all the way ba ck when we
expressed an arbitrary function n.s a sum of eigenfunctions,

j{x) = 1 a.<t>.{x) (4-65)

•
, we allow part, or all, of the st at es to lie in a cont inuum, so that t he
su m on n must be replaced partIy by a n int egral. 'Vith mathematica l
care one can find the cor rect expression for K a nalogous to E q. (4-62)
, but applying a lso when the states arc in a continuum.

Normalizing in a Box. Many physicists prefer another. less

rigorous a pproach . " ' ha t t hey do is modi fy t he original problem in
a way that (from physical reasonin g) will not csscut inlly mod ify th e
resu lt yet will leave nIl the states sepa rate in energy and a ll th e simple
S UIUS us simple SUIllS. In our exa mple t his may be a ccompl ished as
follows . \Ve a rc st udying the amplit ude that ill u finite time a par-
ticle goes fro m X t a t t ime 11 to I t at t ime I r. Now if th ese two points
arc som e fi nite distance apa rt and t he ti me is not ext remely long,
surely it can make 110 appreciable di flcreuee to t he am plit ude whet her
the elect ron is reall y Irec or is inatond confined to SO!llC ~llorl nou~ box
of volu me V with wulls very, very Iur from .rl Rml ,r,. 1 he a mplitude
could he a ffected only if t he pnrticlc could run out to t he walls and
hock in t he tin w I , - ' I; hut if t he wal ls a re for enough ewny, there
is 110 nppreciubl e amplit ud e for th is. . .
It is a lways J>0s."ilJlc~ th nt t his nssulllption Inils for some special-
ehnpcd waltH such t hat, for {·xnlllp le,.r, is ot a focus of wav es Ieo m .1"1
 reflected at th o wnlls. From time to tim e aomcoue Iota nn error creep
in hy rrpllll'illg n system in empty epnee wit h oue nt, the cCllter or C1
Il\r~('
spherical box. T ht' fnet that the system r (' JlUU IIH nt till'! eM ct I
·1
cent er of n perfect sphere may hnve fin (;rTccl, (lik~ t he ~po.t of Ii~ht at
the center of the SIUHlow of u perfectly eireulnr o bject) winch d oes IIQt
vanish ns the sphere radiu s goes to infinity. For anot her slmpe, or a
I'
system off-center to the sphere, the surface effect would vanish . i.
Toke fi rst the case of one dimension. In empty space the space-
dependent wave functions nre c;r"" (any p, posit ive or negati ve). If,
instead, th e runge of .r is limited to - L/ 2 to +1,,/ 2, sey , wh at nrc the I

fU ll ct ions~ ? The answer depends 011 the bc uudnry cond itions odin.
jug ¢ ut x = -LI Z a nd r = + 1../ 2. The easies t conditions to under.
stand physically arc those for walls which offer very high rep ulsive
potentials to t he part icle, thus confining it (i.e., perfect rcficctol'5).
They correspond to .p(x) ~ 0 at x = -L/ 2 and x = +L/ 2. The
solutions of the wevc equat ion

(4-66)

in the range Ixl < L/2 arc, for E = p'/2m = h'k'/2m,

and

or a ny linear combination . N eit her e ;!z nor e-oJ:z Cal l satisfy the bound.
ary ~Ildit ions, but with k == nr / L (n an intege r) sa t isfactory solut ions
arc grven by half t he sum (which is cos kx) for n odd e nd >i!i l inn'S
th e difference (which is sin kx) foe n even, us dingrumed in Fig. 4-1.
T hus th e states nrc sines and cosines and the enecgy levels arc separated
{i.e., not in a con tinuum},
If th e solutions arc written as

.Ji eOBkx nnd .Ji Bin kz

th ey arc norma lized, since

J LI2 (
- L/2 'Vf2I. cos kx)' dx = 1 (4-67)

A su~ over states is D. Hum over n. If we conside r, roy, t he slue wevc

fun ch ons (t hus, cV~11 VOIU Cli of 11) for very la rge 1.. hut 1I0t large r
{walls foe from th e point of interest), the ~uceCtlSive functions differ
I,
 The Scl.rOdinser dea criptlon o} quantum mechanic.

, 91
•

l - - - - - - p!' 4
Fi g. 4-1 The for m of the
one-di me-oionn! wave Iunc-
t iona wh ich hnv e been Dor -
mnl iecd in n bo x. T he fi rll1
- - - --- - 17 =3 Iunr eee shown. T hc corrc-
"pomlinp; cncrJ;Y lev els Arc
£ . "'" 11.1"' / 2,,. /.', B, ... olE..
E, - 9E I , nnll E , - 16E •.
TI le nll9tllu tc mngn lt ude of
- - - - - - - - - -- 17=2 l hc cnef"IU",wh Khd l" pl'nfbJon
IIle size of nu r fictitious bo x,
is not import a nt for more
real istic p roblems. RAther,
it is the relnt jon bet ween the
-------- --- 17=' onergy Ievets of t he vnricue
st at es which h8!l6ignw r nDcc.

x =-L/2 x=o

by only a small amount. This differen ce

F2[ . (n + 1)%
'\}I., S in 2 7
. % ] F2 2n +1%. %
L - sm 2m L = 2 VI. cos 2... 2 L sm 2... 2L

"" ~ 2;: cos 2r (n+ nl (4-68)

is approximately proportional to t he small quant ity xi L. So a sum

on n cnn be replaced by an integral over k = 27rIl/L . Since the sue-
eesslve allowed values of k (for sine functions) are spaced by 2r/L,
th ere nrc ::.. Ak states ill range ak. All of th is applies also to states
with thc cosine wave function , 60 that we may replace sums by inte-
grals in our formulas with

(4-69)

and remember to add the result for the two kinds of wave functions,
namely, vilL cos kx and V2L Bin ks.
92
It iK oncn incon,"('ni('lIt to 11:'«! Bill ks: nud c.os k~ for the wav e fune.
tions as we would like to usc t.he linear comhll1ntlons
cot. "'" CO$ kx + i sin kx
Bud c- il.r "" cos k.r - i sin kr, We were forced by our box ~ Use sinl'8
and cosines nud not the lincnr corubiuntio u, lxcnuse (or a grveu tz(JII(\
but 1I0t hoth of the Iuueti one is n soluti on. n ut if we enu d i!'l J'( 'Knrd
smnll errors arising from these small dillere uccs in k, we ruighl lttill
expect to be able to get the correct results from th ese new lillear
combinat ions. Normalized, they arc

s- nnd

Since t he W8"C e-"· can be th ought of as eLl. but for negative values 1
I
I

of k, our new procedure, includin g the addition of the t wo kinds of I

wave functions, becomes the following practical rule :
To deal with Iree-purticlc wave functions Cob, normalize them to a
ra nge of x of length L (l,c., use e "'" vm
c·b ) , end replace su ms over
6WtC'S by integrals 0 11 k with the ru le that the nu mber of states with
k in th e range k to k +
dk is L dkj2". nnd the range of k is - '" to +"'.
Periodic Boundary Conditions. Sometimes this excursion into
cosines and slues and back to exponen tials is avoided by thc following
argument . T he wall is artificial unywey , 50 its particular posit ion and
t he particular boundary condition should not make any physical dif-
Ierence as long as it is far away. So instead of the physically simple
conditio ns 9 = 0 o.t z = L/2 und at x = - J~/2, Ict us use t wo others
for which the solutions are indeed c·b directly. These are

4>(x) (at x =~) =4>(x) (nt x - 2

L)
(4-70)
and
4>'(x) (at t)x = = 4>'(x) (nt x = 2L ) (4-71)

These arc called peri odic bou,ulary comlitiona, because the same onCS
,·..o~ld result by th~ rl'Cluir~IU('ll t ,t ho.t ", is period ic ill r in all space ,,"jlh
pcrlO~ s: = T~. I,t IS readily verified that the (unct ions V l / T. ",.. nrc
sol~t~ons. Ilo rl ll,nh zed to runge J~. provided k = 2..,,,,/ 1. wit h 1I 1l1l illh·gt'f.
posi tive, 1l(.' ~tlVe" or zero. F rom this OUr rule follows directly ,
I II thr~(! dimensions we CD.II I'l'C wlcu hnppc.·lls hy using a rcct nngultlf
Lox of tildes L., L lI1 L. ill the three directions. Let us use periodic
 77le ScllrVdinger (Ieacriprion oj quantum mechaniclJ

93
boundary condi tions. That is, the nmgui t ude an d first derivative of
a WU\~C' (un cti on. a t u ~i llt. on our. fuce nrn respectively equal to the
1~1Rgll ltUlh' ~Ild hNt dcrl\'nt~\"c a t t he correspondi ng point Oil t he c ppo-
S i te fnce. f he wav e Iuu et iou for a Ircc part icle normal ized is

",L.r c''' ·· vt;rr c",,".ao (f ct"'•• = _l~

-st; VV Cik.r
(4-72)

where I" = 1".1""1,,. is t he volume of t he box and th e allowed values of

k, a rc 2Jrn../ I".. for 1J.. a n illtC'l;cr, t hose of k.. arc 2r n,J L, for nil on integer,
and t hose of I.'. are 27rn ./I•• for fl . a n integer. Fu rt hermore t he num ber
of soluti ons with k. in range dk., kit in dk" and k , in dk, i~
dk' L dk-, L dk' L = _d'k V
2". .. 2r II 27r' (2-.r)1 (4-73)

TImt is, USC plane waves normal ized to volume V : $ exp (ik • r) .
The number of states in ra nge d' k (differential volume of k space) is
V d'k/ (2,,) ' _
Let us apply this to Prob. 4-11 and recall th e connection bet ween
momentum a nd wave nu mber 7' = Ak brought out in Sec. 3-1. In E q.
(4-64) we must make two changes. F irst , since the wave func tions
used were exp (ip · rllt), whereas we should ha ve used

$-V exp (iP

- -r)
fl
-

there should be a n additional factor l/V i for th e product of two wave

fu nctions was involved . Second, t he sym bol L( )
must be rep laced
p
by V J( ) d'p/ (2Th)' . T his just ifies "hat was done in Sec. -l-2 a nd
the results giv en in Prob. 4-11.
It is not ed thot the l' factors ennccl out , as indeed t hey must : Cor
as V _ co t he kernel K m ust be ind ependent of th e size of the box.

Somc Remueks on i\luLhcmolicol Ri~or. The render may have

one or tw o rcnet ious on seeing how t ho volumes I" CUlled a t t he end
of this ca lcula tion. One might be: How nicely it ca ncels out as it
should Cor the wa lls lmvc no l·llect. The other might be : Why do
I it in ti,i~ co mp licntcd nnd " dirty " 1I0 n riJ;:;o fOlIs .m Ru lIl·r, putting in
I walls which make 110 difTl'n 'uC'(', ete., wln-n nil t his can he done much
mo re clt:v;nu tly und rigoro usly llIa ll\l'llullim ll.y w ilhl~ut t he need of
i' t "l It depends whether you nrc physically minded or ma t he-
\\.a11s,ce
f
Quan"'," ",eellonle" and path intolCNJ '"

mntiC'nlly minded. 'There nrc many m iflnlld(,f1It.n.ndin~ l":lwr('11

mntlu.muti rinll!:, und physicists cu H lC place or mathematicnl rIgor in
phy sics, so perhaps n word as t.o the value or each me t hod (the IIO X
or umt hcm ut jcnl rigor) mny be an order, I
The-re is, of C'OU I"::'C', th e more tri via! point: \Vhicl., ~ most raruiliar_
which takes the least new knowledge' Most phYSICISts ha ve Been this
argument a bout how to count the stat.cs in n .hox before. . 1
Auotbcr point is thnt the math ematically rigorous soluti on may not I
be physically rigorous. T hnt is, Ute box may in fact CXi8~, It may
not lie n rectangular box, hut it is not often that experime nts nrc
done under the stars . Rather they nrc do ne in n room. Although
it is phy sically reasonable that the walls have no eITect, it is true
that the original problem is set up as nn idealization. It is no more \
sat isfuctcry idealization to move the walls to infinity than to replace
the m by perfect mirrors far away. The mathematical rigor is wasted
in the first idealization, since the walls nrc not at infinity.
The wall approach is j ust DS rigorous, or rather just as non rigorous.
It has several advantages. For example, in finding that the volume
cancels out we do learn that at least one aspect of the idealised walls,
namely how far away they arc, is unimportant. This discovery makes
us more intuitively convinced that the actunl disposition of the real
environment may be unimportant. Finally, the formula derived is
very useful wheu in fact we do have a finite sample. For exampl e, in
Chap. 8 we shall usc it to count sound-wave modes in n large, reo-
tangular block of material.
On the other hand, th e advantage of the ma thema t ically cl('8.11 argu-
ment is the avoidance of much unneces sary detail t hat cancels out.
Although, using the wall approach, one may learn something about
how the walls have no effect, one may be firmly conv inced thnt this
is true anyway and not wish to descend lute details to sec it again.
The."ormalization .p,roblcm is u special example, but it illustrates
the point. The physicist ro nnot understand the nmthetuntieiau's care
in solving 1111 , ideali zed phys ical prcbh-m. The phys icist knows the
real pro!)I(,II~ '" much. Illor~ cfJlIIplicntcd. It hn~ ulrcady been simpli-
fied by IntUItIOn, which discards the unhuportant nnd often npproxi-
mates the remainder.
 5
Measurements
and Operators
 So Inr we hA\'Cdescribed qutlnltll1l.m('chn~li.cnl flyalcll l.a rut it we intended
to IUt' US-UN' only Uw roordi nntes of POSI"'OU nnd Limn. I ndt'('d , all
mensurvmeuts of tltUluhlln-llU'cllIl llit'ul l'iyl'ill'lIlHcould he ninde .u! n1Juoo
('\'l'I1IU I~ lIy to posit ion und ti me mea surem ents ~f'.J;.• th e poait inn of a
I I(,f' l lll ' on' u meter or the tim e of niV;hl of a part icle). Benausc of this
possibility n th eory formulated i ll l (,fl,"S of position lll('nsun:mClllil is
complete enough ill pri nciple to describe nil phenol.nell.n. N~vcrt be~
1('S..'l, it is convenient to try 10 answer di rcct~ly ~ r!lIt~~t101J mvolvlll~. Rll y ,
a meusuremont of momentum without 1I1S1StJlI~ that the ultllunlc
recording of the equipment must be 1\ position mensurement a,~d with-
oul having 10 Analyze in detail t hat part of the uppn rntus which COn-
verts mcruenturu 10 n recorded posit ion . T hus, ill this chapter, instead
of eonccutroting on t he amplit ude that a particle has n defi nite posi-
tio n, we sha ll develop the idea of un a mplitude to find a d efinite
momentum, energy, or other physical quantity.
In the first section of the chapter we shall show how a system may
be described in t er ms of momentum and energy. The concepts learned
here will be extended in t hc second sect ion to describe in general various
ways of represent ing the qunut um-uicehanienl system. The trausfor-
mntiou functions which enuble us to go fro m one met hod of rcprcsen-
totion to unotlrer ha ve tunny interesting properties. Among them is
the concept of an operator, which was introduced in the preceding
d iopter and wiIl be discussed further in the third section of this chapter.

501 TilE )lmIENTU)1 REPRESENTATION

The Momentum Amplitude. So for we have moo the concept

of probability ill terms of the position of a part icle, but suppose we
wish to measure t he moment um . Is t here an amplitude q,(p ) whose
absolut e square will give us the probability P (p ) thnt n mcusuremcnt
of momentum will SI IOW thnl Ih e particle h[U5 the momentum p?
TIJ(~rc is in fact such all U illplitudf~, and we can easily lind it.
Some ways of measu ri ng tuouwn t um (or other physical qunutitics]
~orrcspond to rncnsu r el llCll t s of position, uud thus th cy CRII be analyzed
If we. kll~w how to an alyze coordinate IlWusurc.'mcnls. For exa mple-
working ~n OIIC ~jlJ len~io ~l , suppose we have 11 particle whose position
nt,' = 0 ia Ioealizcd with in ±b of the origin of the z uxis. The unccr-
tat nty b ean be as large as c.lt·sirf'd so IOIlJ.; as it is finite. "·c cnn
Il,lc·usu.rc the momentum of such D. purf ielc by u timc-of.fii~ht techn ique
1 IJat IS,we can ol~cf\'e how far the particle has traveled (assuming
no Iorees) hy the time' = 7'. Jf th e position is x thcu t he \'d od t)'
% •

,I
 Alea/lllrelllentll ond operator.

i 97

is :cIT and the momentum is p = nu:/T. The error in such a momen-

< tum measurement , + mb/ T , enn be made as email as desired hy making
I
T sufficient ly la rge.
Suppose we unnlyzc the momentum proba bility p ep) as defined hy
such a n experiment. The probubility p ep) dp that the momentum
lies bet ween p al it! p + dp is ti le probability IJ(.r) tlx t hnt , if all t he
pot entials nflccting the particle are suddenly t urned oIT, t hen nit er
the time T the pa rticle will he found be twee n the points z aud z + dr .
or COUI'SC, th is requi res that we connect 'P with x by p "'" mx f T ,
Assume the WQ'"C functi on of the pa rticle ali given by fe y) at t - 0,
lind our problem is to find p ep) di rect ly in terms or f ey).
The a mplitude for the particle to arrive at x at the time t = T is

,,(x ,n ~ J:. K ,(x,T;y,O)j(y) dy (5-1)

Up on substituti on for the free-particle kernel K n, this expression

becomes

2hT J'
1m exp imx' _. (exp A
- imx y
,,(z, n ~ V2ri1i'l' T- )

(cxp ;my
2AT') j(y) dy (5-2)

The a bsolute squa re of this amplitude gives the probability that

the particle lies bet ween x and x + dx . According to our defi nition,
this is ide ntical (in the limit as T -+ co ) with th e probability that the
momentum of the particle lies between p and p dp. +
P(x) dx - 2:;;; I1-".1 cxp [ ;:;, (y' - 2xy) ]\ j (y) dy I'
_ P(p) dp es T -> ~ (5-3)

Theil su bstituting p "'" -maf T, and supposing that we pass to th e limit

-
I of large T , there results
I
I P(p) dp _ ;:"1 J:. [ex p e;~ i~~)] j (y) dy I' (5-1)
!
I , ••
v c assumed ca cnrl
r tor tl16t . ,'" itian),, the 1'- oert tcle wouldI be' "restricted
I
, ithi
to a region W I 1111 - 0 I + b [ t l C ori mn
~. .
'rhis menus •
that t
I
ic iuitie wave
it d
' j( ) d to 0 [0 val ues or y lnrgcr III nbso ute nmgm 1I o
run cti on ,y ro p~7' I r Inrrr" 1I 1t~ (IU" llhty . . '." ..,/ T I . '
U'W-/ _
t ita n b. )\ ow us rccomcs ~- . , . j
• I r I'
K COIIU.'S
, 'I I II
negI Ig i ) Y 8 11111 . Q C
.... iucc t bero is uo colll n but ioll to the integrn 0 ..q.
98
____________-9-
I
,.T I
,. I
I
• I

I
E
,:

, \
, yo-
•
I
•• I
v I

Fjg. 5--1 Thc emplitudc (or par ticles traveling frcd y to arrive at the poeition % in the time \
inlen'a) T is determ ined Il)' th e produ ct. of two Iunr-tiona, The first is the nmplit ude f b )
•
(or t he p4rtirl e to st art at ro me posit ion y, as sh own by the ebadt'l1 cu rv e in th e liguno.
TIle second, t he Amplitude to get (rom 11 to r , is the Ieee-pa rt icle kernel K (x.T ;y,O), as
shown by the lIinc wa ve of alowl}' cbnnging wa velength in ti le figure. (He re we t reet the
fins) position z W! t he origin of t hiM (u nct ion, s ince 11 is our v a rieble. I If the point z is far
frow t he oriJ;in, compa red to t he distance - b to + b over whje h f ey) is nonzero, t he WAft
has no npl,roxinILLt d )' consten t ""O\·(·II'np;th . Its a pproxim Ate lorm is exp I( - l Ilt) (m.r/ T)~I·
The t wo (uncl itlns are rnu lfiplied t ogcl lu'f and t hen integr a t ed over y t o get th e final
am plitude for arrival. Since ull peructcs heve t ra veled lIpprox imately tbe same d istance s
(again ll&-w n inp; x » b) in tile sa me t illle T, t his finnl amplitude is equivalent to tbe
amplit ude t hat th e particles have t he momentum p ... mx/ T.

(5-4) for values of y greater in absolute magnit ude t ha n bl the proba-

bility p ep) dp approaches dp/ 2-rll ti mes the absolu te square of the
amplitude!
\

(5-5)

An alternat ive explanation of th..

• result .,e gwen Ul. F"ig. a-
r. 1 and
extended in Fig. 5-2.
T he expression for t he momentum amplitude give n by Eq. (5-5) I
I
applies to a one-dimensional situation. It is easy t o extend the defi-
I ~llI.ny writen pn:·fcr to f\~'ColJ nt for the fReto r 1/ 2.", in t h!' definit ion of ~(P) ,
wlJr rc It UPI)('I\~ ~ ,l / Y:S;". lIt1wc\,cr, ftlll ll\'liIlK the dc,' clolJlllcnl tlf Not'. ":3-
I
\IIC lnl·ft'r t u wntv II In tile form WI." I'M'e W'("tl u ml r" IlI('lIllwr IIIf\t t he d itT,'r " llt lll1
f:'lcllI('n t of momentum lllwlt.yH iud UlII''i t ll(· hlclur 1/ 2.fl in s-uch d illU'll,;ion . }o'~ r
exe n.plc, t he d ifier('ntial ele ment of IIlOfU ('nt u rn in th rtt-eJilll l"nlloiulllll mO IllCllt u IIl
KPUf ~ ~ d~/ (2. ~} ~
 lUeo8,cremen'll ond OpeTU Con

99

,., ------------- ---~

I
I
I
I

,
I PositiOn. ¥
'b

Fig. 5-2 rr the am plitude f bi) ill

rcuRhly JX'riodic wit h t he se me wave-
length as the ove rly ing kernel, lUI
lp) ebc wn in (a ), then t he integral of t he
\ product of the tw o fun ctions is very
-
,
~: f =T ---------------9 I
large. Th.at is, th e p robability t hat
the mo me n tum is p - rnz/ T is la rge.

,•
..
I
,
I
On tile ot he r ha nd , suppose the
wevclcngt he dilTcr (or some Dew fun c-
I t ion 1'(1/) as shown in (b). ThCD,
, I when t he p rod uct is taken, t he con -
I trib ut ions t o t he integral fr om dif-
, I
I
I
fcltlot v al ues of 71 will eeacel eech
ot her, :-';0.' t he probab ility t h nt the
• I
-".,...~ momentum is rIlzlT is sma ll.
"
,, Position. ¥ r-
I If a Dew posit ion r is chosen DoS a
final point, as "hOWD in (c), then a new
+b
region of th e keene! curve overlies the
spac e - b to + b. For a corr ect
choice of Z ' t the wavelength of the
kern el in t his new region is t he sa me as
lbl t he wavelength or F (y ) and II. la rge
pecbnb i hty res ults . Thllt hi, t here ts
R large probnbilit:r t hat such pnrt ictea

,. -----------1
~
have the new m omentum value
p ... nu'/T.
or
~

,
P
"b ' \
/ '

leI
 I
100
nif.ion to tho thrce-dimcuslennl ClUl C where Lho o.mplitur}o for the \
momentu m is

~(p) - f' (<XP [ - i (p. r}]j f(r) d'r (iHlj \

where the wuvv fun ction / (r) is 1I0 W nssumcd to be defined for nil
points i l l the three-dimensic nul conrdin ntc space. ~rhil~ ili the nu:pli.
tud e t hnl th e pa rticle has th e momentu m p ut th e tun c I = O. [Xote
tha t it is ' lVl defined for till' lime t = T . T he lillie interva l T it; part \
of the measuri ng equipme nt , and it cnn be vn ried withou t challging
th e 1Il0111Clllum umplitudc.] T he squ are of this amplitude, nlultiplicd I
b)' t he diffcrcnti nl ruomcntum clement, gives the probabi lity of finding I
the momentum in the interval {three-dimens ic nuf} tl ' pj (2rA)1 of
momentum space. I
We hav e nuulyzed a momentum measurement whic h is based on a
t ime-of-flight. technique. However, such nil a nalysis CQn be applied
,I
to other techn iques. The annlysis of any technique for measuring I
moment um will give th e s tU IIC result for the momcntu m amplitud e. I
For suppose we have two methods or tech niques which purport to
measure the sumo quantity, momentum. If one gives a di fferent result
thnn the oth er, we have to explain why one or t he other a ppara tus is
fa ulty . So if l ' OU will grant thnt the time-of-flight t echnique is an
adequa te way to defi ne a momentu m measurement, a ny other piece
of equip ment which measures moment um must give t ile seine results
P(p) dp for th e distributio n of momenta if the system is in the slate
I (y}· A llnly~is of a ny equipme nt which measures mo men t um must
give tbe S!l.IIlC expression 41(p} for the nmplitudc for mo mentum p,
wit hin po ssibl y a u irreleva nt constant phase dirrert' ncc (i.e., n fnetor
eOi with 6 constant). for example, con sider the follow ing problem.

p'roblem 5-1 Consider Dny piece of experimental equipment

designed to measure momentum hy menus of u elus..sical a pp roximat ion,
such fl." a lll~gI Wt~c field a nuly.zer. Analyze t he equipment by the
methods outli ned II) th e prec ed ing pnrng ruphs. Show that the santC
result for the momentum nmplitude is obtai ned,

Transformation to Momcntum Rcprcscntation. We have

c~llcd .y(R;t> th e amplitude for a particle to be at the point R nt the
tune t. \\ e have fou nd that t he momentum a mpli tude is give n by

~(p,t) - r (ex ip[- (p • R) ] j';'(R,I} d'R . (5-7)

.
i
J
 JUemUlremenrlJ and op~mrorfJ
, 101

We shnll call this the amplitude that the particle hns momentum p at
the time I .
l It is often useful to analyze pro blems in this momentum rop rescota-
t lon rather t han in the coord inate representation, or, us it is often
, atntod , in momentu m space rather than in coordinate space. Acta-
, ally, t he tra nsformation Irom one representa tion to t he other is just
\ a Fourier tmnsform. T hus if we have th e momentu m representation
'J and wish to find the coord inat e representation, we use the inverse
transfor m given by
;
," (5-8)

'Ve can describe this last formula in the same physical terms we
have used to describe th e structure of other ampl itudes. The empli-
tude that t he particle is at th e position R is given by the sum over
alternatives. In this case the alternatives correspond to the produ cts
of two terms. One of these is the amplitude that the momentum of
the particle is P, given by ~ (p) . The other term, cxp (ip ' Rift) , is
the amplitude that if the momentum is p, t1len the particle is at the posi-
tion R. This second fac tor is not new to us, for we have discussed
such all expression in Prob. 3-4.
Note that in the transform of Eq. (5-7) the exponent has a minus
sign. Su ch a term cnn be described in a manncr parallel to that used
in the preceding paragraph. Thus we can say that (':'1."1> ( - ip · RIft)
is the am.plitude that if a partid e is at posil-ion R, it has the momentum p.

The Kernel in i\fomentum Representation. \Ve have shown

(Sec. 34) how a wave fu nct ion at a particular time I:. ca n be derived
from th e wave fun ction at un ea rlier li me t l wit h the help of th e kernel
describing the motion of the particle in the intervening time. Thus

~(R"t,) = 1.:'/ R, K(R.,t,;R"tM(R,,Io) d'R, dt (5-9)

possible to define a kernel in mcmc utum space \\"hi~h would be

,
It is
; used in n parallel expression. Thus the mOIlU'lI tU Ol amph tude at the
ti me t, can be derived from the momentu m ampl itude at an earlier
time t l by

I' 4>(pt,lt) = r"/"

hi )(
X(Pt,tt ;PI,ll ~ PI,t)
I
d'p,
(211' fi p dt I (5.10)

S IIS tit
._u ti , E' 'In ' ("• -u
1 II mg III
n) for ·'·(R
\1" 1, I, } t he.' expression of Eq,• (t....
•
~)
and Laki ng t he Fourier truneform of ~(R 1,11) to gt -l !Jl(p 1,11l}. us III Eq.
(}lllmtulII IIIrr/lOrti.." tlUf' pnt'. intt'J(rll'"
I
102
\
t OI ;S
' :ifl:' 5-3 Thr kerne-l fllr Il. Irce \
1'1Irt iri c ill reo mentusn flP"r:ll ill

--------- unlike the kernel in roordinnte

tlpnee. In mom cnunn Hpru-e,
•
\
t here is only un,. fllilb which t llfl
cnrry the pltrt if'lc to t he momea,
tu m vnluc 111 I\l t he time ,~ \
TIII\L rlilll(lc INllh rn\l~t 8tl\rtllt
the momeutU In p. ... PI- No
't t P" f , ot hrr pet be con trihute to the
kernel .
I
__..L ~-;:- --.P al i! I
\
" -,) we sec that u ic ker nel in mo ment um representation is given in
(... .I
• . I .
terms of the kernel ill coordla a tc rcprcscntatrou hy t IC expression

~(p,.I, ;p ,.h) = JR.JR,r (i/A)' ,·. tK (R t,I,jR l,IJeHi/AJPI·.,

d'R, d'R, (5-11)
For exnmple, the kernel describing the motion of a Irec particle in
mome ut uru space is

X Q(Pt,h;Pl,t l) = JRo JRo r WAl..·. tKc(R: ,' t ;R l,lr)el.I,' .. ·• • dlR l lPR,

= (2rl1)'~'(p, - p,) exp ( - %:~ (I, - II)] for I, > It
= 0 lor I, < I, (5-12)
[The last line Iollows th e convention of Eq. (4-28) .) The occurrence \,
of thc della fu nction in t his express ion shows t hat the mo me ntum of
n free particle do cs not change, us d iagramed in F ig. 5-3. H owever, I
the phas e of the momentum wave fu nction chn ugcs continuously in I
accordance with the fa ctor e- iliIfA, wbcrc f: = p=/ 2rn. This J'Ctjult
given hy E(I. (;"')-12) can also he eceu directly from E q . (-I-e.-i).
T his latter kernel offers a mu ch sim pler rep reseutntieu of t he free
particle than docs the kernel ill coo rdina te space. Genera lly, when
th e particle is not free, IJUt ruther moves un der t he influence or a
I
potential , the kern el in mom entum rcp rcscutatiou loses its simplicity. I
But if the CITL'Ct of the pctcuti nl ca n be represented ill u. perturbation
expansion, this si mplicity is regai ned (Chap. G) .

The Energy-Ttrnc Trnnsrormnlion . Fo r many applications,

I
pnrtieulu rly ill relntivistic qu antu m mcclmn lea, it i:J IJl'tit to trent t hc
 'UtJOaurc"tcnla and opcrolora
103

, varinbles of space a nd ti me in 0. symmetric ma nner. Then in tra ns-

forming from coordin ate roprcscutntio n to momentum roprcscuta t jon
we includ e e tmnsfor mutiou from t ime to energy. T hus the complete
transformation for n ker nel is r

\
(5-13)
The energy E is not equnl to p' /2m , hut is instead an extra independent
variable (the coefficient of time) needed to defi ne the kernel. Only if
the syste m exists in th e same energy state for an infi nite time ca n an
exact measurement of E be made to establish the relation between
energy and momentum.
M an example, we shall work out the kernel for a free particle. For
this case th e integra ls over R 1 and R, have already been work ed out.
with the resu lts given in Eq. (5-12). T hus we arc left with the inte-
+
gmls over II a nd I,. Make the substitution I, = 11 7 . Then th e
double integral can be written as

(5-14)

The first of these two integrals is a representation of the Dimc 6

function. In particular it is 2rlL6(E , - E I ) . The second integral is
cf tbc lonn

(5-15)

This latter integ ral arises oflen in quantum-mechanical problems. If

w is a rca! nu mber, the integ ral docs not converge. In ord er to carry
out the present calculation, we shall replace w with a eornplcx nu mber
"" + if. \Vhcn both wand e arc rcul numbers, the integral has th e
value i /(w + i.) .
Now it would be possible to take the Iimit of this fraction as e
approaches 0 and Interpret the result simply as if"". However, such
nn interprotat ion would leud to incorrect (or rntl~l'r, ~Ilcomplct c) rt'Sul.ls
in furt her work. The (unction we arc nvnluntmg l l'l a kernel, a nd III
futu re work it will olton be Integrated [multiplied by some oth er
Iuue ticu] over vulucs of w or its cqu ivulcut. If e wert' dropped from
th e eXp (1'S~iOIl I t hou such integrals would have a pole a t w =: 0, and
we wou ld be ut a IOSH what to do.
It would not be correct to tak e JURt the principul pnrt of till' iuteg rnl
nt e uch U pole. Thiu would give th e wrong n.'l:'ult. III parfieulnr, such
QunrrlUnl "."c:llnniclt Drill palh inlfl&NlItI

uu
' I ' thnt till' inverse lrnll~rorm of tile kernel would
l\ rcsu II wounII IlUIl ) t I' k I will J •
not J.::in ' bnek the originnl coord inat e rt'Jlrt':o\f'1I -R ,1011 er ne I WlIf;h
we sta rted . Such l\ tmusforur would d iffer. from th e> cor~'ect kCrt\(~1
.m t Il:lt I' t wou III' 110 t I 1(,' Z"".... I"O for values or tnm-
. h~ss than
' zero. O'le
way to o bt uin t he correct result from such iutegruls IS ~o ,Plnce the
pole 011 infinitosima ! dis ta nce nh?ve the real axts, This 18 nCCOtn_
pIL...IH'd hy leuving e in the exp~8s lOn.
If we raticual izc the expression ns

i _ i(w - i<) = iw + • (5-16) ,

w + it - w' + t' w' + t' w' + t' I
we ran interpret the fi rst term on the right-hand ~idc as i~w and. in I
furt her integrat ions usc th e pri ncipal part of au integral involVing
t his term. The second term beco mes 11"8(",,) as E approaches 0, and it
is to be interp reted as such in further integrations. That is, if a more
+
precise ma thema tical definition is wa nted, i/ (w iE) should be replaced
, I
by P.I'.(i/w) + ~.(w) . This means that

t . d I'lm +
o e"" T= _ow .
• te
J

= P .P. (~) + 7O(w) (5-17)

In ell expressions containing e, a limit at E _ 0 is implied.

Returning to the evaluation of the kernel, we replace w with
E. - p'/2m to find

k.(p.,E.;P"E.) = (2..A)'.'(p, - p,).(E. - E,)i (E' - :~ + -r (5-18) .

The existence of th e dclta functions in this expression means thnt
neither the energy H nor tile momentum p changes during th e motion
of a free particle. These 1\\"0 qunntitios affect the mottcn of the par.
ticlc as shown by the last term of this equation. T hat is, th e ampli-
tude for the motion from one point to another of a free particle with
enc~gy. /oJ ? ud ~olllel~I-u I~ p ia proportional to i(B _ p2/2m itY I. +
. Ea rlier I~l tlll~ 8<.'CtIOIl rt was nWllliollt'U that the e nergy E is not
In genera l klcnt ieul to p'/2m , hut is instead u scpurute vurtnble. To
u ndersta nd ti le d is t inctjOll, let us look tit tile kernel for u Irce pnrtidf',
whic~l .i8 a wu,:c-Jike fu uet icn ill l hue and spnca UI I(.I whoreiu f: is tl~C'
<:ol'ffl(~Il'I ~t of .t ll l ~e u '~d thus has th e propPltiL's of 8 frequen cy. ThiS
k(~rt.U'J, ~1\'l'11.1U ''.(1: (.1-12), hus th e for m she wn ill F ig. 5-4 when ploucJ
aguillst th e li llie difference 7' = f , _ ' r-
 lUC03urf.'menb alld 0pf.'rolfJr!l
l05

K
Fill'-'. s.1 The rcnl pnrt of the free-
p nrt.i ele ke rnel K o plott ed V!'Io t ime.
The funct ion il'l zen> fur negutiv e
T t imes , then IItnMB wit h 8 ehnr p
jump nt t "" 0 nnd cont lnc ce /1..'1 n
eosine wnve of consta nt cm ptuude
end frequency .

,
,

x is zero for T less thnn zero, and it suddenly begins to oscillate

, at T = O. The transfor mation from ti me to energy representation is
equivalent to Q Fourier transformation. Since th e wave has a sharp
beginning (at T = 0), the Fourier transform contai ns componcnts at
all frequencies and thus at all energies. If the function extends over
a long time interval (many periods), then one frequ ency begins to
dominate in the Fourier tronsform . For the free particle this domi-
nating frequency corresponds to the energy E o = p'/2m.
It is for this reason that the free-particle kernel contains the factor

i
Ell _ Pal/2m + iE =
( i ) + (E.' - 2mp')
P.P. E l' _ p'l/2m 11"& (5-19)

Here the first term on the right accounts for the transient effects that
result from the sudden start at t = O. The second term gin'S th e
steady-state behavior end shows that, if 'We wait long enough, the only
energy found is the usual p'/2m j but near I = 0 the energy is not given
by this classical formula.

Problem 5.2 If we tronsform only the time and not the spatial
variables, defining
k(Xt, EtiX.,E.) = f f eU/A)£,I.K(Xt,lt ;:t.,I.)e- <ifAl&,t, dt t dl. (5-20)

show that for a system with a time-independcnt hamiltonian 11

. ~ ~.(x.)~~(XI) (5-21)
k(Xt, Et;x"E.) =:0 27rll.tlJ(E2 - E l ) i.e ].;1 _ B.. + ie
m

where ~'" and E", nrc the eigenfu nctions and eigenvalues of If.
106

5-2 ME,ISUIl EMENT OF QUANTUM - MECIIAN ICAI. VAIlIAIl I.ES

The Chnrndcri~tic Function. In th e preceding section we ltaYQ
sh own how nil r -xperimeu t designed to measure rum nenturu lend s to a
dd illil ioll of a prclmbility distribut ion for tl~c mom entu m. That i!,
from till' resu lts of 11 correc t ly designed oxpcritncnt we can a nswer the
( ucst ion : WI1Rt is th e probability that the moment um of n particle is p?
From the existence of n pro bability fun ction for 1110 lllNI1U Il1 we were \
led to the discovery of 11 wave function or amplitude wr itten in tcrme
of momentu m variabl es. In Inct, we found that 0. system could be I
completely described e nd problems completely analyzed ill u momen, I
t uru-cucrgy re presentation as well as til e space-time re presentation
which we have used heretofore.
T hese same result s a pply to physical verinblcsotber thcu momentum.
II
If nny physical quantity cnn be measured experimen tally, a p robability .
function ean be associa ted with it. That is, if nil experiment is capable I
of meas uring some characteristi c A nsscclated with a system (c.g_, tile
% component of momentum), then after repenting the experiment sev-

eral ti mes it will be possible to cons truct the probability function P (o)
which gives t he probahility tha t in any particular experiment the
numer ical values of A will be found to be equal to a.
In general , it is possible to assoc ia te a probability amplitude with
such a probnbility fu uction. T his amplitude would be d efined in
terms of th e measured varia ble, together with ot her variables nCCl'S-
sary to complete the epecifl ea t lon. Let us 6CC whnt is Invol ved by
generalizing our exa mple of a moment um measure me nt , F irst we
sha ll take just one dimension, but the extension to seve ral d im ensions
will he obvious. \Yc ask : Does t he sys tem ha ve the property G? For
exa mple, r; w ight stand for the stntc mcnt : The value of the quan-
tity A is equal to a. \Ve must have SOUle wuy to unswer t his expcri-
~~ntnlly. So Itt Us imagi ne some equipment can be designed so that,
if It ha~ the propcrt~ G, Lhe pa rticle will pnss through the equipmcnt
and nrrt vc at a cer tuiu locati on on some SCfCCn or rueter,
T he probability of t his Illay be written
P(Gl = II K ... (r ,x)/ (x) <lxi' (;'-22)
if J(x) is the wav~ function of tile system to he measured, KUI,(f,x) is
the k~rn ('1 for ~~lIlg thro~gh t ile particular oxperimeutul Ilppnwh1:',
and r I~ ~Iw posuiou of nrrl\·?1 for particle,s with the properly G. ThlS
pro bability 11M the al tc ruutivn mathematical form
P(G) - 110' (x)/ (x) dxl' (;,..23)
.
I
I
 JUco~urcmenl. and operators
107
It~ where we have put
\, (5-24)
L" (Dotining t his ua the complex conjugate of a function is just for con-
I, venience, as we shall sec lntcr.} So we ca n say
~'l.
\ ~(G) = Iv'(x)/(x) dx (.,-25)

'. is the amplitude that th e system has the property G. This concept
is further described in Fig. 5-5.
The property is defi ned hy th e function g-(x} for the following
reaso n. Suppose some other experiment with different equip ment, and
hence [l, different kern el Ku p{q ,x ), should he built to measure the same
property. In this second experiment the particle arrives at 'J. Then
the probability of fi nding that the system has the property G is
l
t or II v" (x)/(x) dxl' (5-26)
I Since the property measured is the same, we must obtain the same
result in every cese for peG) as we did with the p revious experiment.
That is to say, we must have
II v" (x)/ (x) dxl' - IIv'(x)/(x) dxl' (5-27)

for any arbitrary func tion fez) . This means O·(z) """ O'·(z) within
at least an unimportant constant phase factor ell. That is, all methods

y
I
I
t
I
I
I
I
Fi,:. S-S A d evice design ed to
measure the property G is placed
I be tween the init i:,r po int or t he
I incoming pa rt icle (with wave rune.
l ion / (z) ) llnd l hc f.nnl poinl z - t .
T he equipmen t nH)o.l if~ the ke m el
rOf t he motion (('Ofll p:1 fC Figs . .5- 1
ami 5-:.!), IlIRkin..-: it eq ual to u( x ) .
TI,e prod uct !(x )U(z), inll'l!:f:lh,,1
over z, i.. the 11lllJll it ll<lt, to /lr rivc
nt { IIrter pn."'.lIing th rough t he
equipmcot.
 I
I
1011
.• I ' II sau te property cnrr"po"d [within u phas e) to tlt e \
t o ue I'TmUlC 1(' ' SOil we call O· (,r) t Irc cIlaraCtcri ' I uncllQ1l
c rUjI ec . \
salli e g. (J') . I',or tl us
t .,
reas
01 tin' "mp,'rty G, I II I tc I( ) be
We may usk another question. What n~us te s a z . 80
, , I ' tl c property (l"f (1' or exampl e, wh at IS Ule
th st It IS sure to lin C I . fi ' 'I) T
, 1ulle I'1011 1or n p nrt lcle whose mom entum IS de. Hute .,
wave hat i., t
,I fi ud
w(' W I~ I to I ll u n n
on"
f (:r ) , """ . t F( r) • so thnt t he part icle gomg
•
t, hrouglt
•
the appnrnt us will certainly arrive at r eud ~t no other point r · 1?c
amplitude to arrive at r' should be proportlounl to li(f - r) (that Ill, I
zero unless r = n. Helice •
I
JKu,("r)F(r) dr ~ 1(, - r) (5-28) I
This we can solve by the relation of the complex conjugate of a kernel
to its inverse, discussed in Sec. 4~1. \Vc have from Eq. (4-37)
JK",(r',r)K:., (r, r) dr = I(r - r) (5-29) \,
60 that I
F(r) - K:',(" r) = girl (5-30 ) I
T hat is, O(L) is th e wav e func tion of n particle having the property G
with ecrtn inty. 'Ye con say either (1) the particle ita."! the property
G or (2) the particle is in the state o(x) . So we find : If a pnrticle is
in a state /(x) , the amplitude it will be found in a s tate O(x) is I

(~I)
I
"'(G) = Jg'(r)/(r) do: ~ '!>[g(r»
I
For more dimensions, x becomes a space of several variables.
We might say loosely : T he probability that the particle is in the
state oCr) is IJg' (r)/(r ) dr l', This is nil righl il we kn ow what we \,
mean. The system is in stetc j'(z) , 50 it is not in O(x ) ; but if 0. mens-
urcment is made to as k if it is al se in U(x), the answer will be unirl1ls- I
ti ve with the probability I
-I J:. g'(r )/(r) do: I' - <Vlg(r»
P(G1

A measurement which asks : Is the state o(x) ? will always have the
(~2)
II
answer yes jf the WAve fu nction ac t ua lly is y(.r). For all ot her wuve
fu nctions, repetition of the experi ment will res ult in y es some fmetion I
l' (JJctW('C1l 0 a nd 1) of the tries . T his is a central result for the
proba bilist ic interpretation of th e theory of qu nntuur mechunics.
For all of this we ded uce an interesting inverse relat ionship between \,
a wave fu nction end its complex conjuga te. In neeordunce with the
iuterpretation of Eq, (5-25), O·(x ) is th e am plitude that if a sys tcJl1 \
,,
•
 1IIea~uremenr. and op e ra t o r.

109
is in position x, then it has t he property G. (Such u sta te ment is put
mathem a t ica lly b)' su bsti t uti ng u 15 Iunc t io u for f(L ) in Eq . (.h.'H ).)
: On th e other han d, geL) is the amplitude that if the sys tem has the
"
~, propc r ty C, it is ill position x . (T hi!'! is just a wa y of gi ving t he defi-
I, nit ion of a wave fu nct ion.) On e function g in 'S t ile a mpl itude for:
•
If ..:I , then n. The othf'rfunct.ion gives t he umpl it ud e for : I( fl. t hen A•
T he Inversio n is a ccompl ished simply hy tnk ing t he comp lex conjugate.
E quatio n (:N I) can he intC'rprclro as follows : T he am plitude that
a syste m has property G is (1) t he Dmplitude J(x) t hat it is at x t imes
(2) t he a mpl it ud e o· (x ) that if it is a t x. it has property G, with this
product summed over the alt ernatives x,

Prob/cm 5-3 Assume I_.. /·(x )/(%) dx, which is the probability
that a particle of wave fun ction/(x) is somewhere , has been normalized
t o t he va lue 1. Unde r t his const ra int, show t hat t he sta t e J(x ) \\ hich
has t he highest probability of having the property G is f ez) = o(z ).

Prob/cm 5-4 Su ppose t he wave function for a system is "'(X I) at

t ime i l ' Suppose fu rther that t he behavio r of the sys te m is descri bed
by the kernel K (z2,i2;z l.l l ) for mot ions in t he interval II 2:: i > il.
Show that t he probability t hat the system is fou nd to be in the stale
x ex) a t time i l is given by the squa re of t he integrol

J-'.J--. x · (z,)K (z" I,;Z.,I,),I(z,) dr. dz,

We eall i his inlcgrallhe lran8ilitm amplitude to go from state H z) to
slate x(z).

l\lcnsurcDlcnts of Several Variables, I n the conside rations of

the preced ing sect ion we assumed nn ideal experiment , which men us
that no quantity besid es A could be meas ured at th~ sa me t ime. T ha t.
is we do no t a llow that more tha n one y(.r) would g ive t he sa me result,
but assert that UI~ maximum possible amo unt of informa tion has hC'C1l
obtained fro m t he sys te m by a mcusurcmcut of A: .
No w in real ity it is common for several variables t o determine
the s ta te of a system. For exa mple, if ouly t he I componl·II.1 .of
rncmcntum is measured in a t hr ee-di mensional system, 110 definite
11(.1') can be defi ned . Both t he wa ve fun ct ions (,X I' (i p6r / ll ) a nd
; . ) 'I V" II,e ~ llIC value [1$ for t he I com pcneu t of
exp ( '' /l ~; 1&
'
-
'
IPI/II" g , . . .. . • . •
Soi f
rnom en t um, ou I 011 Y l J6 I IS
' meas ured 1Il " t h n't.
' -<.I lI ll (,Il ~ I OI I I\ I sys
• teru,
til e pur t icJt' cou ld he moving with uuy eompcnent of momen tum 111 ~h e
U (l tree t 10
i 11 all d 110 I ehuuge t he outcome of t he meas urement. Nor
110
11('('<1 the pnrf.icle COllie' to some unique poi,lll in th e mcaslI.rinp; nppnrolll~ . I
All th e pnrt iclcs which arrived at some lin e o r sr1 of points could hllve
tb(' $.:1111 " va lue (or p•.
Th us 111 J:"lH'ral, we sec t hat the wave function O(z).cJcfinrs ~lar, prop. \
ertv G us follows : A state described hy t he wuve fun ction g(x ) I~ cC'rtnin
to hnve t he property G. However, the eouvorse is not necessarily true.
Thnt is it is not certain that nil stnu-s hnviug th e property (J are
I
d escribed by the wave fun ction oCr). Only if G includes n spcci rica~ \
t ion of nil t he qu ant ities tl lnt may he simu lt nncously measured is t he I
wan function completely d efined by n. E ven then there remains an •
undefined (nnd uuimportnnt ] const a nt plmse factor c" . I
It is rosy to make t he necessary extensio n of t he ch nrue tcria t ic rune. I
tio n O· (x ) when the id ea l experiment requires the mensu rcmc nt of more
than one vutiable. Thus suppose we hav e u se t of quantifiee which
we shall cal l :i , H, C, .. • , nud whi ch can nil be slm ult a ncc usly mens-
ured in an experiment, for exa mple, the x component of moment um,
.\
the y component of momentum, etc. Suppose we can com pletely I
describe the slate of a system by specify ing the nu merica l values I
a, b, c, .• . assigned to t hese quantiti es . That is, we completely
describe th e st at e by saying whether or not it has n. certain property.
In th is case the property ill question is that the value of A is a, the
val ue of B is b, etc. Furth ermore, SUp P05C t hat no additional infor-
ma t ion (infonnation hot d erivable Irom a kn owl edge of the numerical
values of ...t , B, cte.) could be obtained simultaneously by a ny !U rD Ii S.
I magine we have an experi menta l set u p ca pa ble of measuring all
these qua ntities, i.o., ca pa ble of telling us whether or not the slate
has the property that t he value of A is a, etc. ' Vc shall call the
characteristic fun ct ion of such a property

u'(z) = x:.e, ,.••. (z) (5-33)

This function is, of COUf'8C, a Iuuction of the numerical values a, b,
c• . .. which the experiment is set up t o measure as well as the
coordinate variable x , '
Suppose thc 8')'stCIH is ill the state f(x) . Then thc probability that
:he exp t·rI.lIIcut would sh ow that tho value of A is a, t he value of B
l~ h, ('t.e. {i.e., the pmbubility t hat the sta t e has the property in ques-
bon), 15

P(a,b,c• . • .) = IJx: (z)f(z ) dz l' (5-3-1)

Tru n~formu t ion Funct io ns. Suppose the system is actually in

the state x. ·..· .e'.... (x), t hat is, tile value or A is a', etc. T heil with
,
I
 ltleollurement. and opemto,..
III
our experiment tl,~ probabil ity of finding the system in a state described
by a, I" C, • •• • JS •zero u nless a = 0 ' " b = b' c ~ c' , • • • • ThiIS
means t hat, with SUItable normalizing Iac tors, we have

J-". X:., •.... (zlx.·.~ (z) dz = ~(a - a')~(b - b') 6(c - c') ($-35)
The fun~tion XCl.6.~ • •• • (x ) is t he amplitudc that if the system is in the
state described by a, b, c, . . . • thou it will he found at x. T he fune-
t ion X:'6.~ ....(x), which we have called the characteristic funct ion is
the ~mplitude tl lat. if t he system is at z, it will be found in the state
specified by a, b, C, • • • •
If the sys tem is k nown to be in the state ! (x) , then

F = J•
_"x
• (z)f (z) dz (5-36)
is the am plitude to fi nd the system in the state specified by A having
the value a, B having t he value b, etc.
T he qu ant it ies FCI.6.~ ..•. are lust as good a representation of the state
as the fun ction ! (x, Y,z, . . .). In fact, if we know the function
Fa .6.~ ..... we can reproduce the function j (x ,y,z• • . .) by means of an
inverse transformation.
T he fu nction F..6.c• •• • is called the A, B . C, • • • representat ion of the
state. (In t he preceding section we had an example of t his in the
moment um rcprcscntat ion.) The function!(x,Y,z, . . .) is thecustom..
ary coordi nate representation, or x, Y I Z, • • • represeut ut icn, of theslate.
Transformations between t he two nrc carried out with t he help of the
functions X and x". In part icular, the function x:.•.~....<..r,y,z, .. .)
is t he trunsfcrnmt icn function necessary to go from th e x , y, z• . ..
representation to t he A , B. C, . . . representat ion, while t he func-
tio n Xcr.lo (z .y,z, ) is the transformnt ic n funct ion necessary to
go the other d irection. T hus the inverse of t he transformation given
by E q. (5-36) ia
! (x .V,z• • . .) = LLL . . . F.. 6.C•• •• XCl.• ,C••• • (x.Y,z, • . .) (5-3;)
• ••
This says t ha t the amplitude to be found at x is the amplitu de F• .•.c •• • •
to be found with A = 0 . B = b, .. . t imes t he amplit ude X d ,c-.. • • (x)
to he at x if A = a, B = bl ctc., summed over alternat ives a, b, c• . . . •

l'roblern 5.5 Assume that the function j (l',y,z• . • .) ean be repre-

sented by

J(:r,Y.z, . . .) = LLr . . . r:.....~.... X• •6.,....(l'.y,z• . • •)

• • •
Quantum lII~cllrlni('. nnd path inregra':t

112
B}' subst itu t ing this rclnt jcu into Eq . (5-36), nnd usi,ng the orthogollal
properties of x 8 5 defi ned by EC). (;,....15), show Ulnt. F•.•,~ ... . = F•.• oC. '" •
Problem 5-6 Suppose A, Dr nud C nrc the three ca rtesian com.
I
poncuts of moment um I'., PII' 1'.· \Vhnl is ~hc form of .the rune,lion I
x.....t ( X . y:)1
,
Usiurr the results of Sec. 5-2, verify the relations obt:uncd
1)0

in Sec. •fi- L
Problem 5-7 Suppose thnt the A, B, 0, . .. representation does
not correspond to either coord inate rep resentat ion or 1lI01llC'nt u m
representation, but instead is some th ird way of representing the state
of the system. SupJ>Cl8C we kno w the funct ion X• •• •I • • • • (x ,y,z, . • .)
which permits us to transform back and forth be tween coordinate
representat ion und .II , B, C r . . . representation. S uppose furtbcr'
t hat we know the transforma tion fu nction necessary to transform back
a nd forth bet ween coord inate representation a nd momentum repro.
scnta non. Whut then is t he fu nction necessary for the transformation
bet ween momentum representation and A, B, CJ • • • representation?

5-3 OPERATORS

Expected Valucs. We can develop a few furth er properties of

t hese transformation fun ctions. Let us try to a nswer this qu estion.
A syste m is in a sta te speci fied by t he wave function f(x) and the
qWlnt~ty A is measured . If the measurement is repented llU:ny ti mes,
what 15 the av erage value which will be obtained for A 1 \Ve shall
denote this average value (somet imes called expected value) by the
symbol (A ).
Suppose it is possible, in principle to measure simultaneously
several physical qu untit i(>S..-1, /J, C, , . '. , whcrc 0. m easurement of J
could produce a ny one of a continuous or discrete sc t of values a , a
m t'l1SUrcllu: u t of /J could produce a ny cue of a continuous o r discrete
oct or values b, etc . T he p CO I'u hilit r I . . .
I I Y 0 0 rtuin ing one particular SC
t
of \'~Iucs a, b, c•. : . is IF•." ,c-• • • •II • So the probability of obtai llillga
parti cular value a In a 111 ~' 0 suremen
' t 0r A ' .
rrrespc ctrve of thc vu IUt':5
taken on by B C {f 1 " __.1
at all) is " • •• or examp e, If n, C, were not measurw

Pea) = ~~ IF j. (5-39)

In th is cq ua tion S Ut 1" •
in tI c ti 11I~18. Ions nrc enrriod out over all possible values
I COli IlI UOUS or dlscrcte!:lcts of b 'C J • • • •
 ftloolJlfremenr& nnd op e m ror&

113

The avera ge, or expected, value resulti ng from a measurement of A

is ohtninC'd by multiplying t he pro ba bility of Btl. (5-39) by a and
su mming the result over all possible values of a. Thus

(A) = LLL ' . . aIF•.•.•....I· (5-40)

• ••
Th e need for r.ompu ting such expected values arises frequ ently in
quantum-mcchnllicnl problems. It is useful to have ava ilable formulas
which simplify such r.omputn t.ions. T his subject, the subject of opcr-
ators , was discussed briefly in Sec. 4-1. Now we shall develop a few
add itional result s. However, nowhere in th is book shall we attempt a
really thorough study of operntor culeulus, since several excellent
works along t his line arc already available. 1

The Operator. Let us t ry to express the expected value of A

directly in terms of the original wave funct ion l ex). Ncte first that
the absolute square o( F...e,e,... can be writ ten as

IFo.!l...... I'-
- F'..,6.1, • •• F ..... r..•• (5-41)

Then, using Eq. (&-36), we can write

(A ) = LLL...a t: x•.•.••... (xlr(x) <!x t: x:. .. ...<x')J(x') <!x'

.. • e •

= t: f'(x)R(x) dx (~)

In the second line of this equation we have made use o( the subst itut ion

R(x) = t: G.(x,x·)f(x') <!x'

(5-43)

where we have writte n

(5-44)
G.(x,x') ~ LLL .. . ax•.•.•..·· (x)X:.•.•. ., . (x')
• ••
I function R(x) results (rom the Iuuc-
. Equat ion (;")-43) seve that .t tc ation pt-rformcu with t he help of l1.
b on f ez ) as t he result of 0.1\ (111 "f)r .socintt'll wit h the quant ity A.
Iinear integral operator GA x,x Q.S!
Dirrec,
. . I r ~' .. tum MC<'hlUlics,"
un-l n CII) C'tl D ' . "
Clurt'ntloo ~.
For exa m ple,
I BCC II
OxCord, 1\)47.
Oftcn an equation like Eq, (5-43) is sy mbolized by thc notation

R = <If (5-1; )
where a sta nds for e linear operntor which .o pcr~tes on th e rUnCli~ll/.
1 the present cnso a stands for t he opcmticu displayed on th e fight..
h:nd side of Eq. (r.....l:n. l hnl is, lllultiplicntio~1 by t he fUII.d ion o, and
iutcgmticn. T he nperutor a is nssoolnted with the phys ical quantity
A . Using th is notation, we cnn write ~

(,I) - t: r(x)Uf(x) dx = f-·. f _·.r(x)GA(z,z')f(z') dx' dx (5-1G)

Problem 5-8 N ote that Eq. (5-4 4) implies G1(z,z') = GA(z',x).

Wlth this in mind show that for any two wave functions O(x) andj(z),
both of which approach 0 as r goes to 00 J

f : . u'(x)Uf(x) dz = f . [Clg (z) ]'f (z) dx (5-17)

Any operator, such as ClJ for which Eq. (5-47) holds is call ed hermitian
(ef. Eq. (~O» .
Problem 5-9 The transformation fun ction between space repre-
senta tion and momentu m represcntat ion is

(5-18)

(sec Prob. <Hl) . Choose the physical quantity A as the momentum

P.. in the x d irection. Show that the fun ction GA is

G••(z ,x') = ~.t ~'(z - z')~(y - y')~(z - z') •

(5-19)

d
where 6'(z) = dx 6(x) . \Vith this result determine thc op erator eor-
responding to the x component of momentu m a nd show t hat tile
expected value of tlltos component of momentum ca n be written OS

(P.) ~ f -'. I'(x) ~

lib
8f dx (5-50)

Problen ~ ~.10 SUPJX>sc the qua ntity A corres ponds to the x coonli·
na te of posit ion. Show that the correct formulas for thc mea n value .
of z result when the fun ction GA(L',x') is taken to be I
G.(x,z') = zI (z - r W<U - y') ~'(z - z') (5-0 1)
 lllpfllrIl remenf" nnd operntor"

lIS

und ~hc operator corresponding to z is simply multiplication by e,

th at IS.
!tf(x) - xf(x) (5-52)

Eigcn f1J n~lion8 a n d Elgcn vnfues, The wove functi ons Xa .b.r• • • • '
as discussed III Sec. ;)-2, show a particularly simple behavior when sub--
jected to the operation a. T hus

ClX. ....r.... (x) = aX".b.e. ••• (z) (5-53)

Problem 5..11 Show that this lnst result is true.

When a funct ion X satisfies an equation such as (.;....11. ). we say tha t

Xis an eigenfunctio n of the operato r a nss..oeiated with ti le e igenvalue a .
If two physical qua nti ties enn be simulta neously measured, then
th e opera tors associa ted with these quantities, a a mi m. for exa mple,
sat isfy an inte resti ng relationship, nam ely, a (ffif) = m(af). Th is
rela tion says that the resul t of performing one operation utter t he
other is th e sa me regardless of the order in which thc operat ions arc
performed. In this case the two operators arc said to commute:
Cl -m -m -Cl
In general. we cannot expect the commutation relation to hold
bet ween opera tors, but ill this speciul case it docs. The reason for this
is tha t if A and B nrc physical quantities which can be measured simul-
taneously , thcy ce n for m part of a set It , B, C, . .. ofs imultancously
measura ble quan ti ti es with a single characteristic function XG.'~" ' . ·
If t he operator m is substit uted for a and thc valuc b is substituted
for a in E q. (5-53) , the resu lt is still valid , so
Cl(m,) = Cl (!>x) - b(Cl,) = 00, - ab, (5-54)
which is truc, since a, b nrc just num bers. Now also
m(Cl,) = m(a, ) = a(m,) = ab, (5-55)

A comparison of t hese two equations proves the conHll';ltat ion of the

opera tors a a nd <B when acting upon an)' of the fU Il~t lons X• .•.r • • •• •
Since hoth th ese operations are lilll'ar (i.e., they do not lUvoh'~ compu-
tatiolls wit h higher powers of the funct ion x). t hc com m~tntlon rcln-
tio n lII ust upply to nny linear co m hillntioll of the X f.u llc~lOm~ ".
If tlu~ X Junctions romprlse n " ecruplctc set" {which I~ typical] we
ceu construct uny funct ion at nil from s uch n linea r combination. So
<.',uIIIIU'U nu'#:luutin muf pll I I ' I C"rall'
1ft I
116
1.Irc op('m t !Ion . 11I 6mll,lu' ol)l'mlion n it give the same result On StIr
Iun etiou ; tim I is, Ow)' comm ute.

r T (f'J ) ( "5U/ "') - "Show

that th e. x coordi nate of posit ion and Ihez I
coonl iml h ' 01 moment um a rc 1101. snllull.n.ll('Olliily uieus uruble qUlllllitica.

There arc situations in which a 8Cl of com mut ing mulhelllutital

opcmtjons a, ill, e, ' • . urt: ~I n'ndy k ~10WII uud it i~ rcquir~ 10 rltJd,
till' func tions (tht' t'i~l'lI fuIlChuIlS) . wh ich urc ussociatcd with t1lern. I
T his requires solving n set of ('f)UUtIOIl5 such ns

ax = ox (!Ix = bx ex = ex ... (5-5G)

For example, suppose the operators for momentum in the z, ~I Z I
. , a a I ,
d irections p" P.. nnd P. nrc gtven IlS (hI ., ax' (h/t1 au' W.) I. I
What are t he eigcufuuetions of this se t. of operators correspondi ng to
a stale ill which pz ha s the value a, PII has the vnlue hI and P. has the
val ue c (these are, of course, t he eigen va lues}? We m ust solve the
equa t ions

hax
- ~ - = bx (';";0) ,
1, iJy

und the solution is some arbitrary constant times e(iJ'l(U~J . This

agrees wit11 our previous knowledge t hat a particle having a known
momentum p has the wave funct ion e l i/Al P·'.

Interpretation or Energy Expnneion, Ye rious c.'X pressiorJ ·

Involving "'.. (.l') CAll be interpreted umre compl etely now. F« I
exa mple, consider the expansion in Eq . (4-.59) of the kernel ill tenuS
of t he solutions t/I.. of a constant lmruiltouinn

K(XI,/I;rI,'.) = L 4t. (Xl)~:(II)e- {tf") £.. (tl - " ) (;.58)

•
\Vc notice fi rst that ¢.(.r) is the amplitude t hat if we nrc in statr II,
~'e a~e at r osit.ioll z . Therefore, Ircur our previous d iscussion (rr.
~. :)-2) 4t.. (;: ) I~ t he LLlllpl itude that if we an' at I , we nr c in ~t:lh· ll·
Xow let. ~li IIlh'~rct Eq. (;j -r.s) this way. The utuplitudc 10 j:t'1
f~~ln JlO~~tl?" I, at hllll' / l to pusit ion 2 ut t ime 12 i!ol t he ~U IU over llItl'rll:l~
tives . I his ~l llle ~I lf' nUl'n ult in s will he d ivided into the w ril,lll:'
energy stutes III which t he truu!'iit ioll CUn bo uunlc T im ' we must :,UIIl
over ull of the stutcs II ti le prod uct 01 II ·1 II : •
. Ie u oWlug tenus :
 JUenaurementa and openuors
111

t. ~: (XI) , which is the amplit udc that if we are at XII thcn we arc
in the state n.
2. e- f./" s, l fl -f' ) , which is thc amplitu de to be in state n at the time
It if we nrc ill the state n at t he t ime 11. t
3. 9~ (:r!)J which is the amplitude to bc found at Xt when we know
we arc in t he state n.

Problem 5·13 Discuss t he possibility of interpreting ¢.(z) as •

X.... .e•. . . (x) funct ion discussed in Sec. 5-2. That is, say 41..(r) is t he
tmnsformnt ion funct ion t o go from the X represe ntat ion to a represen-
tation specified by n (energy representation) .
t There is no am plitude to eben gc the state. That is tbe importance of these
particular funct ions 4J••
 6
The Perturbation
Method in
Quantum. Mechanics
 \

IF u qunllh ll1HHCChonicnl s)'st('~n sllhjC'c~('(1

is to n pot enti al which\
inlroou('('S only quadrntie term s into the neuou, tI~l'll we !mvc I'.('t!n in
Chap. 3 how t he resulting motion C811,1><: dct CfU.llIlcU with, the Pl'llb
illh'grul llU't-hoc.l. However, mnn y of t rc mlcn~hn~ POl f'l.lllnl!i wllir'~ I
arise ill qU:lntum-lIlC'chnnicnl prohl,ellls ure not of t ills specia l t}'I)l~ lULU
cannot he ha nd led so r osily . I n t ins chap t er we s hull d evelop a Ul<:lhod
of treating more complicated potentials. The method which we d~
cuss called t he prrl urbathllt ('r pm lsi oll , is most useful when t he f..oten_
t inl tis eorupamt ivcly wee k (compared, for instance, to t he killetic t
energy of the system). I
Although t he pert urbation expansion can be developed alor.g \
strictly mathematical IinC'S, it is capable of an in t erest ing physical
interpretat ion. T his interpre tatio n, which we simi! also presen t, leads
to a deeper un d ersta nd ing of quant um- mechauienl beha v ior. I
I n t he second sect ion of this chnpter we shnll u ndertake a special 'I
applicat ion of the pert ur bat ion met hod. ' Ve shall consid er the motion
of 811 elect ron when it is scat tered by a n atom . I n d escribing the
scatt ering int eraction we sha ll find useful t h e classical not ion of across-
sect ional area wh ich t he ntom presents to t he impinging electron.
Alt hough t his a rea is related to the a ctual si ze of t he a tom, we shall
find that it s complete descript ion d epends upon the q ua ntum- mechen-
Icnl aspects of the interacting system.

~l TilE PERThnOATION EXPANSION

The. Te~m 8 o f l~e Expansion. StlPPOSC a part icle is moving in a

potential I (x,t). For til e present t he mot ion will be rest ricted to 011('
dimens ion. Theil the kernel for motion between the points a and b i:-

Kv(b ,a) = J: (cx If. J.:' [; :t' - l'(r,t)] dl J)

p :o.r(t) (6-1)

The subscript notnt ion KI" is us ed to remind us that t h e particlr is jn

the potell t i~1 I' . Frot u HOW 0 11 the notation K o will d enote the krrnrl
for t he mot ion of n free pa rt icle.
a I II so me C~'il':i l ite ~cf1lcl Kv can he deter mined hy the nlethotl~
lready StUUIl't1: F~r IUslullCC, in Chap. :J we det er mined t he kt"l'rtd
for t hc. llarlllolllc OscIlialor l'Uhjl'Ct to nil outside Iorce J(I) . Here thl'
pcteut ial was (see 1':(1. (3..u;i )J

l'(x,l) = ; ",'x' - r/(1)

120
 TIl e p ertu,bation med.ad in q uantum. med.nnic:.

121
In gcol1('rnl, we have found t bn t if t he po tentia l is quadrat ic in z, the
hell e! CRII be ddl'rlllill('(1 exact ly, whereas if it is sufficient ly slowly
vary ing, tll(' ~l ll idH!-...ienl npproximntam ~'llu h·qunt {' . TIIC'TC nrc sonic
otlwr types of potcutin ls which ea u h(· succee-Iully t rea t ed with the
help of SchriKli nJ!:('r's cq unti cn. XOW W (~ nre st udying a technique
which is ort (,11 useful if til e effect of the potent ia! is s mall.
SupJlO8C tl1l' poh'llt ial is small , or more pr('("il"(·ly . sup pose the time
iut ('j:rnl of th e potenti al along n po.th is amnll compared to It Then
t he part of t he expon ential of Eq. (6- 1) which depends upon V(:c,l) can
be: expanded as

cxp [ u:
- Ii s, V(x,1) d!] u:
= 1- Ii •• Vex,!) d!

-1 (i)'
+ 21 -h [1." f..
vex I) d!
'
]' .. . (6-3)

which is defined alon g any particular path %(l).

Using th is expansion in E q . (6-1) results ill
Kv(b,a ) = K . (b.a) + K '''(b,a) + K"' (b,a) + (&-I)

where

K .(b,a) J: [exp (i J~' ~' d!) ] :ox(l)

= (6-5)

K U' (b,a) = - i J.' [expG 1.:' ~' dl)] J.:' V[x(s),. j d. :ox(l) (6-6)

K''' (b,a) - - 2~' J.' [cx (i. J.:' n~' dl) ] 1.:' I1x (s» ) ds
p

X J~' I'[x(. ') ,s' l d.' :Dx(!) (&-7)

and so forth. To avoid confusion in the integrals over 1 ~. we call th e

time varia bles s, 5', etc.

Evnluntion of the T e rms. Fi rst consider th e kern(>~ K",IU· wde

b
Wish to .in terehnnge the 0 rei er 0 I .III t cgr ation ovcr th e vurtn e x an
.
the pat h x(l) . W e write
(&-8)
i1."
K"'(b ,a) = - I~- /. F(. ) d.
where

~ J: [ex!' (i J.:' "~' dl)] 1'[« .) ,_) :Dt(1)

(&-9)
F (.)
('fuan III nI nI('f"I,ltnl"lf Ifnt' , Hall. ill I('ll ra"

12:.!

,
. ·i/l' 6.1 A JlIIrli"lr Mt nrlM r.m~" tJ ''1111 mOVr'll l1ll
I.
II fn'l' luul il'le to c. I b-re It 1M Ilf'lf.'d UI)liQ,
ltf'nll f'rt'\I, hy the !'oll'IIliZlI 1'(.1 ("),111 ... ~
'n u'll':lltt'r it IJI OVCf! IU' I' Irf'C I'ut ti r.lc to "
1'1tr muplilUllc ror .. udl n mol ino ill J!:iVl'h i~
s c loA] . (H. Ill). 1£ thiM ItIllJllih adc is intl'grlltf'«
e ver nil Jlfl~ ib l(! JXlSi t in l1l~ 01 ti le IJo int t , the I
tl.'tIult L" the firrlt -otfh·t term in t he lx:rlurl)8tirJQ I
III - - 0
t' XllOfVjion. I

The path integral P(II) ron he descrlbed as follows. It is the SUm

over nil pat hs of th e Irce-pert icle amplitu de. However, each path
is weighted by t he pote ntial l'(.x(s),!J j evulunted at the t ime s, The
only cha racteristic of the pnth x(l ) which is involved in t his particular
V is the posit ion of the path at the partic ular t ime t = B_ This means
that before and after the t ime s the paths involved in F(s) arc the paths
of an ordinary free particle. The situnt ion is sketched in Fig. Ii-I.
Using t he snme argu ments which led to Eq. (2-31), we divide eecb
pat h into two parts , one before t he t ime t = s and o ne utter this t ime.
T o be speci fic, we sha ll assume thnt ea ch path goes t hrough the point \
e, at this d ivision time. Later O il we she ll integrate ove r nil values of
xc' If we denote the point xc(s) by e (t hnt is , B = Ie), then thc sum
over all such pat hs Cll II he written us K o(bJc)Ko(c,o). This 1IlC'tUlS thai
F(s) = F(I,) can be written us

F(I,) = t: K ,(b,c)l'(x,,t,)K,(c,a) dx, (&-10)

Substituting this iuto Erl. (6-8) gives (with 1'(c) = 1'(re t / c )}

K ln(b,a) = - u: J-"" K ,(b,c)l'(c)K,(c,a) dr, tll, (&-I l)

Here the limits on the integral over x hnve boon written as ± ISJ .
In n. p~ct ical problem the limits will he estublishrd by the potrll1 hl.I
(wh_lch III 1110St cases d rops to 0 when r becomes very large) or by the
equrpmcut , which restricts t he m nge of x.

Int erpreta t io n of th e T erm s, Equation (6.11 ) is very import ant

nll~ very u~'fu l, HO. we shall ,t!c\'t'lop U hlX'Cinl intcrpretut jou to Iwlp
t ~lI l1k about it physicnlly. \\c call the interactio n be tween th(' potc'"
ti nl uud th e particle a tlcaltcringj thus ''''Ctilly that t he potcntialscuttl'fll
 Tile pertrtrbalion ltIed loo in quantum mec/lfln;c.
123

the particle an d t hat the ampliltulc to be BCaU~Tcd by a potential is

- (;j ll ) V' per u nit volume and per uni t ti me.
With t his interpretation we enn describe K v in the following wey.
K v is, of course, II sum OV('f alterna tive ways in which the particle may
move from point a to point b. T he alternatives arc:
I. T ho pnrl iclc may not he scattered nl nil [K , {b,.» ).
2. T he particle Inny he sca ttered once (KIll(/.,a» .
3. The part icle may be scat tered tw ice (K I21(b,a)).
Etc.
In accordan ce with this interpretation, the various paths of the parti-
cles a rc dingrnmcd in Fig . r,...2.
Each one of t hese nlt ornntl ves is itself a Bum over a lternatives.
Consider , for exa mple, the kernel for a single sca ttering, K (I)(b,o) .

b b

• (1)
• (21

b b

• (31

•i lZ:. &-2 In () II pnrticlc m o VC8 from " to b t hroul:h t he ~t~tial I " witho ut lKoinJ: lIrn.~w
, cree . '1IC a mp I'Il u l Ic ror " IlK
. III" nI.' . (I'." l . III r-1) liar , l'urt " K'1r ' lK ti(' D IlIl' h,"l"l o nce' nt (' "I~, II. ,
" hroue h
mov('II t ITonp; t he Jlou'Q III • ' \' '11 1(' lilli I' l il ue l.·
·
for t1 L111 1ll ,
I\ III
'
(b,. ). n (.n u« l':art 1 K l ts
, - " I ,', r r ill " , e}• llm l i ll (-I) •It I.i f('lI tt l'R't1 ,.,"
HCfi tere I I wiee . "It I l lc "11111 (1 lUI e n
t llJll':", I 1(' I,U'I.
" . ..
___, , ' k ' In ,
...... I' TIIl II; b , IQP; (I CC II C'.
11 I
e tota l . h1ll1 it Ulw flit motion Iro iu a to b ': ll h rtll) RUlli r
ol 1ol:Att.,ringa i.It K . + K ill + K II) + .. . + K'· ) + . . . .
J21

O IlCO I
tl lC RCIt n )ntlvrs• which COlll prisr this kernel cOI1f;ist~ of II I~
, tlou The l>n rt i('lc stnrts from a, moves (l~ n fn 'l! Pllrl~I.·
folInwmg 010 I • I ' • ""It
to t I1(' pom int Xli I~ -- c, is• there scat tered by• urc potentI ' ial I, (e) I 8rt(-r
w hiICII 't ,- as a 1"'0 pnrt icle . from the po in t e to t ro final po:silio..
I 1I10' ~ "
I.
.. u.
The nmplitude for such a path IS

K.(b,c) [ - i l"(e) dx. dl. ] K,(e,a) (6-12)

(I t mu....t be remembered th at in the eonvention we a rc using the rnotion II

of th e part icle is t ra ced by read ing th e for mula s backward, i.e., (rom
right to lolt,)
The const ruction of t his amplit ude follows t he rule stated in Sec. 2..\
namely, t hat the ampl itu des (or event s occurring in succession in t in~
multiply. The completed for m for the kernel K OJ is obtained b)'
ad ding up all such alternatives by integra ting over X e and Ie, as indi-
catcd ill Eq. (6-11),
Using t his reasoni ng, we can write down the kernel K U I Iordoube
scattering immediately as

K"'(b,a) - (- ;') ' JJ K .(b,e)V(c)K,(c,d)V(d)K,(d,a) dT.dT, (6-13)

where dT = dz dl. Ren ding from right to left t his for mula means:
T he particle moves as a free particle from a to d. I At d the particle gets
scat tered hy th e potential I' (d) at that point. It then mons (ISA
free particle from d to c, where it is scat tered by t he potent ial r(t).
After t ha t it Ill (}Y<'S from C to hi again as a free particle. \" C sum over
all t he alternati ves , na mely , all places a nd times that t he scatt rrillg
may take place.
1I('r~ w~ han tacitly assUlIlC'd t hat t, > ld. I n order to avoid the
cOJllpll('nt lon of having to introduce th i~ as snnrptio u explicitly in each
such example, we ehall tuakc USc of t he convent ion a dopted in Chap-4
(c!, Eq. (4-28)] . lld a.sUIIlC

K(b,a) = 0 for If> < i, (6-H)

Tlle~1 Eq. (f,..13) is COrrect with out any rest rictions on the range of inte-
gmtion of If uud I• .
The ~'8dl:r wonder wha t Imppc'Il,'{1 to thl' fuctor H whicb
I URy
alP Pc~rs III h , . (U..7) but is uPI}an 'lI t1y oniiucd i ll 1-'(1 (fi-l:J)- ~ ott>
t iat 111 E'I. (6-1 3) t lre runge of integra tion for ld is sti
" ,ll Irom I. to I.,'
 Tll cpcrturbarion m crhod in quantum m ccllanic.
125
•
• however, t~IC ra nge of I.. has been restricted (hy the definitio n of EtJ.
(..-0 » to lie between I.. 8 11d I". This restrir lion cuts t he value of t he
~Io\lhle ill tC'~!nl ill ha!£. To see this more clearly, suppose the dou ble
int egral of E(I· (6-7) IS rewritten 8.!J

J.:' J.:' V(x (s),s)V[x(s') ," ) e« d. = I.:'I." V [x ('),o)l'[x(o'),o1 do' d.

+ J.:' J.: V[r (o), s)V[x(s'),s') d.' ds (6-15)
The first term 011 the right-hand side of this equa t ion snfisfies the
restrictions implied by £(1" (CI-H). By inte rchan ging the order of
integration, the second term on the right-hand side CR Il be rewritten as

f.,."f.".• V[x (s) ,s)l'[x(s' ),s'] de ds' (6-1 6)

If the variables 8 and 8' nre interchanged in the last expression, the
va lue of the double integral rema ins the sa me. T his means tha t the
first and second te rms on the right-hand side of Eq . (H-l ii) nrc equa l,
so eac h one is half the value of t he original double int egral . This sam e
sort of argument will account for a factor l / n ! in a n expression for K l-).

Problem 6-1 Suppose the potential enn be written as U V, +

where V is small but U is large. SUPPOS(' further that th e kernel for
motion in the poten tial of U alone can be worked out (for exa mple, U
migh t be quad rat ic in x a nd ind ependent of t ime). Show t hat the
motion in complete potenti al U + V is described by ECJs. (6-1 ), (6-11),
(13-13) , and (6-14) with Ko replaced by Ko, where Ko is t he kernel
for mot ion in the pote ntial U alone. T hus we can consider Vasa
perturbat ion on t he po tential U. We can 53)' th a t - (if " ) I- is the
a mplitude to be scattered by the pert urbed pa rt of th e potential
(per un it volu me a nd per uni t t ime). K v is the ampl itude for the
motion in the system in t he un perturbe d potential U.

Problem. 6.2 Suppose a system consists of two particles which

internet Dilly t hro ugh Il pot untinl "' (r ,y), where x f('Pfl~'ut$ the
coordina tes of ti ll' fi not pa rticle a nd y represents t he eoordiu ntce of
the second lef. N'C. :1-8 nud Ell. (3-7;j) 1. Apa rt Irom this interaction,
the pa rt icles n n~ fn '('. If , - WC'I"C 0, t hr-u K would he' sim ply a product
of t he t wo fl'('('-purt irl t' kernels. Usiug tltis f:\d , develop U IN-rtur,I", -
tiou expunsio n Inr I\drf" Y~.h ""'.,!I. ,t.) " By ~\·hut rules ?f p"~I,r:'ill_"Ul
reasou iug cnn the various te rms in t hid oxpa nsrou be described :
QllRrtl ll m n1('(/lftnir.. fwd poll. inf('Brfl'.

126

AN 1l\.EGRU EQUATION FOR Kr

" the results of the preceding paragraphs to a special
Belore eppI) rug , I I ti , I '
, . sh II d evelop some mat hcma t lcn rc a IOn5 mvo vrng t ~
exa mplc, \\ c s a . . tcnti
d w ve funct ions of systems movmg III 0. po eut ial fidd
kemcI5 an t\ a . E
Using t he results so far obta ined, we can write sq. (
6-4) ,
DS f0I10"'"5:
\
I
•
K .-(b,a) = K , (b,a) - ~ JK ,(b,c)V(c)K,(c,a) d•• 'I

+(- f)' JJ K,(b,c)V(e)K,(e,d)l'(d)K,(d,a) d., d•• + 0 • 0 (6-17)

Alternativel)' , this exp ression could be written as

K . (b,a) = K .(b,a) - ~ JK .(b,c)V (c) [ K ,(c,a)

- f.J K ,(e,d)V(d)K.(d,a) d•• + 000] d•• (6-18)

The expression in th e brackets has the same form us Eq. «(}O17). In

both cases t he sums extend over an infinite number of terms. This
means that K" can be written as

Kr(b,a) = K ,(b,a) - f. JK ,(b,c)l'(e)K Y(c,a) d•• (6-19)

which is an exact expression, This is an in tegral equation dctormin-

ing K" if K o is known, (Note th at for thc sit ua t ion d escribed in
Prob. (}oJ, K , would be repla ced hy Ku .) Thus the path intc.grnl
pro blem has been transformed into an iutcgml equa tion.
This last result cau be underst ood physically in the following wa}'.
Th e total amplit ude for the transition of th e sys tem from a to h,
with any num ber of scatteri ngs, can he expressed as the sum of t wo
n.lt~rllativl'S. The ,fi rst altern ative is the a mplitude that the t ~lI·
sition takes place With 110 scatterings, which is expressed by K 0- 1 he
8e.C'O nd alternative is th e umpl itude t ltat the tra nsition takes plnce
wit h cu e or m~re scatt erings, which is given by tl n- last term of J::q.
(U-1D): In this last term t he point c enu be t hought of ns th e pollit
at w h 'cl~ tht' last sca ttering takes pluee. T hus t he system JUOW S fro lll
a to c H I Y ll' potentia l i~('It.1 with its mot ion exactly tll'scrihf'll h:'
K,,~(',n) . J heu ut t ilt' pomt c th e Iiuul scnt tt-ring tukos pluee nftl,r
which th e system moves us a Irec system (without sca ttering) to the
 TIre perturbation m(!IIlOd in quantum medIOniI'll

127
b b

"
~
'~

III 121
Fig. 6-03 In (1) the pnrt ide moves from a to b through t he pot ent ial V ns e free pllrt id r..
desenbcd by the emphtudc /\ ..(/1,11 ). In (2) th e pArticle is eentt ored one or morc t imcs hy
V, with the Inst aent tcring Ink ing plnee nt c. Th e mol ion from a to r is dC!locrih('d I.y
K r(c,o ). nnd HlDl from c t o b IJy /\..(I.>,c). A cCIIllh inntiofl of the two situnne ns, when nil
posit ions of C are a ccou nted for, eoYCTS nil possible ClUICS nn d gives K ,·(b,a) in the form of
Eq , (6- 19),

I
point b. as represe nt ed by the kernel K o. This interpretation is d ia-
gramed in F ig. fi..3.
Since the lust scattering could take place at any point in space
and t ime between a and b, t he am plitude for t his compos ite motion,
represen ted by the integrand of t be IIlSI term of Eq. (&-19), mus t be
Int egrated oyer all possi ble posi t ions of thc poi nt c.

Problem 6-3 For a free particle, Eq . (4-29) reduces to

-
f,
-r -
a K .(b a) a'
+ -2h'max"
- , K ,(b,a) - i M (4 - 1.)I(x, - x.
) (&-20)
tat" •

Show, from this result and Eq. (11-19), that the kernel K v satisfies thc
differential equation

- ~~ ~ Ky(b a) ~ dx,,!
+ 2m ~ K,,(b,a) + V(b)Ky(b ,a)
al~ t

= i~l(x. - x.)'(I, - I.) (&-21)

6-3 AN EXPANS ION FOR TilE WAVE FUNCTION

In Sec. 34 we introduced the idcu of n wa ve funct ion e nd .d iscu~..ro

some n ,Jl.I.lioWOI be t ween wave funct icus nud kernels. F.1~ U:\lIml (:4- 12)
'
o f IIl a I ~' ''(~ I 1011 :-iI10 \\.S 10'"
I 11,1'...0 wave Iuuet jou Ilt t he t• unc I. ca n he
." rrO Il1 II IC wuv e fUll-...I"OII nt an ea rlier time I.. With t he help of
O IJtai1I1l'U
QUOfllilfti n1 n/lflflics olUl pari. ifl'l'sral,.

128
seribiutf" t he. Illat ion of the system between the two tim""
I «I '.,...
t I1(' k·('n l(' • • '-0 ,
For our pr('SC'lIt pnrllo~l'S thirs equation ca n be written lLS

>fib) = f K,·(b,a)! (a) dr. (6-22)

where I (n) is t he value of th e wave function at UI.C time l = I. (that is,
I (a) is a Iuuctiou of r"I, "'(b) is the wave flinctlo~1 at t he Inter time
l = 1 t and we suppose t hat between t he t wo tunes the system is
moving in th e potential l' , with t he motion described by the kernel
K d b,a). • . •
II the series expansion (Eq. (Il- IS)] for K v IS substit uted 11I10 th~
equation, t he result will be D series expansion for .,,(b). Thus

>fib) = JK o(b,u)! (a) dr. - ~ JJ K o(b,c)V(c)K o(c,a) dT, !(a) dx. .

+ ... (6-23) I
The fi rst term of t he series giVC5 the wa ve fu nction at the time It
assu ming t he system to be free (or u nperturbed , in case Kv is to be
substituted lor K .) between t he t imes t. and 4. Call this tern. ~.
Thus

¢(b) = fK .(b,a)!(a) dr. (6-24)

Using this def init ion, the series of Eq. «()"23) can be rewritten as

>fib) = ¢(b) - ~JK ,(b,c)V (c) ¢(c) dT,

+ :'.JJK .(b,c)V(c)K,(c,d) 1'(d)¢(d) dT,dT' + . . , (1l-25)

In th is form th e sen t'S is called t he Born txpamdvn for "'. If on ly

th e fi rst t ~'o terms arc inclutled (thus only t hrough first order in n,
, r es ul t IS t he ji"t I I"urn a1Jl1ronmalton.
the " . ' ol \' C'8 n single
It 1II\ . sen tt cr.
mg I~y t h.e potl'lItia l if. 'fhis scattering occurs at t he poi nt c. Up
~o t ins POUlt th e syst em deseribed hy </1(c) is free ' end ufter the scaU('r·
~g, .t he sys te m moves from c to b, aga in Iree, and describe d by K c(b,t).
n lu ~grnl must IJe tok en over nil the possi ble poi nts at which the
6CD.tten nJ; occurs • If t hrc
• ..'0
te rills 0 fl ' arc used (t hus t hroW; II
t re sencs
tcr',I,ts of second order in V) , t ile resul t is called th o second Born approri·
ma um, etc.

f Note l lml our eonventi II I K b . ~')

invalid 'f , on HI . ( ,0) lH zero for t. < '.. mekea Eq , (6-....
I '. < 1." but. we 11111I11 Dol UIiC JLin t his rllDb't" 01, vulues.
 TIl e per ru rbn rio n m el hod in quontum m u/lollic.
129

Prol»1pm 6· -1 Using arguments similar to those lending to Eq.

(6-19), shuw thnt t he wave Iu net iou '1 (11) satisfies th e integral equat ion

"'(b) = <t> (b) - ;. JK .(b,e) l'(e)"'(e) dT, (6-26)

T his integral eq uation is cquivnlent to t he Sch redingcr equation

- ~ df ~ . V"" + 1'", _
+ 2m 0 (6-27)
t at
w orking in cue dim ension only , show how the SchrOdinger equation
may be deduced from t he integral equation.

6--1 TilE SCATTERI NG OF AN E LECTRON DY AN ATO~I

i\ln l h em ot ical Treatment. \Ve have developed the concepts and

for mulas of t he pcrturbation treatment in a somewhat a bstract fra me-
work . Now, to develop a physica l understanding of t he per turbat ion
method, we shall discuss the specific problem of the scattering of a fast
electron by an ato m, 'Vc env ision an experiment in which n beam
of electrons bom ba rds a target, such as a thin foil of metal, a nd t hen is
collected by some suitable counter, as shown in Fig. rH .

$ s' o

Fig. 6-4 E te- t rons hoil orr n hot fil11m cn t lit.. 0 , Ilre tl('f'C('nNI in to II be am h)' C'O lIim nti ng
holes ill II a nd II' . lind t hen "l ri kr II IlIin-foil ( lt ~rt "I 0 , 1\10:-1 of Ilit' r'1('C·I ~mi r~" t:t nt lF:ht
on wi thout "I'ill" tlr'll Hptl'C l (if th r-ir "II r' rjt\' i!'l j1; ~1 "llCI\lj1; h nil' ! lIu' tllrK~1 IS Ilu n I'II0u.-:I.).
"'II
but JIOIIIC' nre ,11'1I'~I·t c',1 I I)' ill Ic' nll' l iO ll!l wi Ih 11h .mlt III t hi' ! ll r Kl ' 1 IIll1l ~l'~ t t crcrl , ~or III p Ie.
t hrn U II'; ,I 11 11 n u ll'; (. s t U b . A!'i 1•' 1., ' uuter ,., I, i!'i. 11111\'1,. 1 \II' 11 11,1. 111"" " . Ihl' rd llh nn hph .·l...· n
I
UIC rdl1tive 1I1l1ll1)pr o f ~nltl'rillgs " a nd Ibe llClIHt'rill~ lingle 0 ca n he 1IIt"IlllUn....1,
 (lrum fII"' ",('('/,nllk,. ancl Jln.', ill,,,/(rn'"
130

~ uppo~(' rv of the tlCfillt,riuJ;: pnrticlcs iN dl·lr.rmh

IIu' ", r,r r(J'1!' r u!(J IlY.
t ,.
unc-orr- 0'l itII I lilt -thod . Thnt i...' WI' n·lrllSf' 011 e h-e tnm, rnm • 1I 1 1~ Ij{IU"'~
' -";
,
nt ollr I lUU'. ~ . -ny I = 0 , anti nsk for t ilt' chance thut
. it. nrnvC' tl llt He I .
eouuter aft er 8oU\rIlt,lny T. WI! con t hen mnke direct UtiC?f OU f n~ult
for the amplitud e K (b,a) to go from a ile place to nn other HI u d(~fillile
thne. . It ' I
W(' ~hQII simplify t he problem by nssunnng t In Cit rcr t he foil is
so thin or the interncttou is 00 wonk thut enc h electron CAll internct
with at most , O IH' a tom . Actually, t his nssumptlou is quit e realistic
for 1:1UUV senttc ring experiments. Fu rthermore, mos t Illuitiplc SCAt-
terings ';u he analyzed ill ...... n us of t he simpl e scattering from aile atom.
Thus we sha ll discuss the interactio n between 0. single electron and a
single a tom.
The center of the atom will be taken as the center of a coord inate
system in which t he elect rons a rc released at the point a, as in Fig. G-j,
at the t ime I = O. A counte r placed nt the point b tells us whether
or not , at the t ime t = T, the electron arrives o.t the point b. We
shall make th e following approximations :
1. The interaction can be represented by a first-order Born approx-
imation. That is, th e elect ron is scattered ouly on ce by the atom.
2, The atom can be represented by a potential V(r) fixed in space
and eoustant in t ime.
Actually, th e atom presents 0. very complicat ed system interacting
with the electron, and the interacti on between the electron and the
atom is really more cctupljcated than 0011 be represented by a simple
potential l'Ir). Th e elect ron could excite O f ioni ze t he atom and lose
energy in the process, It can be shown howev er that if we ron"
aider only elnst ie collisions between t he electron and the atom, so

c
o r:
• o .- -'

b
Fig. £..$ TIll' gOOlllctry or ti le U - I
• r~ Jlllrt id e to ~ " "I M" "t - ·IWII f't mJl: p ro ,INn . n il' d r d ro h st af ts ftt 0 and rno\·('!l -U
it JU(}\'I"!I to lilt' f:~UII;t./' It ~ t1t:n , t"hl>r~od IJ)· 111(, 0 ( 0 111 it' po le'll t 1111 I' (r) , AI tor t 11(' "r llt It·rio~,
. II ', ,, I ll" I l.!4 10 t:ll h 'i l llt II . , I r I · I ,h.
l:lCalt'·rmlt ("("nh', 0 In , , · Ie • III U t u· fntl 'U>l \ ·I·... tor 11 & rom
.
Ifl ClUill fl·,j f ruul lIll' ,I" n '.I '
.,
r,
l lll l " lIl ' (·.....'1 the 1·It't tror I
I '
, I I; IO U 0 I II ' n UIl'l l' lIt ten- I I '
I
"j', '
d •
I lIIH u'r - n Ht' ll ll l ,rt'l l l h ftl Ul/:h t lll' ltn.- t •
I t till'
urHt-ord.'r Ikln . ll" ' Ih,xin , . If I . ' ' Illl lt , us l 'ftlt't'~'1 t' tJrn,,,pOll t :i I' •
" III 10 11. t Ie 1I111/lht ll t , I , . Id •
mdutll·d then the I ClltIl t " II I , t UI " '0 ecnt tenugs, };IIY . lit C d Pl ,
, " III Ie H('( "Ollt -on l l 'f 1IJ1llroxinull ioo. e tc.
 The perturbation method in quantum mechal.iC8
131

that th e atom is in the same energy state after the collision as it is

before, then when the approximation (1) is valid, approximation (2)
is valid too.
Let R.. a nd R, be the vectors from the center of t he atom to t he
points at which the electron is released and detected, respecti vely.
In the calcu lations we shall take R, anti It. to have lengths much larger
t ha n the radius of the atom. 'Thut is, we shall assume that UI C atomic
potential VCr) becomes negligibly small at distances much smaller
t hnn IRdl nnd 1Rr.1. 'rhus du ring most of its flight , t he electron will be
moving as a free particle, and only in the vicinity of the origin will
it be exposed to the potential.
T he fi rst-order Born approximution contains two terms, only the
second of which is of interest to us here. The first term is the kern el
K o(b,a) for the mot ion of the electron from a to b as a frcc particle, a nd
it bas already been studied sufficiently . T he term of interest is then

K lU(b,a) = - iJ K .(b,c)l'(c)K.(c,a) dr.

- - if' JOT ~2riA(; _t)'/cx [;;~~::: ~j']II'(r) p

X~2:;A: [cxp eml~~ rl') ] d'r dt (&-28)

Here we have used r as the vector from the origin to the point c, and
d lr represents the product of the differentials of all the components
o( t he ve ctor r. The integra l over t gives (ct. Appendix)

K ' '' (b,a) = - i(2;;"T)" TrG. + ~)

X /cx U;'T
p (T. + T.)']II'(r) d'r (&-29)

where r. z:< IR. - r ] and '. = !Rr. - r]. Using these definitio ns, we
write

2R.· r (&-30)
r, = R. ( 1 - Rd'l + Rr o")" ~ R. + L.' r
r = R, ( 1 - 2Ro·r
I I,' + R.' T')" "" n. - 4· r (6-31)

where I nnd L. arc unit vecto rs in t he dirt'Ction of - R. and R.. rcspce-

tiIVt ·'Iy (lt.l I ' . - - R..I R d' where R. = !Rd
L III IS t, - . l), und
, Iwe have
II made.
, ' , I'
Il HC III the UPIU'UX IIllIl 1011 0
r III
o Inct th at lid IS IU UC 1 urger .nun an)
. . • ••
vulue of Irl for which th e pot clltiul is not ncghglblc. It rs nccessary to
QUflnlll tn rnechflrlics and pa"1 ill.egrdr.

132
Icr terms in only in the expone ntial factor 6in.....
T
kN'P till' first -crc I ' I . I ' ~
. f t ' . U ·I· ~ sensitive to small rc nu ve C l u nges III p U1SC. II""",
tills nc or 1:5 q "" ~ ~ -c
",cnero
(r. + r.)' ce (B. + B.)' + 2(B. + B.)(i.· r - ;'. r) (&-32)
Using these approximations, t he kernel can be written as

K U>(b,a) ce - ~ C::;'7.)" T (~. + J~.) I cxp [i:t (R. + R·)']I ,I

X fl'p U~ (R. + R.)f.. • r-;'. r)]1 V(r) d'r (&-33)

Pbvsleal Interpretation. We can deduce some 01 the physical

cha~terist ics of the motion from a st udy of Eq . (6-33) . In the
time T t he elect ron h3S traveled the total d istance of R. RII• Thus +
its velocity during t his time is u = (R. +
R,,) jT and its energy is
mu'!/2 , while its moment um hus the magnitude mu. In writing these
expressions we ore making the assum ption t hat the encrgy of the
electron is not changed by the scatteri ng p rocess.
T hat t hese va lues for t he velocities, energy, and momentum are
consistent can be verified from an inspection of the exponential factor
appearing ill front of the integral of Eq . (()'33) . The phase of this
exponential ten n is im (R. +
R,,):j 2Ii.T, end the derivative of this
phase with respect to T giv es the frequency ns

m(~+~' ("')
w = 2h T' "'"

With u defiued llS above this means that the energy is mu' j2 [el. Eq.
(3-15)).
Differentiating the phase with respect to R" yields the wave nunlber
at the point b as

k = ~I1·+R.
I
h T ((;.."l5) I
which means that the magnitude o( the momentum is mu (ef. Eq .
I
(3-12)J.

Problem 6-5 The integral over I of Eq . (G~28) could be npproxi--

I
I
n:ntl>U by the met hod of st utiollU r)' phuso, By study ing the flpplicu-
t~OII of sucl~ 3. IIU'thOlI to t his illtl·gral. show t hat mos t of the cont rihU-
t ion to the lute'""
"'. ..
1COliI (.':J fr0 111 Y RIUCS 0 f t Hear t he region I = II./ It, thl.' I
 The pertrU'bo';on mel'lod in quantum mechtanlca

133
ti me at which the elect ron would a rrive a t th e center of the a tom of °t
1ll0Vcd IIna CI DSiS 'ICD1 manner. I I

With t he velocity of the electron defined .. u ~ (H. + H.)IT

dcline t hc incoming vector of momentum po 8S

p. ee mul.. (IMlG)
a nd the outgoing vector momentum p, as

'" = mui" (6-37)

Then Eq. (1Ml3) con be written as

K l" (b ) _,a - - iii ( 2rih

m ) " 7'''H.Ii.
u xp (im
[e 2h u'T )]

X f' lex p[i (P. - p.). r]1 JT(r) d'r (6-38)

Call the change in momentum, or the momentum transfer,

q=P.-p.
and define the quanti ty . (q) ..

• (q) = J' eW"~'JT (r) d'r (6-39)

The p robability that an electron arrives a t th e point b is give n

by the square of t he absolute value of the kernel K ,,(b,'l). T hus the
proba bility will depend upon t he .first ter m in t he series expa nsion of
this kernel, namely, K D(b,a), wh ich is likely to be so large as to com-
pletely overshadow t he small pertu rba tio n term K Ul (b,a).
For th is reason it is customa ry ill most scat tering experiments to
collimate t he in coming bea m with suitable shields so th at those
electrons wh ich nrc not scnt tcred by the ato ms ill the target are con-
fined to the region of a particular line (or d irec t ion), us shown in Fig.
fHJ. Of course, there will be some d ilTruct ion by the collim a ti ng
shields, such as t ha t studied in Sees. 3-2 a ud 3-3, which mea ns that
some nonscrrttc red electrons will a ppear outs ide this central bea ut.
However, wit h suitable collima tio n, a nd for positions suita bly fa r a wuy
from the collima ted beam, th e number of electrons di ffra cted hy t he
collimator will he very small compa red to t he number scattered by
t he a to ms in the ta rget,
In such a region t he probnhility of a rrival for nn electron is- given,
at IC:l18t to first orde r, by t he squa re of th e a bsolute va lue of /{(I)(l"o)
 (,1""1111'"1 U1N'han if's and JlGlh ,,.,../: ,,,111

131

nlone. Using Eqe. (H-3S) und (G...1!1), th is probahility is

J' (b) _ .! (_"_') ' 7'H.":H., lv(q) I'
u·~I"li"I':\=·o:ilu::l:u::;:c - ,,~ 2r/l (fi.40)

In t his last express..ion t he fnctor v(q) contains t he chnrocteti'ities

of the atomic poteut iul and t he rlepcudenee of the kernel upou th<,
relat ive directions of H.. a nd Hbo It is com pletely independellt cf
the dimensions of t he experimenta l equi pment, The effects of sUCh \
dimensions a rc re prt'S(.·ntcd by th e re ma in ing fnct ors of Eq. (tHO). I
For example, t he- ter m 1/8. '1. CUll be ea sily seen to result from the idea
th ut th e cha nce for an electron to actually hi t the ntom varies inversely
as R.:, T he applicntion of such e n idea might be qu estioned in this
experi ment in view of th e fact t hat we have supposed some collimntiJlg
shields arc present. HOWC'YCf, this collimation has 0. negligible effed
over atomic di mensions. From t he point of view of 0. target atom
the beam of oncoming elect rons a ppears to consist of electrons spread-
ing in all directi ons from a single source.
In a similar manner, af ter the sca ttering, the elect rons sp read out
again in a ll direct ions fro m t he scat tering atom. Thus the chance per
unit volume to fi nd an electron in t he counter va ries inversely as R.!.
Since the more interest ing features of the experiment are contained in
t he Iuucticn v(q)J we shall give special attention to this fu nction in the
next section,
T he additional factors dep end on the par ticular nor ma lization of
OUf kernel. We cau interpret t he formulu mo re easily if we gin it as
a ratio. We compare t he prohubility of finding 0. sca ttered portirk'
ut b to th e probability of filld illg one a t a poin t " behind the atom III
th e same total distance R.. + /(.
(und at t he sallie time T to keep the
veloci~y t he sa me} if 110 sca tt£'rillg occurred, as sho wn' ill F ig, l).; ,
T ha t J5, we calc ulate P(d) per unit volu me, us if no a tom were pn'sclIl.

~- ' .....
~--
. --<,
Fli~·,6-16 IltillrilJIt~ of 1'01Ii'IiRtio n
-. ..
to t'ii lllilllll C I III' wro-ordee t eem at b Dill}' d « ttotl'
'" 11(' I 1I.\.~
·
Il("en tlC1I11' I " f' .
t tl.. :t eas t (JIII'e r un get (rom 10 II wi lh nil)' rt0 ' ltiU llllhlt- I'tOI I:I )1 -.
11 IWI t II~ Z'OfU-f)t dl'r 1<'f1 ' ' I I ' .
I lit\,·
. "
I I. " III Ie !wor(ur JIl II UII e X I)ll Il~ i" n II( 1\ 1, ( 11 II) will t"on ttihu 1e 1\ 11\
KI I e llmOU li l lind CUll he Ill...1• 'I ..1 '11 " . ' , .
-.. ce (.'\1, ie .tnt u-nn of nllpott ,ance 18 I\ UJ (b,o ),
 Th e perturbation m edlod in quantum m et:llon if"1J
135

b
FiB· ':7 It d nntl II nrc the Mme lotn l dis tnnce from 0 , nnmcly, n", t hen th e dilTerence
(or.mt lo) of num bers of [-k~ t ~o ml nrrivilll{ nt t be t wo point./! enn df'pend only nn t he N'Ilt _
t (-ntl~ p lien_o~lcnon . If d 18 10 . t ~c d irect line of Jlo nSf>nHf'n'f1 f'I<Ttm ns, t he rul in of t he
n~ ~bM' n rrJ\"l n~ nt b to t hat ern vmg at d if no sc::at lcring source were prctlf'nt is t he proba-
bility o f scatler lng tv b.

The result is /K.(d,a)I' or

P(c!) ( m )' u'

unit volume - 2.-11 T(R. + /4) ' (6-4 1)

60 that

PCb) _ ( ~.)' / ( )1' ( R. + R. )' (6-42)

P(c!) 2.~' v Q R.'R,'

We shall int erp ret the last factor geometri cally in t he next sect ion,
where we shall also give more detailed attention to the function v(q}.

The Cross Sect io n for Scatte rin g. It is convenient to describe

the ehuraeterist iea of an atom in n scat tering experiment by means of
the concept of a. cr08S section. The ut ility of such 0. concept stems
from the convenience of thinking along the lines of classical physics.
T he cross sectio n (T is defined us the effect ive target area (from e,
classical point of view) of the atom that must be hit by on electron
in order th at the electron be scattered into a unit solid a ngle. T his
solid angle is measu red around n sphere whose eeutcr is at the atom.
T he cross section is th us u function of th e scattering unglo, i.e., the
angle between R.. und Rs. I II terms of s uch u clnss...lea l m odel we can
determine the probability t hat nn elect ron arrive's at th e point b.
H pa rticles sta rt ing fro m the origin were to hit n small target of
area l lq at d istance R t hese p:u t icJ('s would be n'THovN:1 Irom t he
G
,

region d, where t hey arc sprrud out over fi ll nrcn « N.. + R6 )/lt P 11(1.
Instead th ey are Ke it t out ill n solid Angle flU toward b uud nrc therefore
, Rp rend out o ver an urt-n Ub2 tlU t here, us shown in Fig. H-S. Hence
t he ratio of thc probability of find ing Ull~1U at b to that of fi nding t hem
,
I
Quant..", mrdla"icl!I and pat'l inl,.grob

136

FiJl. 6-8 Pnrt id l" !'t rild nJ;an ftrt'l\ cI. or t he t arget ar c clc n('("tcd t hrough An l\nRIc II into u
measured l.~· t hr- w li\1 angle Iln. If no t nrgel hed been present, the pert icles Vo"OIlL!
ft rc::t.
have proceeded 10 t he point d. IIl....tend, they p roceed to t he po in t b, lSprcadinK OUl ltllo
th e nrCt Il,: eu. TIle proh.. . bil it)· of finding II port icle 1\1. (I is inve rsel y Ilroporbonul to the
An'.:l 0 "<"1' which th (' bea m would bnve sprcnd in ar riving lit d. Simila rly , t he proLnbilit)' 01
finlhng the p:lf(K-!" at b Is i n\"('~ly proportions ) to t he a fCR R ht tin over whic h t he he3llld
SCo"\ttl'rro pnrticlcs spreads in tr:n-d inp; from t he t arget t o b. If we take t he ra tio of thlS!
areas, we have the inverse rnt io of t he n..."SOCit~t C'( 1 prcbubilit lee. From t his point or vitw
we f.lI,)' that all or the pnrt iclcs ,,·hich I.it the ta rget area dtT arc eent te rcd, and through it.
p:u1.iru b r angle O. Of course, nd \l:lllr only n Icw particles wh ich hjt the t ar get nrc seal.
tcred at a ll and cnly 0 fraction of t hese through the e ngle 8. Thus, t he eree r lemenl d.
,,"bieh we I.:a,'c used in this ce teulet lc n is th e rf/rdite eross-ecctio na! o ren for 8cattttir:g
tl,rougla the engle 0 measured in terrae of the clement. of solid angle dn into which the
parliclel lU"C 6CUtt crOO.

at d if there were no target is the inverse ratio of these areas,

PCb) (R. + R. )' dal Ro'
P(d) = R.' d!l (6-13)

On comparing Eqs. (lJ-42) and (lJ-43) we see that the cross section per
uni t solid angle is '

da =
dll (2rl'rn)' I,(q)!' (6-14)

. !hc main,advantage of an exp ression in terms of cross SC'CtiOIl

iust end of us-mg, Eq . (1;-10) di rectly is: this : E quation (lj....t4) docs pot
dCP(,~ ld o~ part icular cxperimcutn l eoud it ious, so the cross sections
o~)tal ll('d III on~ . ~r nllot l1(:r experiment Cil.11 be d irectly compared,
when-us prohubilitios per unit volum e ca nnot be. .
I~ .llIust lJc. cUl phns~t-d thnt th is idcu of on r'Ilectivc target is purelY
~ln~'1I<;a.I ll."d IS CO~I\"t'IIIC'l lt ill rl'Cordi ltJ.!; s cnt ll'ri llg proba bilities. 1·ltrrt
I S tin ~Ircd n -la tio n between it uud til(! size of th e ntom, ncr is t hr
scattC'n llg I~ l('chnllism to he t hought of us Ioculieed exact ly onf $uch
an a rea. For cxnmplC', the shadow one would expect to find clns:;icl1Uy
,
I
 Tl, e p ertllrba tlo n mel/loJ in qun ntuni naechmr i clJ

137
Ix'~l ind the ~rp;('t ili not t here .in th e classical SCIlBC (wit h sha rp hound.
nm~) : for smce we nrc dealing with a wove phenomenon th .
di.IT metlon
. .mto t Inc S1muow,
.1 ' ere IS

S JK"cinl FO"~ 8 of the Atomic Potcntinl. The re mits obtained

",h e'll t~) C nto ruic pc tcutial Y (r ) is nssumed to ha ve various forms a rc
shown III t he following problems.

Pro"'cltl 6·6 Suppose th e potential is toot of a central force.

T hus r (r) = 1' (1') . Show t1 lnt l'(q) can be written as

v(q) = v(q) = 4~ J: r ( sin r) V Cr) dr (6-45)

Sup pose 1'(1') is t he Coulomb potential Ze"t/ r. I n t his case the integra l
for I'(q) is oscillatory nt the up per limit . Bu t co nvergence of t he
integral enn be a rtificially forced by int roducing t he fa ctor e- » and
then taking t he limit of t he result as e - O. Following t hrough t his
ca lculation , show t ha t t he cross section corresponds to t hc Ru t herford
cross sec tion
~.
(6-46)
- 16(mu' / 2l1sin (8/ 2)J'
where e = cha rge on an electron
q ~ 2p sin (8/2) ~ 2mu sin (8/2) (6-4;)
8 = angle between the vecto rs io and it.

T he result of Prob. 6-6 is, accidentally, exact , That is, the f irst-
order Darn approximation gives the exact value for th e probability
of scat teri ng in a Coulomb potential. T his docs not m ean t he higher-
ord er t erm s a rc zero ; it Ulmus, ruther, that t hey cnnt rihut c only
to the phase of the scat tering amplitude. Since t he proba bility is the
a bsolu te squa re oC t he am plitude, i t is independent of t he phase. Th us
a first-o rd er Born npproxima tion, which gives t he correct value for t he
proba bilit y, is not exact for t he a mplit ude. This case of a Coul omb
sca t tering is amusing , for t here is also a nother nec ideut. A complete ly
elcs..ieal treatment of such a scattering problem, i.e., t rcut tug the
electrons as charged point mas..scs, gives t he sa me result .

Problem 6.7 Suppose t he pOtential l' (r) is the result of a charge

distributio n per ) so that
(&-18)
V'V(r) = 4".cp(r)
,,
Qllnnfll trl nlt'f"hfiniclI find pod. i"fe/lrab

138
By assu ming that p(r) goes to 0 as Ir l -> ... multiplying E'I . (f>-l8)
by cxp (iq ' rill) , nud integrating tw ice over r, show that v(q) call b,
expressed ill terms of p as

,(q) = 4<;:" J' e'·'..· ··p(r) d'r (6-49)

An atom can be represented in terms of its charge density. At

the nucleus the charge d ensity is sing ula r, 60 that it can he rcprcsentt'd
as a 6 funct ion of r of st rength Z, where Z is th e cha rg e on the nucleus. \
Then if p. is the density of atomic electrons, v(q) is

.(q) _ 4.;:"[z - J' Po(r)e"I"'-' d'r] (6·,'iO)

The quantity in the brackets is coiled the form faclor for elec tron
scattering. (Incidentally, u similar form factor appears in X·ray
scattering. The theory of X-roy sca t tering shows that only the atomic
electrons, and not the nu cleus, contribute to t he scattering. Thus the
form factor for X-ray sca t tering is the same but with the Z umitted.)
In a u atom the potential follows the Coulomb Jaw only for \"cry
small radii. As the radius is increased t he atom ic elect rons gradually
sh ield , or cancel out, the nuclear charge until, for sufficiently lnrgr
values of r, the pot ential is zero. Th e shielding effect of atomic
electrons con be accounted for in a very rough approximate manner
with the formu la
ze
VCr) = -' - e- b / o ) (6-51)
T
I
In this expression a is ca lled the radius of the atom . It is 1I0t t he
same as the outer radius of t he atom as used by chemists but instead I
is given by ao/Z~\ where aD = fI,!fmc= = 0.528 A. ' I
Problem 6-8 Show thnt ill such a potential
-h-Ze:h z
.(q) = q' (fo/a)'+ (6-52) .

and hence

- z"lmu'
rT -
2 2
A']1-'
sm .8)' + __
e - - [.... (.
(pa)'
«(j..\~) I
The total (,TOSS sect ion rTf' is defined 8S the integral of (T over tile uuit I
,
sphere; thus
•.
rTf' = f.
0 rT dn
 The perturbotioJ1 method in quantum mechanic.

139
In the present example show that tTT is given hy
Z'c ' / (2 11~)'
~T - .a' I + h'/ (2pa)' (6-,';5)

Problem. 6·9 Suppose we introduce the fact that the ntomie

nucleu s has a finite radius give n by

T = 1.2 X 10- 11 X (mess numheT)" em (6-,';6)

and assume that the nuclear charge is distributed approximately

un iformly in u sphere of this radius. What is th e effect of thi s assump-
tion on the cross section for the scatteri ng of electrons hy atoms at
large values of the momentum tran sfer q?
Show how the nuclear radius can be determ ined along with some
of the details of the nuclea r charge dist ribution by making usc of this
effect. How large must the momentum 'P of the incomi ng electrons
be in ord er to produce an appreciable elTect? Would one observe
more carefully the large or small scattering angles? 'W hy ?
N ote: In th is type of experime nt th e requ ired electron momentum is
so high that actually the re:lltivistic formula E = V m 2c. + C~ 1 - mc2
must be used to find the energy. So, st rictl y, we should not be
allowed to usc nonrcla tivistie formulns to describe the interaction.
However, the rela tions between momentum and wavelength and
between energy and frequ ency nrc not changed in the relativist ic
region. Since it is the wavelength which determines t he resolving
power of this " elect ron microscope," the momentum calculated by
nonrclativistic formulas is still correct.
Problem, 6..10 Consider a diatomic mol ecule containing two
atoms, A and B, arranged with their centers at th e points given by the
vectors a and b. Using the Born approximation, show that th e ampli-
tude for an elect ron to he scattered from such n molecule is

(6-57)

where fA. and In arc the amplitudes for scattering by t he two a~oms
individually when eac h atom is located a t the center of a. co~rdll.lnte
system . The atomic biudl ng docs lIot change the ~1U\rgc d,s~rlblltlons
around the nuc lei very much (except for very hght nuclei such as
hydrogen) because t he binding forces uffcet only u few of the outermost
electrons.
t
1\0
· )''.( 1· ("II....'.-, ) , ~JIO\\"
{TSill':: .
t ha t the prohnhility of scattering at n pnr-
t iculnr vuluc of q is proport iona l to /A2 + IlJ 2 + 2fAiv cos (q • d), where
d is a - b.

Tl c values of f comput ed by the DOni approximation are rent and

Ihc result is valid for elect ron energies usually used in dirTrnction
cxprrimcllt s 011 molec ules (the o rd er of 1 key). l~owc\"cr, if the
molecule includes t he very 11(':\d C'S ! a to ms, such as UrR IlIU In, the atomic
pot cutinl is too large for the results to be ndequntely described by the
Born npproxinmtion, nnd small corrections nrc necessary.

ProlJlem 6-11 Sup pose the molecules nrc oriented in e random

fashion. Show tha t the electron sca ttering averaged over n group
+
of such molecules is proport ional to f A2 + f IJ 2 2/ A/t, (sin q . d) / q • d.
How can this result be generali zed to the CM e of polyntomic molecules?

Th ('5(' results form t he basis of electron diffrac tion t echniques which

make possible the dcter minat ion of the form of molecules.

Proble m 6-12 Assume tha t I' (r) is independent of time and show
~t the t ime integral of t he second-order scat te ring t erm K C
%J(b,a)
gIves

K"' (b,a) = ( m .)' (---'

2nhT
!:.. )"/"/" r" + r. , +w rw
2r /l- Tcd1'ocT

x (;:.~) (r" + ru + rw)' ] l'(r,) l'(r,) d'r. d'r,

X [e p (1)>'>)

where th e points a, b, c, a nd d nrc urrnngcd as shown in Fig. ()'9. The

ter m r (ll sta nds rc:r the distan ce 1 J4 ·tw(~rll th e point c and d, etc .
Assumo t hnt I (r) Ix.'COIIlCS Ill'~l igi IJly srnull at d istan ces which art
short compared to Ho or /(~. She,w t hat t he cross S ("CtiO Il is gh'en by
q = 1~12, where the sca ttering allllJlitude J including t he first-onlcr
te rm, 16 J

f = ~12 / I" e- Ci'''I' ··' V(r)eWAh.", d'r

+ (2~I%Y JI. f '" e- bJll' ·-'<l V(r,,) (.!..) e W A1p,...

r"
. V(r.)' I." ..... d'r( d'r" + Iugher-ordcr
. terms n
(~
'9 )
where P6 is the momentu m or tl
R, d . I
I .
to e cctron t mvdillJ!; in the di rccttoll (l
r
an P. is tie tuemeuturu or an electron tm vcI'mg .in tl rc di ... lioll
 Til e pert'lrbado'J m el.llOd in q uantum meclwn ica

141

------- -- ~-

b
Fill' 6--9 T o incrc:'se t hf' neeurney of "eRHc-ring clllr.ulnt ions, w e cnn t ake neeeunt of
SN'Oru l~ rdcr 1,I'n ns In t he perturbntion f"xpnn"ion, I kre, lllI in Fij(, G·;! (3), we pir ture t he
clcd ron ns IIf"lnJ: ~n ll("r('f II\ 1 two M"P:IIIIIC points in t hl' nto mie rw,lf>nli nl. Thus Ihe etce-
tron sta rts A I 0 : IlfOl'C'f"'tls n.~ A Free p., rt ir le t o r, where it is SNl llr l1~ l ; tl u' n moves ns 8 free
p-, rt id e t o J, wbeee it is S(':IltCrM n ~ain; nn.1finnII}' moves ns a free p.u tid c t o b, where It i!;
rollcd cd h~' the count er. 11u;' poiu te C a nd d eun lie III a ny posit ion in epece. Th l' n(omil'
polNlt inl n.t t hese positio ns dep ends u pon the md iU!l veeto ra r, and r... men.suroo from the
center of the et om O.
- R... The magnit ude of the momentum is P, nnd it is approximately
unchanged by a u clastic sca t tering of the elect ron from t he (relatively
massive) atom.
One might expect t hat in a situat ion in which the Born approxima-
ti on is not adequa te it wou ld be worth while to compute the second-
order term as a correction. But in practice it seems that in this
application Eq. (<h19) is a kind of asym ptot ic series. If th e second
term ma kes an appreciable correction (say 10 per cent or more) thc
higher terms arc not much smaller and the true correction can not be
gotten easily by t his method . Of course, if it is a problem in which
th e errors of the Born approximation nrc small (sny less than I per
cent), the second term will be adeq uat e to fi nd t he correct ions.
Thc Wm.-c Function Treatment of Scatteri ng. I n t he sca t ter-
ing experiment whi ch we ha ve described we ha n assumed that t he
initial st at e of t he incoming electron wus th at of n free particle with
moment um P<I. w e hav e assumed that the va lue of t he momentum is
det ermined by a t ime-of-Ilight technique {i.e., the total t ime required
t o travel the distance fl.. + HI. is '1') .
It is not IlCCf 'S.... ury to usc such a techniqu e. Any device which
ena bles us to det ermine the momen t um is equally sntis faetory . So
su ppose we gcm-ruliac our pict ure of scattering phenomena with the
help of the wa ve fun ction l1lC'thod.
SUPI>O~ the iucomi ng c11'CtroIIS a rc known to . have mOm~llt ulll. p..
and clIC'rJO' H.. = p:t/ 2m. T hus t he wave [unct ion for the mconu ug
electrons is
I (6-00)
i
QUlin'" PI m('{".oll ;e-S (.lId fUI' 'I ;n ,cgrnltf

112
Then usr-ug tlte f rst two
" terms or Eq, (6-2;'), t he wave fun ction 1_
Ul
first order for the outgoing clef.f.ro ns 18
",(R.,I.) = e h /AJ,•.• "C- ( i /A llih

-iJ." r K .(14,1. ;<,1) l'(r,/)c'"",,-'.-""'E~ d'r dt (l>-Ill)

The first term in this expression reprc~:nts t h.e wn~e of free part icles
which have passed through the poteut.inl region without being sent-
tc rcd. The S<'COnd term is th e amplitude of the scattered electrons.
II 4-. represents this term, then "'. is t he scattered wave.

Problem 6-13 Assume V(r,t) is actually independent of t. Sub,

stituting for the free-particle kerne l K o in E q. (6-61), intcgrote the
result oyer I to show t hat

"'( R.,I.) = e (iIA)£.I. [ e h fl.lJl.· ••

m . f" Tile
+ 2".h- .!. e,·/A,,,·V(r,)e""" '-" -l (&-62)

wbcre n, is the dista nce from the final point b to the variable point of
integration c and p is the magnit.ude of the momentum of the elect ron.
Once more, suppose that th e pote ntial drops to 0 for distances
which arc short compared to either R. or R.. Show t hat Eq. (6-li2)
can be written as

.'-In
'1'\6'6,'") = e (" AI.l'aJ1e (i /Al p. ·R1 + f eWt.J
fl. ~ R.
(6-63)

where the scatte ring amplitude J is defined ill t erms of v(q) [sec Eq.
((;.:l9)J us

m
f = 27h' v(q) ((;.IH)

1Th~1 last I~rrn 01 Eq. (lHl3), UI R.) exp (ip R./ h) can be thought
Of as IC ~pntllll part of the scattered wave function . ' It has t he fonn
0, a ~PII<'1'~IJ CBI Wll\'~ rudinti Tlg outwnrd f rom t lte center- of tht. srnUcring
a om. Ie :llilphlud 1 II · ' . I r
. e (J Wi spherical wave nt 80 III e P:lrt ICU It
scatteon g nllglc t}('Pl'fI(Js tl . r
whiel L t.:t ( .upon mt allglc thruugh the funct lOlI 11
tl I, Y, I· Q..(H ) , vnrlC'S with the 11I0 1l1('1I1U111 t runsfcr fl. 1'hus
IC eomp etc ,,"U "C Iuu t ' f l J"
th ou ht of C roua or t ie r lceh olls ufter sca ttering ('nn
g US the sum of two ter ms. T he first ter m is the plane ,,"pvc
 TI,e perlurb,"ion med,ad in quonlum mecllOui~1I
H3

Fljt'. ()..IO A benm of elect rons. represented by its equivalen t wa ve, moves toward the
at omic nucleus at O. TI, e sl ro n ~~ t fm etion of the bea m 1Il0 H 'S on und ist urb ed lL'! n plane
weve with mom entum p... A ~Rl1\ 11 fmc t ion of t he beam is sca ttered from the nto mic
nu cleus an.l mo ves n"'ny from 0 116 a l'phcri l"nl WrlVC pnttl"rn. The I'C9tllting st l"l"ngt h of
th e' ..'nYC of clcet rons (t he number of elect rons) a t some point l.o loca ted at R... measured
from t he a t om ic nu cleus 0 , is t hen m ade up of t ...c porta. The fi.nl t is th e ncnscnttercd
bea m given by n ,e plane wave exp (rp.. • & /Ic). T o t his is a dded t he sca t tered wave \\'ith
t he aphcrice t ton» giv('D by ( 1/Ji~) exp (ipR,JA) and multiplied by t he funct ion J. ",,·h il"h
det erm ines the a ngular dependence. The com bina tion of th ese two waves gives t he
spatial part of (he sca tt ered wave fun ction .

of nonscattered electrons, exp (ipCl · ~/h), and the second term is the
spherical wave of scat tered electrons, as indicated in Fig. 6-10. Use
this point of view t o derive t hc form ula for t he cross sect ion IT.
PrQblenl 6.14 Usc the wave function approach to d iscuss t he
scettcrlng of an electron from n. sinusoida lly oscillating field whose
po tential is give n by
V(r,O = U(r) coo wt «(Hl;;)

Show that in t he fi rs t-o rd er Born approximation t he ene rgy of the out-

going wave is ehnuged by either +wor -(oJ , 'Vhnt happens in the
h igher-order tc rms l

6-5 TIME. DEP ENDENT PEItTURII,\TIO;l1S

ANI) T IIANSITION A ~J1·I.JT Ul)t;S

The Trunl'lilion AmJ)litudc. An especially useful form of the

pcrturbntiou t heo ry occu rs if the Unpl'rhl rl!("(1 problem cor!l"S~lllls to n
potcut jul U i lll.l(~lll'lIdl'nt of t ime, for thou we hnvc see n III Eq . (4-50)
 • d palll inregrnb
Quanlu". nlec'lnnlC$I on

IJ.l
ed kernel can be expanded 118 (now in one dimen..·
t hat the unper t urb ~l()n
for couvcuictlre)
Kv(2.0 = L ¢.(r,)¢=(rJ'-(;··"'c.~',) for I, > II (fHoG)
•
. t erms 0 r tbc c,'gcufunct iol1s t1J.. and
10 •
eigenvalucs
•
E.. of til e unpertur
•
L •
U\.'Q

pro II) cm. Let us look a t ou r senos for K 1'(2,1) after •su.bst it uting t1.:-
IICj
('xpl"C§ion for l\u. 'Vriti ng ou t t he first t wo t enus, It 15

K,·(2,1) = L¢.(r.)¢=(r,).-(;··""'~'"
•
- i LLf ¢.(r,)¢: (%.) V(r ,,'.)e-C·· ·,."'....,'¢.(%.)¢:(x,)
• •
X e-C" ~''''''''~ d:r. dl , +." (6-6i)

It is clear that in each term the Xl will appear in some wave function,
Iike 4': (z. ), and the x2 likcwise, so we can always write K v in the form

(6-68)
• •
where th e A's arc coefficients depending on t f , ll. We shall call these
coefficients tranBilion amplitud es, To zero order in V, this must reduce
to K u, 60 to this order A.... = 6.... e- h l:'..IlJ(Is- " J. If we expand Ain a
series in increasing orders of 1', we have

... (6-69)

and comparison to Eq. (6-67) shows

. Problem 6-15 Recall that in Prob. 5-4 we d efined a pnrtirub r

Illtr'gral. as the trnusit ion a mplitude to go Irnm stat e !f(r ) to stsh'
~(~~'I Show that the Iunctlun X",.. sa t isfi es t his d efinition wheu till'
IIut l6 sta te is U . r . . . .
. ~e cigen unction t1J..(:c) and the final state is the rlg ell
f unct ion ¢ .. (:c).

Define, for brev ity ,

V• • (t.) = f' A'( )V(xa,la) tb.. ( Xl) dZ

- . v .. Xa a
 T/18 perlurb,J.ion method in quantum mecllOnictl
us
(This is sometimes called th e matrix clement of V between slates nand
m .) Then Eq. (6-70) cu» be written as

(&-72)

This is an important result of th e t ime-dependent perturbation theory.

The coefficient >0..... is t he amp litud e for th e system to be found ill state
m nt t ime I z if initially the system is in stat e n.
Suppose the wave Iuuetion at II was 4i.. (x l)' What is it at /21
Using Eq . (3-42), we CRn express th e wave function at 12 88

J:. Kv(2,1)<I>.(xJ dx, ~ LLx..4>,(x.) J-'. 4>~(XI)<I>.(X,) dx,

, I

= L~,.4>,(xJ (ll-73)
,
That is, the wnve function at 12 is in the form LC... r>... (x z) •
•
This expan sion in t erms of cigenfunetious was first int roduced in
Eq. (4-48). New we can assign n deeper menning to the constant s e.
'Ve can interp ret e...
as the amplitude t hat t he system is in state 4J .
In this particular case, e.. = "-..... is th e ampl itude to be in th e state
¢m at time t, if at II t he state is ¢ n'
\Vith no potential acting, a system once in state n is always In
state n with un amplitude varying in ti me. So, to zero order,
'" _ ., ...-(lE,J A)(t r' J
1'0 ..... - "' .....c.

We can interpret the fi rst-order term by the rule (Fig, ()"11 ) : The
amplitu de to be scattered/ rom slale n to m in a lime dl is - (i/ h) I"mn (t) dt.

Fig.6-tl A system inili:lll)' ll.t

t he nth energy level is suhject cd
v to ll. potent inl Y which "8('01-
n.t t ors " t he It)"slt'1lI in to ull of t he
n..
st utos Ilv:lilublr t o it . TIle
umpl itude Ior II >\C:\ltcr jng into
n n t he Ath s tate, Ior examp le, is
propor t iOIl :,1 to I "h . In (lllr-
n-, n-, t il·ubr. t he a mplit ude to he
scuttere..l ( tom t lit' stst e " 10
the >:l l" tc III ill tilt" t illle illte-rv ,,1
,lt i:l - (i/h}l·....(l)uf.

Initiol stole Finol slole

U6
Problem 6-16 Interpret Eq . (0-7 1) ns u sum over o.ltcrnnlivC8;
i.c., ioeut-if)' the nlteTllnt i,'cs.

Problem 6- 1 -t In terprct
....
Eq (6-i2) by explai
.. . . •
ning t he meaning a
c: la in and verify the equation for the sccontl-<ln!<:f
ench tr-rm. TI jcn exp
cocfiicicut

).. ..
en = - .! J." [J.loh L'\' e-(·'~)B'..(I'- 'J l' Ml (t.)
11: II
•
X e - (i /",EI(t.- I. )V.... (lJ)rWA
1B. (',-,,) dl a] dtt (6-74)

Problem 6. 18 Derive and interpret the int egral equation

Problem 6-19 Consider ).....(h ) as a function of the final time ',.

Show, using either Eq. (6-i5) or Eq. (6-69),
d

•
'
L• .
dl. >". (1,) = - ;; e',""E.-E.I',V.... (t,)~ .. (t,) - T. Em~m.(t,) (G-iG)

Give n direct physical interpretation of this result. Next, deduce

t his result directly from t he Sch rcdinger eq ua t ion. Hi nt: Usc Eq.
(~i3) Slid substit ute into the Bcbrcdiuger equat ion. Note thnt
EC!. (&-76), wit h t he initial cond itio n "-. .. (to = 6. .., could be used to
dete rmine t he )..' 6 d irectly .

We ca n interp ret all of t he terms in Eq. (6-69) by t ho nile thai

- (i / A) 1'• •(1) dl i, the a mplit ude t hat t he potential V will sca t ter (or
induce u t raueit iou) from a sta te n to 11 sta te 1n during t he thue iut.cnoal
dt. We CUll go from t he state 11 to the state m by 0, 1, 2, . .. or
llI~rc scutterings. We can go direct ly between t he t wo states, i.e.,
wit h 110 scat terings, only if m = n, Thus t he first term in t he (':s pall·
sion is proportional to 6......
Ti le scc.:o.nd tc~lII, given by Eel. (6-72), gives the a mplitude t.hDt
~hc tmllsl~ loll will tuke pluee as the result of u single scnth'rJn~.
The ft lllphtudc for t he purfiele to 1Jc found i ll t he ini tial stat e '1 IS
exP[ - .iA'.. (t a - tl)/Il l ut the t hill' t l . (I II th is case the ph rase <Ito he
found III th e sta te u" should be inte rpl'dcd as " uv uilablc for sclLt h'riug
from the state n bv,1 t he. potenti.1 I' • " ) 'f l ie amplit I U d e t 0 l)C s eat h-red
hy th e potential V betwee n the state n and tile state m is ( -ji M......·
 The perturbarion mer/loo in qltanh~m mechanicll
111
\
Finally, the amplitude to be found in th e state m (which in t his etL8C
menus " t he amplit ude t hat the state ' 'I shall he uvnilnblc to the particle
at th e t ime th e sc at tering takes place" ) at the t ime I, is pro portional
to cxp [- iH..(11 - I,)/ AJ. This scatteri ng can ta ke place at any ti me
between I. end 'I· Th erefore, nn int egration over the t ime fa is carri ed
out between these two end points.
The th ird term, given by Eq. (6-74), is th e amplitude £01' u tmnai-
l ion as th e result of n dou ble, or second-order, scattering. The
first scat tering takes the system from its init ial state n to the inter-
medi ate sta te k at the t ime I,. T he system then stays in t his state
until the time t4, when its availability (or scattering is again meas-
ured by an exponential fu nction , exp [( - i /1t)I::',(t.. - / 3»), Another
ecntt ering tnkcs place at the time I .. and carri es th e syst em from the
state k to t he state n. 'Vc int egrat e over all of the possible alternate
times (or t he scatterings t.. and f" requ iring only that the timc I I shan
be earlier than the time t... Next, we cdd over all the possible states
k into which the system ma.y have been sca ttered in the intermediate
interval.
The terms of Eq. (G-C9), which we have just interpreted, give the
results of the general time-dependent pertur bat ion t heory. H is
applicable when the unperturbed system has a constant ham iltonian a nd
thus deji llite energy values. Next , 'we shall study some special cases
of this theory in more detail.

First-order Trnnsitions. First, let US take the case that the final
state m is different from t he initial state n and let us consider only
the first Born app roximation, i.e., the second term in Eq . (~69) .
The result will be applicable for small values of V. The amplitude
that we make the transit ion from m to n is

(&-77)

This is n very important special formula in the t imc-dependeut pertnr-

f bation theory. Suppose as a first exa mple that V(x ,t) = r ex) is not
an explicit function of ti me. If we take th c interval of time from 0 to
t T, then since V..... is constant, we have
I

1
,
c' , IAU /(.- K..l T -
f ""V.... /.'.... _ n.
1.'
(&-78)
 L·
Quant"". n1f"f"n"ruc. d nnlh in If-lrals
an ,--

148

t VI

o T
r
F'i 6-12 The potential aacet inl/.: the lrnD8it ion from m to n is turned on a nd ofT sloltty
As lh~ ti~c factor Lccom~. smoother (e.~.•48
\\":5; the lime ytlri:lt ion f (O, t-Ilown here.
discont inuitil'S llppc.U in successively higher dorivetivcs) t he proba bl ht.y of n trn.tlSllion
becomes 6runllcr.

The probability of a transition during the time Interval T is then

P(n-< m) = I~••("I· = IV••I' [hiD' (E. -;: . ) T J (E. - E.)-·

(&-79)
\\7e see that for at least a long interval T this probability is a rapidly
oscillating function of th e energy d ifference E" - E... If E.. and E..
o

differ appreciably, it is very small, i.c., if IV..... / « IE", - E.. I. This

means t hat th e proba bility thnt the energy in the final state \...ill be
modified app reciably from that in t he init ial state by a very weak
constant pert urbation is very small. One might ask : How can the
energy be ex pected to ehaugc at nil by the huge amount E... - E.
IlS a res ult of the small disturbance l' ... n? The answer is that we have
considered l' to sta rt suddenly at t he t ime t = 0 1 and the d efin iteness
?£t his ti me permits, by t he uncertainty principle, u large uncertainty
10 th e energy [cf. Eq, (S-19) and associated discussion}.

Problem 6-20 Suppose V is turned on nnd oIT slowly. For

e~nln plc. let 1'(x,l) = 1'(xlj(/), where j(l} is smoot h, as show n in
hg.6-12.
j(l) = ~~." for I <0
= l - He~ fDrO<I<T
2
= 1- } ~C'1 IT"") for ; <t <T
= H e r(f-TJ for t > T (6-80) I
Suppose that 1/7, which is the time of rise of the funct ion j WI «T. 'I

:-.. (E:'.... - ) ~' ") . Show

but suppose further that ." <l' , that the proh:! I)1,'ty
I ,
 Tile perturbation m el"oo in quantum mechanic»
149

given by Eq. (6-79) is red uced by n fneto r h '/ h' +

(E. - E.)'II ' .
I n t his defi nition of J(I) we still have a discontinuity in the second
deriva t ive with respect to time. Smoother funct ions ma ke st ill
further reductions.

If it should happen that E... and E.. nrc exact ly the sa me energy, we
find P (lI - m) = IV..... 12T 2JIl2. T his RroW 6 IlS t he squa re of t ile t ime.
It mea ns thnt Do concept of the transition proba bility per u uit time is
not mea ningful in t his casco T his formula hok.l s Dilly for T short
enough t hat V..... T « Ii . I t tu rns out t hat. if only t wo states of exactly
the sa me pertu rbed cnergy nrc invo lved , th e probability of being
found in t he first goes as cos t C1 V'",.. IT/ h) and of being found in the
second as sin 2 (IV..... ITI ii ), while our formula is only a first approxima-
tion to this.

Problem 6-21 Consider the special case that the perturbing

potential V has no matrix clements except bet ween the two levels
1 and 2 ; and furth er, suppose t hese levels arc degenerate, t hat is,
suppose E 1 = E 1• Let 1"11 = Vn = v a nd let V ll , Vrt and aU other
V_ be O. Show thnt

),11 = . . . = cos T.T (6-81)

, . vT + . v)T · .. vT
1\11 = - "-,; 1. BAa _ ••• = - I SI" T (6-82)

Problem 6-22 In Prob. 6-21 we have V I ! = V!h so that VI! is

real. Show that even if V II is complex, t he physical results are t he
same Oct . = IV.. I).

, Such systems swing ba ck and forth from one sta te to the other. A
, further conclusion can be dro wn from this result . Suppose the pe r-
t urbation nets for an ext remely long ti me so that I".....T/I. » 1. Th en
if t he syst em is invcstigutcd at uu arbitrary t ime T , which is somewhat
indefi nite t he proba bilities of being in eit her t he first or second state
arc, on U rI C average, eq unl. That is, a small indefi nite perturbation
acting for a very long time between t wo sta tes at t he sam e energy
makes t hese states have equal pro ba bility. Th is will be useful when
we discuss the theory of stnt lst .ical mce lumics ill Chap. 10.
T he case of great importnucc is thut ill which t he values a~lowcd
for H.., t he energy or the fi lial sta te, nrc 1I0 t scpnmte nnd discrete
but lie in u continuum or at lcnst nrc extremely closely spuccd . Let
, us bay that pCB) dE iafh c nu mber of levels or slates in t ile range of
f
 Quan ,.,nI m H'honicI' and pa'h in'Plrnll'

ISO
energy }; to E + (IE. Then we ca n ask for the proba bility to go to
some sta te in th is continuum. F irst we sec th~t to go. to an y fltnh!
Icr which E.. - H.. is la rge is very un likely. It IS most likely t hat lhe
fi nal state will be one of ncnr jy t he sa me energy as t he originnl £..
{within an error ± 1-~....). The totnJ chalice to go into any state is

~ ~ 4 sin' ( E. - E.)T/ 2hl

L, Pen - m) ~ L, IV••1' (E. - E.)'
... -1 ... -1

-fE· II• I' 4 sin' (JE. - E.)T/ 2I,) (1l' ) dE (G-83)

- .... (E.. 1':..)* p:;", II

T he quantity 14 sin' [(E. - E. )T/2t.J1 /(E. - E.P is very large if

E. -:::; E.., reaching a maximum of 1"-lh*, whereas it is much smaller u
E... a nd E. differ appreciably (relative to /'tI T), as shown ill F ig. ()"13.
T hus a lmost all t he contribut ion to t he integral on E... comes when
E... is in the neighborhood of th c value It...
If V..... does not va ry rapidly so t hat we ca n repla ce it by a typical
value, and furthermore if p(E...) likewise docs not vary rapidly, then
to a good approxima tion we can replace the integral of Eq. (6-83)
by the expression

41V I' (E ) f , · · in' I(E. - E.) T/2t.)dE (" 0')

.... p .. (E.. _ E.. ) ! " U"'O't;

Since t:
[(sin' z )/ z'1 d. = w. t he integra. of Eq . (G-84) has t he value . .
rT12A and we obtain t he result that t he probabiJity Ior a t ra nsition to

r
I
t
I

•
~
l
o 3. t
Fig. 6.13 10 t1IW figure t be cncrgy di ITcrencc J: _ • • .
When t hese two ~nerl;i('!l lire npp roxirulltel '" E . IJ! ecnluced by the vnrmblc. r.
(Kin t 7.)/7.' IlJIJlrood lNi it t! m n xim UIn v al ue ~, C(lt'll (tllU.", :z IH very fll n ull) t h e lund ~1I \
IJCI:Omc.!l Very Kma ll TI LUK In exp . • ' . or fl IRt· va luf'>! 01 tile d ilTerence the fun d IOn
. • ~ rl'tillIOnll Ulvolvil U · I
oon trihu tion ll eome froUl ti le ('t.'u tru.l .....,.;". I I
' .
. lit I ~ un enc n, t he Ill0000t Im portll l1
I ~
.
n p proxlIlIll. t ely t'fl uni .
-.0-_"' I " t L't . U..
I... r 1'8)00
' wItere th e two cnerg J{'
. ::l ...-
•• • I.

I.
 ri,e pertu rbation method in quantll.n& mechoniclt

151
"
I some state in the cent inuum is
':
l Pen --+ m) = 2rIV•• 1' p(~.)T (f~85)
\
and that the energy in the final state is th e same ee the CIICrgy in the
origina l state.
From these results we can write the probability of a transition per
unit time in the form

(6-86)

where I1f.._... is culled t he matrix element f or the transition and p(E)

is the density of levels in the fi nal state. In our case !Ifn_... is V",,, .
If we went to a higher-order expa nsion of "-....., it would be morc com-
plicated. Another way to write this expression is that th e probability
of Do transition per un it t ime from state n to some particular stat e m is
dP (n--+ m) _ 2r~(E. - E.)IM._I'
dl - h (6-87)

Then when we sum over a group of states m, only those with E.. - E..
survive. Since L f dE. p(E.), we get as • resu lt Eq. (6-86) .
m
--+

' Ve may Illustrate Eq. (6-86) by an example which we have pre-

viously discussed from a d ifferen t point of view, na mely, the scat-
terin g of an elect ron in a potential (cf. Sec. 6-4). Suppose an other-
wise free particle has an interaction with a cent ra l potential l''(r)
and we wish to d iscuss the scatteri ng of th is particle fro m a n initia l
stat e of a definite mo ment um to final state in a ne w direction with
another definite mom entum. We suppose that the state n, th e
initial state, is a plane wave of momentum PI, 50 t hat t he wave function
~ .. is exp (ipi or /h) (which is normalized 5 0 that t he integral of the
a bsolute square of ~ .. over a unit volume is unity) . Likew ise, suppose
the fi na l stat e is a pla ne wav e of momentum p, so that the wav e func-
tion ~'" is exp (ipt rIll,) , The matrix clement V... is
0

V .... = f r c (i/"l,•.rV(r)clil"l" .r d'r

- v(q) (6-88)

where q = PI - PI. In t he sca ttering, the energy will he conserved so

tl lat p tt/ 2m = Pit/ 2 m. T his menus that the mnguit udcs of mome nta
P I und PI arc t he emne, Let us set them eq ua l to p, so thnt

Ip,' ~ Ip,l ~ p
Quonlll ni 1IIl'ChaniC'1' and pndl integrala

152
ny our usual eonvention for writing c.! ilTc~ntinl elemel~ L~ of 010nJcn. "/'
"r of states which ha ve t heir momenta 111 t he volume .-I '
t urn , IIIC 11\ I I1,1...- • • ~ )a _ '! d tlf! ;'
clement of momentu m space "1>, IS d~J (2"'1 .- P P / (2rl)', -/
whore tin is the (') (' III (,l1t of solid a ngle wh ich COtl~tIIS th e m Olt lCl\tu lll ;!
vector p:. An cl(,l1l('ut dR of the energy range IS couucctcd to the
clement of momentum space by ~
• d
dE - d p. - p p
2m m
Thus the density of momentum states for particles traveling into the 'f.
(ll-89)
,
solid a ngle em is

(6-00) rJ
..
"
Subst ituting these relations into Eq . (6-86), we find the probability of
t ran sition per second into the element of solid angle em is given by
*'ri·
(ll-91)
•
j::

\Ve define en effective target area or cross sect ion for scat tering
into d!2 8 S da (eL Sec. 6-4) . T he number of particles that win hit
this nrea per second is th e cross-sectional area times the velocity
of t he particles coming in, U l = pJ m. This is because we have started
-
,.
with wave functi ons 4>" which were norma lized. on a u nit volu me; or ill
other words, the relative probability is unity to find one particle in
any un it volum e. Thus
dP P, ,'1.
dl an = u 1 d4 = m da (ll-92)

Therefore we obtain for the cross section the result,

du (m)'
2.';; I·(vl'
dlJ = (6-93)
'.
which is just what we obtained in Eq . (6-44). "

Problem 6-23 Show t hat the sa me result is obtained for tla/dO

even if the wave Iunct.ions 4J" nrc normalized to give a unit prol.tnbi lity
for SOUle a rbitrary volu me V.
.. Problem 6-2' Suppose that the potc ntiu.1 V is period ic in ti me- ,
" or eX.3..lI1 ple, suppose V(.r ,t) "" I'(.r)(t i..., + e- '..'}. Sh ow thnt the
"
\,
probability for a tmnsition to take place is small unless the final swte .~

't
 Tllr prrlurlmrion rnellwd in quunlum mee::hun ira
153

is one of t he two values (1) E, i ... 1 = E i..i ll al + liw (corresponding to a n

absorpt ion of ene rgy} or (2) R ' inal - £.'In; lIal - liw (corres pond ing to
the emission of energy) . T his llIeans t ha t Eq . (C...sG) is uncha nged,
but the density peE) of sta tes must he calculate d a t th ese new values
of E. Or, in a nalogy wit h Eq. (6-87), we ha ve

dP (n - m)
- dt-
2" 1 I .
- -" M .-. '[1(1' . - E. - hw) + I(E. - E. + hw» )
(6-94)
ProlJlelll 6·25 It has been argued that th e equations of th e clec-
trodynntnica must, like those of mecha nics, he converted to a quantized
for m On the basis of ti le photoelect ric effect. Here nn elect ron of
energy liw is occasiona lly emitted from a thin layer of meta l under
t he influence of light of frequency w. Is this impossible if matter
obeys t he quantum laws but light is st ill represented. as a conti nuous
wave ? What a rguments call you adduce Ior the necessity of giving
up n cla ssica l description of electrody namics, in view of the results of
Prob. 6-241
Problem 6-26 Suppose we have two discrete energy levels E 1
and E 2 , neit her of which is in the continuum. Let a transition be
induced by a pote nt ial of the form V(%.t) ~ V(%)/(t). Show that th e
probability of transition is
P(I- 2) - IV" I'I"("',>I' (6-95)
if f (i) is representable by the Fourier t ransform
. . d",-
I (t) =
J- . " (,,,).~.
d.
(6-96)

and "" = (E, - E.)/~.

If 10) is a statist iea lly irregular function fa milia r from the theory
of noise (called filte red white noise), t he value of t/J(w) given by the
inverse transform
(6-97)

depends 011 th e ra nge T of integration of the time I. If T is vcry ln~,

I ~Hwu) 1 2 ca n be shown to be propol'tiou~l .to T . T hus \~.~ get~, t ~nsl­
tion probability proport ional to t he ti me a nd the intensity ~r
" po wer" {mean-squnre vnluc of J per second) nt. ~n'(lu(,IlC)' w" per ,u.lIIt
Ireq ucue y runge. I n vir t ue of this, ti ll,' I'o.lhnl)\.hf)' fur t h." t mnsit ton
? of all atom in a conti nuous spectru m of light IS pruportio nnl to (1)
I
Quanfum m echanic'" and path in k~rn'"
IS~

the exposure t ime nnd (2) the intensi ty of light nt the frequency
(E, - E ,)/ I, of absorption,

The IIi,: her-order Terms , It is interest ing to look at th e 6CCond_

order term in the pertur bat ion expn nsion. This te r m is of S(X'Cinl
importa nce in the problems where J'..... = 0 for those pa rticu lar ~1.ntC8
m and n of interest, Let us suppose thnt we have such a prohlem, a nd
suppose further that th ere nrc other sta tes k ~ m for which V,.. ¢ O.
T he first-order term is 0, and so long ns n ~ m t he zero-o rder term is
likewise zero. Thus th e lowest-order te rm which enters into the
calculation of th e transition nmplitude is t he second .
Suppose th nt t he potential I" is independent of t. Then the Bccond_
ord er term in the t ransition clement is X","(%) ; and if T t 2 - t l , we II:;

have from Eq. (&-j4)

e+(·J~l(E.,.lr-E.I,I'\
~.....
(I) -
- - h! L
1~ V IT
""" '"
J.
0
T dt
•
J." dt
0 '
• X e UlA)( F...- E ll ' oe(l/ A)( E, - Jr.)I,

= il V-t ITh / 0T e(i/AHB . -Z.h·(ehlAHE. -B.Jl" - 1)

•

e WA HB. -Ea)T _
E. _ E.
1) (&-98)

T he.first of the t wo te rms in th e II1., t factor of this result hns the

~m~fttllile dCPCII(.lCIIC(~ us we ha ve seen in Our first-order res ult
T hefC'-
ore I tother te rm is ncgli'ck>d f
IC . .
result w kl . be or II momen t, we sec t hat t he net
wit h a p: hn t~lIl to I~l ake trnw; it iolls to slaws where E... = H.. t
is or the 68m:~~:mp:~rt lo ~ml to 7 . :rhe pro ba hility per un it t ime
1- (f>-86) but With l.f ,,_ 1I0W given hy
111._ = V 1' .... Vlto
E.l' e, (&-!l9)

If we assume tl lnt the states lie i .

illk-gmt Eflunt ioll (Co No) " n a conun uum , the SUIU bccO IUC'S an
.......... Is correct I tJ . . .
im~ihle to go by first--ordcr I .. . n .IC cJrc~ mstnllcc th at It IS
state m but also to any sta te k ;UJ1s1tion, IIl lpO&!JhJe 1I0t only to th e
o thc Bame energy as the iuitinl statl'.
 The perturbation medlOd in quanhHII mechnnicB
ISS
Under these circumstances V"" = 0 for states such that E. = En.
Then the second te r m in Eq . (H-98) is never Inrgc; for it can not be
,, Inrgc unless R n - Jf':. is nearly aero, a nd th en V.l" in the nu mera tor is
zero. All the effects eorne from th e first term, and Eq . (6-99) is
," correct. Furthermore, ill the sum Over k ill Eq. (f}-!)8) there is no
ambiguity at t he pole wh ere E. = /<: ...; for the numerator va nishes
at th is su mo value of E..
On the other hand , in some situat ions it may he true that a first-
"
order tmnsition is possible to some oth er continuum state (c.g., a
, nucleus may decay in more than one way). In such n case the sum in
Eq. (fl-OO) is menninglcsa ; for we must define what to do near t he pole.
It is the neg lected second term in Eq. (G-!J8) which comes to our rescue
here and sh ows that the correct expression for AIn_", (now including
the first-order term also for generality) is

V...... V...
M._= V•• + LE E• . (6-100)
• • -
•
- 1E

in the limit e- O. How this comes about we shall now analyze.

First we may notice that for large T we ca nnot get n large probabil-
ity of transition (proportional to T, that is) unless E.. and E,., arc
practically equal (within about fJ /T) . This is evident for the firs t
term in Eq. (G-98). For the second term large amplitudes can arise
only if E" "'=' E m; but if Em is not. very close to E", the factor in front
is a smoot h fun ction of E. for E. near E",. Taking it 8 S nea rly con-
stant for a small ra nge ncar E" = E,." we sec that the second term can
he approximated by some constant times
eCiJ" hT _ 1
'-------,,_-C. d,
e
where t' = (E... - E.) is to he integrated over a small range, say - 8
to +a. But
,, a eWA ).T - 1 = j aT/A ciu - 1 d l = jaT;A(C08 Y -1 + iSill Y)dy
f _ . t dE 'TIIt !I Y aT;' Y Y
(6-101)

The first integral is that of an odd function and vanishes. The second
approaches a finite lim it as T -:-+ co (and therefore as 6T/ A_ ao).
'That is,

2 ,·!..• . sin
- y-Ydy-- 2'"•
.'
QmUltuni mcchanics and pada intcgra"

156
so no large transit ion proba bility occurs. A large effect ca n arise only
in rose H.. a nd b'.. nrc essentially equal, (or th en t he dou ble coincidence
of t he two pok-s from (E" - H.. )- l nnd (R... - 1':,,) - 1 call mnke t he
second term important. T herefore, we continue t he a nalysis, D..<tsum_
ing E.. a nd 1:.. nrc nearly equal.
T he SUIlI of k in Eq. (~!)S) can he divided into two regions by
choosing n very small energy 6 and brea king the SU IIl up into n part A
for which IE" - E"I > .11 and a part n
Ior which lEt - E..I < 6.
We choose Ii. to be small enough that th e fact or V...t V"" docs not vary
appreciably when 1.'" va ries ar ound E.. over t his energy m ngc 26.
This is some finite energy, and we shall take T so long that hIT « 6
~...hich menus that IBn - B... I « Ii..
•
F irst for part ...I, IE, - E... l > Ii.. Then t he second term cannot
become large; for its poles arc avoided. Only the first contributes
nnd t he cont ribut ion is J

,,", - I T
a x Ii (&-102)

whore z = (E. - E.)Tf Aand

(.4) \' l'
a =~ -A:b
f E" E.

The sum extends over all E, except for within + Ii. of E ThO .
I'd d - ... 1S sum LS
valu y.m cpcn cnt of ~J ~nd as 6 - t 0 it is t he dc6 nit ion of n principal-
va uc integral, That 15, In the limit 6 - t 0 we can write

a ~V.. + I V" V" poPoE 1 (r.103)

1~..
0
" J A: - V"'

where Pep is th o. I
to .. . . c prmerpn part and we have reinstated t he first-order
rm, III case I t docs not va nish.
For the region B we take V V t b
..." ,,, 0 e constant at its value for
E - _ . CI!J
A: E.. - O. That IS, we repla ce tV..." l' ""F(E,) by

[I• V..V..~(E. - Eo)] ( e.+A F (E' ) dL'

lE. -. .• n. (6-IM)

We write this as bl, where

b= f V••V••~(E. - E.)
(6-10., )
 Tile perlu,.bolion mell,ad in qllonlilm mecl,n n lCIt

157
"
and
,.
\
I = f E. + 4 dEl
} g. - . E. - E.
( Cf i/ ll CIl'. - Rol T -
E ... H...
1-
e CIIAj(Il'.. - Eo)T -
',' J'~ .
1) (6-106)
L ... -

Now we put (E. - E .)(TI t.) = % and (E. - E .)(T I t.) ~ y so that
(E. - E. )(T I t.) ~ % - Y. to get •
I _ T
h
f 4 TIA
-'TIl Y
dll (e 1_e"f
U
-
%
r

%
- . ) -
Y
1) (6-107)

. T h.is. integral is most easily evaluated hy contou r integration,

rmugmmg y as e, complex variable nnd changing the con lour. Instead
of i l~~grnt illg on .t he st might line from - t! T/ 1i to dT/fl , we go on the
sem icircle of rad ius t!T/1l below the real axis. Since IJ.T/ fl is very
large. the second term contributes negligibly; and since
4 T I A dy = i".
f -,&Tll Y

on this contour. we get I = i,,(Tl h)(eU - 1)/%. Putting the A and

B parts toget her, we get

(0 + i"b) (e'" ~ l)T (6-108)

for t he amplitude. This gives a probability for t ransition of the form

F,q, (6-86) with

M ._. = a + i"b = V• • + LV...V.. [p,p,E ~ E + i.(E. - E. ) ]

• • • (6-109)

The lost brocket CDn he written (EI< - E", - if)- l in the limit as
II! --+ 0. as we have writte n in Eq. (6-100).
From E q. (6-100) we lenrn then that even if 110 direct transition
is possible from n -+ m, nevertheless the transition can occur, as we
MY, t hrough u vi rlual state. That is, we can imugiue that the syste m
goes from n to k, then k t o m. The amplitude for nn indirect transi-
tion prec ess is given by Eq . (G- 99). 'Ye note that it is not right to say
t hat it actually goes t hrough one or nnoth r-r intcrn u-diutc state k,
hut rather that in charnetcrist .ic quallt ulll-lIl('c!ulIlit·nl Inshion there
is u certain nmplitudc to go via the va rious intcrmcdiutc states k , an d
the cou t ributjous interfere.
T he intermediate "U1U~ nrc IIOt of the snme energy ns the init ial
.1 and final states. T he conservation of energy is 1I0 t violated , for tho
•
158

virtual state is not permanently occupied. The st~llgth of contribu~

tion to th e sum vnrics inversely with t his ~ncrgy ol~crepnn cy.
,•
T here is nothing: absolute nhout th ese mtcrn)l.\(h atc sta tes . They .
;
come Irom ecnsidcring I" as a perturbation to n system II and from
speaki ng nbout t he t rue sta tes of 11 + 1~ in t('~~ of t hose o!.l1 a lone.
If ot her sopc ra tlons nrc made as to what IS the un pcrturl~d prob~cm
and whnt is t he " perturbation," differen t for mulas and intermediate
sta tes will a rise in the description.
When the potential depends upon tim e (e.g., periodica lly) , many
int eresting effects result . ) loot of these have been observe d in micro-
wave experiments, where the perturbation V (z ,t) is a. wenk electric
Or magn etic field with a periodi c variation in t ime.

Problem 6·27 Derive the perturbation expansion up through

th e terms of the second order for potentials periodic in t ime.

Sometimes 8 t ran sition cannot take pla ce except by the use of two
or more intermedia te virtual states. Analysis of such t ransitions
requires the calculatio n of third- a nd highcr~rdcr terms in the pertur-
bation expansion.

Problem 6-28 Show that when a t mnsition is impossible eit her

directly or through a single intermediate state, but req uires thc usc
of t wo intermediate states, it is determined by the matrix clement
given by
M _" V...t l'. ,I',.
.- - f f (E . 1::. )(E... - R,) (6-110)

This corresponds to th e third-order term iu the perturbation expansion.

Problem 6..29 S UPPOse ! wo perturbations arc acting, V(x,t) and

U(x,l~, fo.r example, ~ combination of d-c and a -.e elect ric fields or fl.
cotub.lIlatloll ~ electric and l t1ugn~lic fields. Suppose furth er that fl.
certa in transition cannot occur with either V or U alone but mil
OCCUr only when both net toget her. Under t he specia l assumptio n
thut bo.t1~ l' and U Dr: ~OllstUllt ill t ime, show that the matrix d ement
determining the transition element is given by
M ~ \' V..U.. + U..V••
-. f L & . 111)

Next, 6Uppa;c bot h potentials nrc periodi c in ti me but have difTc~lIl

frc<JUcnC1C8, "' I and 611. What th en is the loot": I .,
••x C cm eutj
 The perturbation metl.od in qflnnrflRl medannic.
159

Cnl cu l o l io n o f the Change in Energy o f the State. In com-

put ing transition am plitudes we have considered only t hose sta tes
, " j1I!m. Suppose we turn our attention to the term m = n. Con-
sldorlng the zero- and first-order terms in the perturbation expansion,
we have
\
~•• - 1 - Ii if. T V••(I) dt
0 (&-112 )

If V is eonetan t in timc, th is gives 1 - (i lfi)l".....T. What is the

• meaning of this result1 AB 0. eousoquenee of t he introduct ion of
t he ndditioua l potential V into th e original ha miltonian we can
expect the energies of 011 of the states of the syste m to be slightly
, altered. \Ve ca n write the new energy of the state m aa E... bE• . +
The time-dependent portion of t he wave funct ion describing this
«
slale will be cxp - iff.HE. + "'E. )II instead of the previous funct ion
exp ( -if~)E.I.
, Ove r the period of time T du ring whieh t he perturbing potential acts
this relative difference in phase introduces t he facto r
1
exp [( - i f A) "'E. T]

E xpanding this factor to first order in tim e giVC5 1 - (i l M liE.. T.

z Thus we see that a first-order calculation of the energy shift in 0 state
m du e to a perturbation V is

(6-113)
AE. = ' ''_
I
This derivation of the first-ordcr energy sh ift is not satlsfnctory
if the system is degenerate, i.e. if there arc init ially very many states
of exactly the sa me energy. 1t turns out tlwt in such a case terms of
,.'
second order in V give equally large effects.
Addiug in the socoud-order t erm in the perturbation expansion for
j
the transitio n clement gives

e-b f A) £ . 7'A...... = I - i V",,,,T

_ (~)1 ~ JOT Jolt e-e':/A)(.I',- B.J(l.-IJ dl J ell. l".... l"l.
(&-114)
I
For th e present let us (legume that tl lr~ is uo degeneracy. COlls"~('r
first ti l e term k: ." m in t he series which IS the seeoud-ordcr t r-rm. 1 he
integra l over th is pa rticular term is just 1'2/ 2. Integrals for the
Quonwm m ecllanic$ ond pod. integra"

160
rformcd easily to give thc result
terms k # m can a Iso IlC pc

Iii \'....
T - 2h!1 v.....2 1 2
e-(· /l IE.. f)..... = 1-

- L (E. _ E. )hil1'•• I'I_ T

1 - exp (
.
,!(E. -:- E.)/hll
(i/ h)(E. - E.) .
... (6-115)

The first three terms On the righf..hnnd side of this,c,q ua t ion rcpre-
sent an expansion . tlIrO ugh second order of •exp ( -, I • • T/ Il). b . The
first of the summation tenus, t he onc proportional.to T, e~n C Inter.
preted as a second-order energy change. T hat is, t~c mcrcm~n,ta1
energy IS. no t Ji USt I' ......, but contains higher-order corrections.
•
' Vr
b ltlDg
.
out the energy correction through second order in t he pcrtur aticn
energy, we get

liE.. = 1 .... -
r
...
~ V..I' ..
L E.. _ £ "

This Inst equation gives the correct expression, through second order,
(6-116)

for the shift in energy of nondegencrat e states. T his result is much

more easily obtained by conventional methods, Le., by finding solu-
tions of

(H + 1') <1> = E<I> (6-117)

F urthermore, the conventional approach based on Eq. «()"117) permits

simpler handl ing of degenerate states. However, it has been ou r pur-
pose here to give an exa mple of t he usc of transiti on amplitudes, rather
t han to gin th c simplest formulas for the comp utation of energy shifts.
Actually , th ere nrc more complex problema involving energy inere-
mcuts in which the met hod of transition amplitudes is the simplest to
apply. I n such applicat ions the scheme, us we hav e attempt ed to show
above, is to iden tify terms ill a series proportional to T, 7'1, etc. T hen.
if we remember t hat the a mplitude t o fit ay in the initial state is pro-
portional to cxp ( - i l:J. f: TIlt) am! t hat the series cxpuusiou is equlv-
alent to a series expansion of this exponential, th e correct expression
for l:J.E can be written down.
Wc have still not d iscussed the last term in Eq. {()"11.5) . If the
states E" lie in £L continuum, we must. ulso deli lie the chemctcr of t he
reciprocal in the su m of Eq. (G-11 (j). If we to ke it to mean thc prin-
eipe! value, just us ~\'c found when uualyalng t he problem in second
order for n r! m, t hia extra term can be shown to produce an elYcct
 T ilt! perturbation metlaod in quontum mecl.onic.
161

proportional to T nnd to lead to an additional correction to Eq. (&-11 6)

of
A'E.. c< -i." ~ ~(E... - E 1J l"",. 1'. ", (6-118)
,I
•
nut thi s cannot represent a further correction to the energy for it is
purely imaginary, and the energy rnust be real. Let us call it - i..,/2
(the Jf is for convenience late r) a nd write
\
iy _ ~
V.... - '-' E
IV..I'
}.'
t
AE.. - 2 -
J:'" .-u. (6-119)
\
·· T his implies t hat t he transition amplitude ~..... to be in the mth
state after a long t ime is proportional to

exp [ - i (dE. - ~) T] = exp [- i(4E.)T] cxp ( - ~F)

'.
The first factor is the energy shift. The second is easily interpreted ;
- . , T).
for the p robability to be in state m after time T is IA......12 = exp (
It falls with t ime because at each instant there is a probability that
a transit ion is made from m to some other st ate. That is, if all is
consist ent , .., must be the total probab ility per second of a transition
from m to any state in t he cont inuum of the same energy, This it is,
because from Eq. (6-118) our ~ is
,·
~ = L 2x;(E. - E.)IV.. I' (6-120)
·• •
I So we see t hat the total probability per second is j ust the sum of
I Eq. (G-87) over all possible finn! states as required (i.e., up to th e
I req uired ord er in 1').
, The reciprocal of .., is called the mean lifeti me of the sta te. Strictly
•
speaking, a state with a finite lifetime has no definite energy ; the
energy u ncertninty by the Heisenberg relat ion is li/hft't imC', or v,
,, )f resonance expcrhucnta arc performed to find t he energy diffe rence

f of two levels each of which has a decay rot c .." the resonance is not
I sharp but has a defi nite sha pe. T he cente r of th e rcsona nc:c determines
the energy difference, and the width of the resona nce gin 'S the su m
of th e ..,'s of each level.
,
"(
I
I
I

,I
I

•
 7
Transition
Ele:ments
 I s the preceding chnptcr we developed the eoueep t of 11 ~crtUthnl ion
• 01 sta te in n qunntu lIl- lIIcchnlllcal syslc m
t n-at mont 1or c I1R1l ~'''' • • • ••
Wt' ca rried out nn in\"('St ignt ioll of this method us It I: n~phcd to
systems whose ullpprturhcd 11o.milton inns n rc cc nstnut III tllIlC. hi
this chapter we shn ll conti nue t he c.JC'\'C'lopmc nt of the perturbation
concept a nd genera lize the trea t ment ~ cover . 8Y5t C~llS ~'hcrc the
u npert ur bed state may have n h31lli1tomn~1 vary mg With time. We
sha ll int rodu ce n more general type of notataou a nd att empt to bronden
and deepen our underst and ing of the ways in wh ich changes of state
ta ke place in a qua ntum-mccha nical syste m. T he notat ion to be
introduced applies to a type of fun ction which will be d efined in th e
first portion of th is chapter. The function is caned a trcneitum
d ement,
The cha pter is divided into four parts. The first part, comprising
Sec. 7-1, gives e definit ion of tran sit ion a mplitudes nnd transition
elements, with the help of examples based upon the perturbation
t heory of Chap. G. The second part, comprising See s. 7·2 to 7-1,
gives so me inte resting general relations a mong tmnsition clemen ts.
T he third part, consisting of SC'C . 7..JJ. shows the con nection between
tra nsition elements defined with the help of path integra ls and the
t reatment of qunnt um-iuccha uical transit ions d efined in terms of the
more usual operator notat ion of qunntu m mcche uics. I n t he last
pnrt, comprising Sees. 7-6 and 7-7, the results learn ed in the preceding
sections are applied to two interesting problems of quantum mechanics.

7-1 DEFlMTlOjI; OF TilE TRANSITION ELEMENT

~he development of a qunntum-mechauicnl system with ti me can be

pictured as ~oIlows. At a n initial ti me t. the state is d escribed by the
wa ve f UIlCtTOIi lJ.'(xl,l,). At a later t ime l th is original state will
d evelop into the stat e 4>(x,h) . e
~~ this }ate~ ti me suppose we ask the questlon : " 'hat is the prob-
, ,
a bility of Iiud ing t h.e s!~tcrn in t he spccjfie state x(r z,h )? ' Ve know
fro m U~c general prlllcl~lcs d eveloped ill Chap . 5 that the probability
of finding t he sys tem In th is specified state is proporti onal to the
squa re of the a mplitude defi ned hy
f x·(x"lt)4>(x"I,) dx•
. We also know f~m Chap . 3 that the function 4> ca n be e xpressed
m 'L ' of Ithe origiuul · wave funct ion will. IIrc I1('1p oi1 II
d terms tne k ern.... 1 K
cscn IIlg t u'' propagat ion of tI te 5'>':\ I"'-'111
.. I x'twce u t he times
' I, a nd I t · .•
I"
 TrnnJlition elements
165
Thus, in determining the probability of find ing the system in u spccified
state we cn.1l s tar t with th~ origill!lI wave Iunet ion '" end bridge the
\ time gnp with the propagation kernel K(2,l) .
The res ulti ng a mplitud e, whose a bsolute squ are gives the probability
desired, we s ha ll call the transition amplitude, a nd we shall write it in
the followi ng notation :
\
" (7-1)
We wis h to return to nn even more basic d escription of the transition
p henomena, and we reintroduce tile action S descri bing t he behavior
DC th e syst em between two time limits. Thus we write the transition
amplitude us
••
(xI111f). = JJJ x·(xc).<8'A,J,(x,) :Ox(!) dx, dx. (7-2)
••
H ere we have made the notation n bit more expl icit by attaching su b-
script S to the transition amplitude to indicate the action for which
the integral was calculated. The path integral is to be taken over
all paths which go from X l to X2, end the result of this path integral
is multiplied by the two wave func tions, then integrated over the space
variables at the two limits.
Before proceeding further, we shall define the notation more com-
plet ely to cover a more general situat ion. we introduce the func-
tional F(x (OJ without (for the present) descri bing its physical nature.
With this functional we define a tran sition clement as follows:
(7-3)

Here F is any functional of xCt) which docs not involve x(t) at the
end points XI or X 2 or beyond the end points. In th e special case that
F = 1, the integral of Eq. (7~3) defi nes a transit ion amplitud e.
i It is difficult to und cratn ud transition clements on t he level of
"
intuitive physics. Onc approach to ward s~eh und~rstnll~i llg ill \'ol~'cs
I a classical analogy. Picture a small particle movmg WIth brownian
"

motion. At SO Ule initinl t ime, t = t l , the particle is at .rl· We wish

to dctcrmlue the probability that the particle arrives at the point Xt
at the time t = /1.. For quantu m-mechanicnl purt ielcs, we tulk ubout
starting from an initia l sta te a nd arrive at some fi nnl ~t:l~l.>. T hus, the
( point x for the brown ian particle is 11 1l31o goUR to th e luitml wnvc func-
( tion ""(~J in I~cr. (7-2) , and the point .r2 to x (.r:) · F~rtll£:rlllur(', ~hc
,
•
, solution of t he quuntum-mechnuieal problem requires int egration
QUI'" ,' unl JUf't'/uUlic" m lf' IHlII. in lf'8 rf1/ -e

166
ever the va riables %1 Dud I 2 of th e initt ul and final states-a step I

unnecessary in our cln..~ ic:.d problem. . , ,

" . Id .......1
\ " e \\ OU sore e th e elassicnl pro hl{'lU by conside rlll g all pes...ihle
' 1 h i"
ths for the particle's motion. We would wctg l.t cue pat 1 Wit I tlw
~nction defining the proha bility that the purll~lc ~ctunlly follows
I a path and then integrate t he weighted eontribu t ions for all such
suc 1 • • I t iS 11t.
pat hs. The weight ing function 15 a nalogous to t 10 crm e uppcur-
ing in the integral of Eq. (7-2). , .
Th e Iiual posit ion in such n problem would be not a single pomt,
but rather a small region, x, to x, + dx . T he result, when properly
norma lized, would be t he d ist ribution function P (x,J giv ing t he rela-
tive probability of arriving in t he (differential) vicinity of x,. This
function is anal ogous to th e transition am plitude of E q . (7-2) in the
ease that 'It nod X arc 11 functions of position.
Now suppose we wish to know more about the motion t han simply
the relat ive probability t o arrive at %,. For exa mple, we may wish to
find the uccelcratiou experienced by t he part icle at some part icular
time, say 1 sec after it starts. But now we need t he weighted aver-
age of t he aceclemticn, i.e., t he nccelernt ion for each possible path
wit h each path weighted by t he funct ion defining the proba bility of
the pat h. Such n weighted av erage is an alogous t o the trnnsit ion
clement of Eq. (7-3). T he property of int erest , such as the uecelera-
t ion at some time " replaeea the function Flz (t) ] in the integral of
Eq . (7-3), The classical proLlcm could be w ived by a path Integral
very similar in form to that of Eq . (7~3) .
I n t he remainder of this chapter we shall make usc of this a nalogy,
and we shall occasionally refer to transit ion clements 8S " weighted
avern~ . ,
.. II owever, .It must be kept in mind t hat the weighting
functJ~1l III quantum mechanics is u complex fun ction. Thus the
result Is not Oil "average" in the ordinary sense.
Th~ path ill~f'gral l~lethod of sol vin g bro wniau- mot jcn problems as
dcsc~ Lcd III t his classical analogy is actually a very powerful method.
It will be d: vclopcd il~ detail in Cha p. 12. For now, we attempt to
furt her clarify the non ce of a tra ns it ion clement wit h t he help of the
pertur bati on theory developed in Chap. G.

Pcrlurbaliontl. Suppose the action desc ribing the development

of the system can be separated into two parts so that S = S o + 11.
'i e sup~~ that t he fi r:.t part SIJ leads to siluple ~nth integra ls, whereas
t l~ remnuuug pa.rt (1 is emnll enough t hat we ca n apply 0 per turbutic n
ac cme. 'Ve wnte the exponential fUlJction of E{I. (7-2) as
e'S" = f;i!~-'fte'·f" (7-0
 Tron llilio n e le men l.
167
\ Using Eq. (7.;j), the transit ion clement of Eq. (7-2) becomes
), <xllllf).,... = (xlcw,'/If).. (7.5)
\ The exponential funct ion can be expanded to give
,\
(xlJ llf)••+o = <Xllllf). , + i (xl· IIf)s, - ~, (xl. ' IIf).. + (7-6)
\
This expa nsion is n generalized version of Eq . (6-3) and forms t he
,
" basis of the pcrt urbnticu theory. T he trnnsition d ements which arise
in most qua ntum-rneclmnicul problems result fmm t his expansion.
Suppose the pertu rbation act ion t1 results fro m 0. perturbation
potential, so that
• = f V(x(I),t] dt (7.7)
T hen the first-order perturbation is given by the transition element
, (x/.IIf)s, ~ f(xIVlx(I),tl!lf)s, dl (7-8)
I
To evaluate this element, we need to solve the integral
h

,•
<xIV[x(t),tJlIf)s, ~ J.,JJ x · (x,)e"""V[x(t),tlHx.) dx. <lx, :!>x(1) (7-9)

, TIle first step in the solution of this integral is the sa me as the

: solution for the pertur bation kernel K II) described in Eqs. (6-8) to
(6· 11). T his solution for the path in tcgro.l is followed by in tegration
, over both end poin ts, %1 end %2, as well as o.n integral over the midpo int
, %3 {ident ified us t hc point c in Eq. (6-10»). T hat is,
•,'. (xl1'[x(t) ,tJIIf)., = Sx· (x,)K,(2,3) V(3)K.(3,1)If(x,) dx. <lx, dx, (7-10)
'Vc have now a rrived a t a n expression which co mbines three concepts
•.r previous ly int roduced. First , we have made usc of t he propagation
rule for a wave fu nction as defined in Eq. (3-12). Next, we ha ve made
i usc of t he amp litude function us defi ned in Eq . (5-31), which gives t he
e amplitude t hnt u system known to be in one st ate will be found in
a nother state. Las tl y, we have made usc of t he first-order pertur ba-
t ion t heory give u in Eq . (fi..ll ) for the kernel dcscrihiug the propnga-
tion ill t ime. All of these ideas combitu-d give the tmnsit iou C'lCIUC'ut
, of &1. (7-10) . T he a bsolute squnre of this element is t ll(' pro ba bility
thnt u syst cm atn rting ill state ';' nnd ncted upon b.r the s mall poten tial
I" "(.e,t) will he found at II Iutcr ti me in the sta te X (if state X would 1I0t
he reached for V - 0, t hat is, if (xI1 11f) ~ 0).
(!Iumlurn nl f't"llOn irll nnd palll Inlt'lI rt1 'lJ
\68
0 I?) 10 shortC'1I our lIotat ion, in t he Elalll(! way ~
\Vr can use F.'.fl· (,1- .. ' . I r r '
. 0 r I''.q . (I'1-_')'\)
that tho notation ,
WI\!I Nhortcnro into the orin 0 I·.n
• - - ' I'
(6-2;; ) . We dcliJll'd function ~(I" I,) as
(7-11)
~ (3) = JK .(3.1)1!-(x ,) dr,
.1. h i II e wave funct ion th at would result at the time I., from t he
wtue IS 1 • ti I .
initial WO\'c funct ion if there were no perturbation ec m g. n n 81m_
ilnr way we define

x '(X"t,) - fx ·(r,)K.(2,3) dr , (7,12)

as t he complex conjugate of th e wave fun ction which at I , ~\'ould I~

to t he funct ion x(.r,) ut the time I, if t here were no pcrturbatJon act ing.
[Sec Eq. (4-38) a nd t he following discussion, includ ing P rc b. 4-7.)
In terms of t hese new wave functions, t he fi rst-order term in the
pertu rbation expansion can be simplified to read

lx lfl '[z(I),t] dtl1!-) s, = IIx'(3) V (3)H 3) dz , dt , (7.1 3)

We sec here t hat the t ransition amplitude written in this for m is a

generalization of the transition a mplit ude "-.... which was introd uced
in Sec. (j..;'j . I£ the wave functions on t he right -hand aide of 1':(1. (7- 13)
a rc eigenfunct ions, t hen th e resulting trnnsition amplitude is identical
with ",-..en, as defined by Eq . (fI-70).
T hus t he evaluation of a transit ion element of a fu nctional FIr (t)J,
which depends only on s: at a pa rt icular t ime I (t hat is , a u ord ina ry
function of %(/)] , or of a t ime integral of such a Iunefionnl presents no
problem. The eva lua t ion of a trnusition clement for ru nctionals
Involving t he va lues of x at two sepa rate times is a lso CMY. This
occurs, Ior example, in t he aceoud-crder pert urbation t erm, This
enn be written as

2~' (x l· ' I1!-)•• = 2~' ff (x IV[z (I),tIVlz(8),zll1!-) dt d8 (7· 14)

T he Integra nd of t his last equation is itself a t ra nsition cle ment and

it is written 8S '

(x !V[r(l),tWIZ(8).·J I1!-) ~ II x '(4) V (4)K ,(4,1)1' (3)1!-(3) ,Ix , dz . (7-15) I.

'.
where .we ha ve su bst ituted I, = 8 Bud t. = t if 8 <t or t J = l and
,. = 8 If 8 > t. 1
,
 Tra n!litfon elements
169
Thus the second-order term in the perturbation expansion becomes

2:., (x If l'Ix(/) ,I) dl f V(X(8),8) d81f)

= ff x·(4) V(4 )K,(4,3) H 3) dx,dl,dx. dl. (7-16)

T his can be recognized as 0. gonerulieut ic n of th e transition a mplitude

defi ned in Eq . «()~7·1) . Expressions involving three or more functions
arc also readily written down.
Equa tion (7-4) corresponds also to e more genera l type of pertu r-
ba tion t heory. For exa mple, consider the case of the particle inter-
act ing with e n oscilla tor. After integrals hav e been carried out ove r
t he coordinates describing the oscillato r, the resulting action can be
·, +
writt en as S o v, where (sec Sec. 3-10)

u - I."I.',.
1 wT it
77kol Si n
0[x(/),tjO[X(8),S] sin ,,(I, - t) sin "(8 - I,) d8 dl
(7-17)

with g(x (t),tI characterizing the interaction of the particle nnd oscil-
!? lator, und T = i z - t••
'Ve have noted that path integrals involving such complicat ed
'~ actions are very hard to evaluate indeed; but if the effect of t he compli-
cated term v is expected to be small, we can obtai n useful result s with
l!
less effort wit h the help of t he perturbation expansion of Eq. (7-4) .
,.. To illust ra te, we find the first-ord er term in such an expansion {i.e.,
the first Born approximation) . Using Eq . (7-17) for v, we must evalu-
..
.' a te t he te rm (i/m <X I(l'I~}s.. This term can be writte n as

1(x l- III-).. ~ hmw ~

I~ Bin (,J
T I." I.' (lo[x(I),I)O[x(8),8!111-)., sin ,,(I, -
h h
I)
X sin " (8 - I,) d8 dl (7-18)

80 that the difficult part of th e problem is reduced to fi nding

(xlolx(t) ,/10(x(8) ,8J If)8,
But th is we have al ready done in Eq, (7-1 5), except that g replaces V.
Therefore , we write
(x IO[X(I),I!O(X(8),.!lII-)8. = JIx·(4 )O(x(I.),I.IK.(4 ,3)0[x(/ ,) ,t,flf-(3) dx, dz .
(7-19)

T his expression enn be su bst ituted into Eq . (7-18) to obta in the finul
resu lt for t he first Born approximat ion, (t"/ II)(x lo!1Jt)s•.
Qllonl,"n nted,oni~1J and pall. inle#rnlrt

lin
Tra nsition elements will come up more frcquel~tly in sue~ing
chap ters. In each example they can be ('vn luntc;I III t he st rnlghtfor•
ward manner " hich we have Illust rated here. Fer t.h.n.t reason , Ycry
HII IC' of th e material in the remai nder of this chapter IS really ~s(,ll linl
to th e work that follows. !\eY('rt hd eES, t here nrc two reasons for the
inclusion of th is material in this book. F irst , it is possible to ohtain
a very general relat ion bet ween transition clements. Th is rela tion
might well serve as all alternat ive starting point for the d efinit ion of
quantum mechanics. Second, for man)" people already fa miliar with
the more conventional opera tor notat ion of qu antum mechanics, it is
helpful t o 11:1\'e exa mples of the tran slation fro m t he more custcmnry
representation into that which is used in this book, such as expressions
of t he Ion» of Eq . (i-3 ).
Wit h the rules for tra nslation ava ilable, the subject ma tte r of tbe
later chapters, developed as it is from t he pat h integral a pproach, can
be a pprecia ted in ter ms of more fa miliar sy mbolic concep ts,
Th e relations d iscussed in the remainder of this chapt er are inde-
pendent of the form of t he wave functions which describe either the
init ial or final sta t e of the system, and they nrc used in defining the
integral of th e transition element. F or th is rea son we shall abbreviate
our notation by omitting a ny specific reference to these wave fun ctions.
Thus a transit ion clement will be written as {F)s instead of (xIFI'f').s.

7.2 FUl"CTJO:'>AL DERIVATJ\'ES

we.a rc etn.ha rking ~n a mathema tical develop ment which lends to

an m~ra;hllg relation between transit ion clem ents. This relnt ion
finds Its most elegant expression in ter ms of u muth emntical idea the
~ur.let io~al d('~h·ativc. Since th is idea may not he fumiliur, we d('~ribc
It In this section.
The fuuet ionnl "'1.1(1)1 gives n IIUl llb('r for cuch fu nction x (/) that
we may choose. We mal' ....., ask:. II 0\\, ruu cI1 d ()(,!S t h 'lX nu mber change I'f
we ma ke a very small cl.1311ge ill the a rgum ent Junction ;r(l) ? T hus,
for .m~1I , (I), how ~"ucl.' I.fl_ (I) + , (I) ) - fl_(/))? T he effect 10 fi,,1
order III "1 (assuming I t exi '1 t ) · . . .
say IK(, ) ( ) d '1'1 , K s s~ c c. IS se ine hu('ar express ion In "1,
with 7J t! ,I , • 1I~,f1 (b' ) IS called t he Iunct ionn! derivative of F
~F/bW:~h~~ :~:~~:~ ~~~~e funct ion x(l) nt s. It is written

FIx + ,J - F ix] + J~;~5 '(8) a. + ... (7-20)

 Tronsition element8
171

This 8F/b($) depends on the functi on x(t), of course, and also on the
value of 8. Thus it is n functional of xC ') and n function of t ime 8.
'Ve may look at it another way. Suppose time is divided into
~,
." very many steps of small inte rval e, the values o f the t ime being
to (1~ +1 = e + I.) . The function x (i) can now be specified approx i-
mutely by giving the value e . that it takes on o.t each of the t imes I..
The func tional F{x(I )1 now is a number depending on all the Xl; that is,
,
"
it becom es an ordina ry fun ction o f the va riables Xi,
< F lx(t)) ~ F(• . • ,X.,X'H, . ..) (7-21)
Now we can consider its derivative with respect to one of these vari-
ables Zi, dF/az;. Our functional derivative is just this partial, divided
by e and taken at th e point t. = 8. That is,
IF I aF (7-22)
-- ~- -
Ix(.) • ax,
" This we can sec as follows. I£ we alter the path from x(1) to x(l) +
~(t), we ehange all the x, from x, to x, + ~. [where ~. = ~(~)J, so that the
first-order change in our function is
F(. . • z, + 1]i , Xi+! + 111"+1 •• •) - F(. . . ,:1;:,x'+I, •• .) _ '" aaF "'
L x.
.-
,4

,.
'.
•
(7-23)

from the ordinary rules of partial differentiation. If now we call

(1/.){aF/ax.) ~ K" the last sum is r• K",e, which in the limit becomes
fK(t),(t) at. So if tbis limit exists as. ~ 0, then it is equal to IF/lx(.).
,Ii
" One can also usc the ideas of differentials. Just as we can write

,., ,
aj ~ ~ aj
~aXi
ax.
•
60 we can write for th e first variation of any functional

IF ~ JI:~) Ix(.) d. (7-24)

where 8X(6) is the dilTerential change in path at xes).
,."
Problem. 7.1 If S = J." L(:t,x,I) dl, show,
h
for any s inside the
range tl to t2,
IS _ _ .'!.- (,)[,) + ai, (7-25)
Ix(.) - a. 8i: ax
where the parbiul derivatives arc evaluated at I = 8.
Qllflnlllni nlf'chaniclC a nd PfJ,h in'f'Irall'l
1';2

Problem 7-2 Jl F[z} = .r(T) , show (hat

W ) (7-26)
6.r(. ) = ~(. - •

Problem 7-3 Show that fJF/ fJj (r,s), where

F = cxp IH I . . . fj(r r,t.)j(r,,/,)R(r , - r" I. - I,) d'r , d'r, dl , dl,)

is given by

.W
~J (r••)
= [ _ 1R(r - r', ' - l,)j(r',I') dr' dl' ] F (7-27)

Xote that the functionj(r,t> is e, function of the four variables (x,Y,%,l).

Thus the single coordinate s, as used in Eq. (7-14), for exa mple, must
be replaced by the set of ooordinates (z, y,z,t) in specifyi ng the point
at which the functional derivative is evaluat ed.

The general relation between Iunetionals which we mentioned at

the beginning of the preceding section may be obtained by trying to
develop a formula for the transition clement of 6F/b,(a). This we
can do most easily in this way . Consider

(Fl. - IFlx(/»)e'"" " " '" :Or(/) (7-28)

N ow in the integral over paths subst it ute x(l) +
~(/) for the variable
x (l) . For fixed . (/), :D{x(/) +
. (1) ) = :Ox(1) (since d(x, ~.) = dr.l . +
But the integral is unchanged b). a substitution of its variable. Hence

(Fl s - 1 + .(/»)e'·" 'S [.,.,..,."

Flx(1) :Ox(/)

= 1F(x(I)le'"" ' " '''' + 1[I .s: ~(.) dS] eW" SI.'Ol
fu (t)
~x (,)
fu(t)

+ i1 [I ~:(.) ~(.) -l
Flx(tJl + . .. e"''''\' '''' :Ox(/)
(7-29)
expanding the exponential a nd d i~playing only to first order. The
z('n::ort!('r term ~ exactly (F)b' aga in, so the remaining te rms must all
vanish. In purt iculur, the lin.l-onler ten" must va nish for any 'J(')
so that we conclude the relation '

i(F ~(.)
- Ii
h \
/. (7-30)
T hia general relation hD.J:I many importnn t
consequencCB.
 Tranllition e le naen t.
173

It would be possible to use FdJ . (7-30) ae a starting point to defi ne

,
,
the laws of q ua ntum mech a nics. One cou ld work backwa rd to
reproduCt:', Ior example, f-;rJ. (7-G) . If some gr-neralixnt ion of quantu m
mcchnnics is desired , one might suppose such a gencra liaution is
inclu ded in t he nction S a p pea ring in the term e'SIA, or pe rhaps start
, wit h n form like EI). (7....1 0) a nd introduce mod ificatio ns with the hC'lp
of t he differential notat ion. J ulien Schwinger has been investigating
the Iorruulut ic n of q ua nt um mechanics suggested by F~ . (7-30).
'Ve ca n sec how the relation of Ell. (7-30) comes about in anot her
way by ima gini ug ou r t ime spl it into iutc rvala E und Iunct ionnla
replaced by funct ions of the points Xi corresponding to t.. T hen con-
side r the pat h integral

JaX,iJF ehfAISI:I<01 3:>x(t) (7-31)

where '* is some intermediate ti mo not at either end poi nt. T he pa th

integral is simply a n integral over all the points Xi _ So we integrate

,. by parts to get
,. i JF ar,
as
J iJF
aXI:
e hlA}SI:ltOI :Dz(t) = -
h
el iJAIB l:leJ)I :Dx(t) (7-32)

"
.'
dropping the intcgmtcd part.

Problem 7-4 Discuss why the integrated part vanishes.

:;
T he result is

/ aF) __ ifF as) (7-33)

\aX.l:S - h\aX.l: B
which is the snme content a s E q. (7-30).
It is be t te r to write these relations as differentials,

,., (W). - - r.i (F 6S) s (7-34)

I• for t hen the specific varia bles on which F and S depen d need Dot be
:I ind icated .
,
" "roblf'nl r.s Argue that Eq. (7-3-1 ) may be misl('~ding. for :AJ.
(7':l:t) up pliea only to rcctnll~lnr eoonJ inntC's. ~o t his by studying
t he corres pond ing rclnt iou where spherical coordinat es, for exa mple,
nrc used und we wish to fi nd (iW j arl:)s'
Qllan!um m echanic. and pad. in!c,ral.

IH

7-3 TR\1'O SITlO1'O ELEMENTS OF sonz SPECIAL F UNCTIONAJ.S

TIle relation of Eel . (i -34) bas many interesting im plicat ions. In

this section we shall investigate sor ue of thcm. 'Vc shall take the
special case of n one-dimensiona l particle movi ng in a. potential
Vlr (t}].
Suppose the action over the path of the particlo is given by

S - l""lmt'
2"" - Vlx(t}] fit ) (7-35)

Upon application of the small variation 6%(t) to each pat h there results
(to first order)

&S - -
1""Inti: + V' (x)] 6x(I} fit (7-36)
Using Eq. (7-34), " 'C havc

(61'). ~ - i(F 1:' [mE + V'(x)J6x(l) dl) (7-37)

Alternatively, we co.uJd rct~rn ~ the point of view used in developing

Eq. (7-33). T~at IS, we rmagme t ime div ided into small s lices of
length f . In this case the action S can be written as

S= .f. [m 2~ xJ' -
N- I

(x... V(x.). ] (7-38)

I~ ~\'e select a parti cular time II; and, as before let z be th . ted
position of a pa th • tl ten J a e 8SSOClB

as
dx.
= m ( XI;+1 -
•
XI;
-
XI; -
•
xa_l) + V'(x. }. (7-39)
Upon applicatio n of Eq. (7-33) there results

(t)s - - ..h. \1F [on (x...- 2%.

J. .'
+ x._.) + V'(x. }]) (7-40)

. In this last exp ression the Iactorr !involving

. n , . th d
lSac tuaJly the accl.l('rnt ionz C'1 1..... 1 . n t In C cuominutor
- - t \8 ue eu at the ti I TI IU S E q . (7-t' O)
18 JiL'l a special «xumplo of E (7 37) me 1;.
to Eq. (7-37) if 6r «() is aero fo q .U t - . In part icular, it corresponds
~ ..axl; . ao - 'f] , t bcn Eq. (7::0) ::utr
If 6.1'(1) i.'l assigned the vnlue
It Is .t rue for nil k. is completcl c u .~· Actually Eq . (7-40), since
detailed notation. Y q ivnlenj, to E<I. (7-37) in a more
 TronlJilion element"
115
j
In Eq. (7-37) suppose we choose the special functio n F = 1. Then
6F = 0 a nd we have
,,

Since this result must hold for any arbitmry choice of h(t), it must be
that
(mx) ~ -(V'(x» (7-42)
,
at nil values of time. This is the quantum-mechanical analogue of
\ Newton's law. Making usc of the classical a nalogue for a tmnsition
clemen t, described in Sec. 7-1, this result says that th e weighted
"average" of t he mass times acceleration at any time " ave raged" over
, 0.11 paths with t he weight cI S / " is equal to th e weighted " average"
"

of t he force (negat ive grad ient of t he potent ial) a t th e same t ime.

As a nother exa mple, suppose F is some arbitrary nonzero funct ional
of all position variables except x,. Then th e left- ha nd side of Eq. (7-10)
,
is ecro and there results (since iJF/rJx, - 0)
/ [ X'+I - Zz..
,F(XI,Xt, • • • ,z'-I,x'+l, ••• ,XN) m £1
+ X'_l + V' (x, )] \I
• = 0 (7-43)
This equation says that the transition element of mx t ·,(X) , averaged+
over all paths, is zcro at I, even if t hese paths are weighted with nn
arbitrary fun cti onal, so long as the func tional is independent of t he
position of the path at the time It of interest.
Suppose, however, the funct ional docs depend upon the positio n
of the path at the time of in terest. In particular, suppose simply
that the fun ctional F is XI:. Applying Eq. (7.40), we have

(I) = ~E (ntx' XUl - 2E~.l: - + x,V'(x,»)

XI.;_I

= i(1'Itx, (XI:+1 £- x, _ x, -EXI:_I) + a, V'(XI:») (7-44)

If we suppose t ha t the potential V is a smooth function, then in.the

limit as £ _ 0 we find that a,I"(x,) becomes negligible in comparison
with the remaining terms. The result is
I.
!;
,,-•
!~
, (m x.+. - . X.
r, ) - (
r,m n - x._.) ~ ~. (I)
.'
This last equation involves th e prod uct of position vn.rinbl~ rand
(7-15)

j ', momentum variables mi. In the fi rst terru the momentum IS evnlu-
,, I
QuantuhI m echanics and pori, in tegra'"

li6

eted first as a linear average corresponding to the time t. + ~/2, nlld

the posit ion is taken nt I. . In the second term th e position is again
ta ken at II , but t he momentum corresponds to the ti me tit - 1/ 2.
T hus th is equa tion says t hat the transition clement of n product of
position and momentum depends upon the order in t ime of these two
quant ities.
Later on, when we make n translation into the more usual operator
notion, we shall sec that both the operator equat ion of motion , Cor-
responding to Eq . (7-42), and the operato r conu nutntion laws of
Eq. (7-15) have been derived from the some fundamental rela t ion
E q. (7.;14). •
we can derive a further result from Eq. (7-45) wh ich will give us a.
bett er idea of t he characterist ics of the paths which are important in
quantum mechanics, Consider the 1\\'0 te rms

(rlm :X::.'_ ,.:X::.,_",) (7-46)

and

(7-47)

These two term~ differ from each other only in order I, since they are
the same qU8 ~ t1t~" cal~ulat ed at two ti mes differing by t he interval f .
~h~.l\~~~~.J~~~e~:~hstituting Eq. (7-47) for the second term

/ r... . - Xl ) h
\m e (X' -X"') = i ( l ) (7-48)
AltemativcJy, we can write t his as

((Xt••~- Xt)) = _ i~~ (1)

(7-49)
This equation says that the t . •
velocity is of t he order 1/ drn,nslhon clement of t he square of the
e, lU I t IUS becor . fi .
zero. This result illJpl ics t l t U . lies Ih III t(' as ~ approaches
ml'CJuUlieal part icle a rc not1au ie 1I.II J?Ortunt paths for a qua ntum-
velocity) e,·ennd lcrc Lut !Ot;e w hieh JulVC n definite slope (or
.~ . , a rc llllil<'nd itc !
~ Ic, as illdieat£'d IJy th e sketch of Fi qUI e irr egula r 0 11 n very fi n.e
tics nrc such that Ihe "evomce" J!:. 7-1. In Inct, t hese irregulnri-
we have UM.'(} the c1uSliicnl uunl squ~re \'Clocity does not exist . where
ogu r- III referring to au "nvemgo."
 Tranll;Iion elemenl.
111

If some average velocity is dcfined for B short time interval Al, as,
for exam plc, tr (I + ~ ) - x (l » / .6.1, th e " mean" square value of this is
- Il / {im At). T hat is, t hc "mcnn" square value of a velocity averaged
over a short lim e interval is finite, but its value becomes larger as the
interval becomes shorter.
It appears t hat quautum-rncebenlcal paths are very irregular.
However, t hese irregularities average out over a reasonable length of
time to produce u reasonable drift, or " average" velocity, although
for short inte rvals of time the "average" value of the velocity is very
high.

,
t
.
"

z
. I rt id e are hir.=:h1y i rr('~1 1U' on a
. 1..::. 7.1 TY]liral Jlll t ~ or n. (I U/t ll hllll~lIl f r IItl lllm 1)11, . - • If I
. h n . lr bn u gh 110 11It'/t 1l \"l'll'lt'lly C/ln .(' ( co Ih('<l • n o
fine IICOk-, as Ilfl O W Il III tl l l' t;k rl r . \U", K I • . " , • • • _ n tJlld i rrl'n'nllul"'~
. '
mco.n-i!(i U6 rc vcloetC.)· CXI!lhl ut tin y IlOm • " In oUwr "'-t.rlf'l Ie pal I . ...
' •

.,
118
Problem 7-6 Show, for a particle moving in thrce..<Jimcnsional
space x, V, e,
flO
«r•• , - ..)') - {(y•• , - y. )') - «2••• - 2. )') = - im (7-.1O)

«r", - ..) (y•• , - y,»- «....- x. ){,•• , - ..»

= {(y•., _ Y.H. .. , - 2.» = 0 (7-51)

It will not do to write the transition clement of the ki netic energy

simply as

I I
2\m
(r'H•- X')'\I (7-52)

for this quant ity becomes infi nite as e approaches zero . H ow shall
we find an appropriate expression to represen t the kinetic energy?
\Ve might make t he heuristi c guess that only those functionals F
which might appear in some kind of a physical perturbation problem
rna}' be of importa nce. How ca n we get the k inetic energy by a
perturbation? I{ th e mass of the particle were perturbed by a.
factor 1 + 'PJ (with 'PJ very small) Ior some short interval of time At,
th e action would be perturbed by 'J 6 t(m/ 2)j :, wh ich is proportional
to t he kinetic energy. We are led to ask : 'Vhat would be the form
of th e first-order perturbation (o)s. if m were changed to m(l + ,,)
for a short time?
F or simplicit y we ca n take thc short time to be just E, the step
used to define th e time spacing; so t hat the first-ord er term divided
by ('PJ is the kiuctie en ergy- T he perturbat ion in S of Eq. (7-38) (it
thc m in the i = k tenu is changed to m +
'Jm) is clearly f7J (m/ 2)(ra,+ 1
- Xa,)2/f. 2, But this is not th e ouly cha nge in the path integral if m
changes. TIle normalization Iactora A for cnch ?It vary us m+h , so a
Inctor (1 + %,,) is introduced from thi s. lienee the entire first~rder
change i ll the path integral when m is 80 changed becomes after
d iv idillg~~1 '

(7-53)

whieh
.. •
should be satisfactory for ti ft timca., the ki 1(' t IC
'
energy,
. t SI.ng Eq. (7-49), one might expect this to van ish; but Eq . (7-49)
.1B valid Iionly
. as ( - - t 0 to the order 1/. . TI IC quan 1'1 ' I' (7-.53) is I
I y III sq .
10 teet , lIut: as ( - O. T he cxpn."sioll ce u be rewritten b)' cxpnndiug
the quadratic term. In Eq , (7-10) let P I 1£ of
)C X"+I - z". terms
 Tronsilion element.

, lowest. order in E arc kept, the result is

119

(;("..,- X') (T' -.X._')) = G(X,..,- X.)' )+ ~. (1) (7-54)

Thus we can define the left-ha nd side of Eq. (7-.'>4) us the transition
clement of the kinetic energy.
We see from this result that the easiest way to produce satisfacto ry
transition clements involvi ng powell! of the velocities is to replace
these powers by n product of velocities, each factor of which is taken
at a slightly di fferent time.
In simple pro blems the transition clements can someti mes be evalu-
atcd directly. For such proble ms the same results can also he obtained
'. by using the relations nmo ng tran sition clements which we derived in
Sec. 7·2. These relations may supply us with solubl e differential
I
equations for the transition clements. We shall give a few illustra-
,• tion s, but it will be readily seen thnt the examples for which the
·'. method works must be so simple that a direct evaluation would not
really be much more d ifficult.
For our first example, consider the case of a Iree particle going
I
, fro m X l to X 2 in the total time interval T . Let us find the transit ion
element of the position at the ti me l , that is, x Ci) . Of course, this is
·• some funct ion of l and it is clear that
(x(O» = x,(I) (x(7') - x,(I) (7-55)
"
Since any potentials act ing on the particle arc constant in space (i.c.,
no forces act), the second derivative of the transit ion element of posi-

-
.. tion is zero in accordance with Eq. (7-42). Thus an integration gives

(x(l) ~ [x, + ~ (x, - X,)] (1) (7-.56)

, Note that the exp ression in the brackets is just the valu e of x(l) along
the c1assleal path x (t) .

Problern 7-7 Show for any action that is quadratic

(x(l}) - x(I)(I ) (7-57)

,'. As a somewhat less trivial example, let us try to evaluate the

transition clement (.1"(/)r (8» for th e same Ircc-pnrt iclo conditions.
Siuec th is is u Iuuction of two times, we can write it as /(/,8). The
· '. second derivative with respect to l is
'.
"v. a'~~;") = (x(l)x(8» (7-58)

I
./
Quant.. n. 1llf'c1lanicle and path intesrab
Ill()

This transition clement cnn be worked out by su bstituting F = x(a)

into Eq, (7-10) . For S F I, following the 8~ mcllts lending to
Eq. (7-12), t hc result is - ( I/ m)( I" [r (I)).r(, )) ; while for B = I, follow_
ing the argu ments leading to Eq, (7-44), we find that the trnnsition
clement of Eq . (7-58) is of order l /f.. In the limit of smaU f. we hove

m a'{ _ (rnI(/)r(B» _ ~ ~(I - B) - (V' [z(/)]Z(B» (7-59)

a/ •
Since for our free particle the potential is independent of position,
th e second term on the right of Eq. (7-59) va nishes. T he resulting
equation may be solved by dividing th e region of interest into two
parts. For t < e

f = o(B)1 + b(B) (7-60)

while for t >s
f - A(B)I + B(.) (7~I)

Thus the ~rst derivat ive of the function I with respect to t jumps
by the quanti ty A (B) - O(B) lIS I goes from just below to just above B,
end In accorda nce with Eq . (7-59), A(B) - a(B) = A/mi.
Thc boundary condit ions sta te that

(z(O)Z(B» - r .(z(B» - z,z(B)(I)

(Z(7')Z(B» - Z,z(B)(1) (7-62)

Th is is not enough informat ion to determine all of the four functions

a, A, b, and B, but we can either make usc of the relation

a'f
~.
= (!!...)
~
~(/ _ B) ~)

obtained by differentiati ng I with

!Ct s) must be sym tric ] respect to s, Or else not ice that
. mc rlc m lnrlds One I t! I t I
{unctions a A b 8 d 11 II : can COli C U C t m t IC
, , ,II must a be hn<'ar i 11 I d
ditious nrc IlOW sullicient to dcte . I n s. re )() UU ury con-
tlnllie the so lution. Tho result is

(z(t)z(.» = [ x(/)x(.) + m~T B(T - /) ] (I) for B < t

+ m~T I(T -
(7..()4)
= [ X(/).t(B) .) ] (I) for / <B
 Transition clemenrs
181

That this. resu lt is right can he seen by inspection . The product

of two clnssica l pal h."1 taken at diO'creut t imes, i (l)i(..), is the solut ion
, of the ho ruogcucous eq ua t ions obtnlncd hy setting th e right- band
sides of Eqs. (7-7,9) a nd (7-6.1 ) eq ual to zero, which sa tisfies th e neccs-
sary bou nda ry cond itions. The lnst terms on the right of the pai r of
eq uations (7-6-1 ) nrc t he spec ia l solutions of th e inhomogeneous equa-
tions (7-5!l) and (7-G3), which a rc zero a t the end points .
T he transit ion element of th e prod uct of two posit ions taken at
two different t imes contains more th ou just th e product of the two
correspondi ng posit ions along the classical path. Th ere is u small
\ nd ditionul term which is purely quautu m-mcchn nicul in nature. This
additional ter m is consiste nt with our pictu re of quantu m-mecha nical
mot ion . Even though the particle moving between fixed end points
will be found on the average a long the class ical pa th , it has an ampli-
tude for motion a long all alternat ive paths. This fnct must be
remembered when considering the transition clement of the prod uct
of posit ions at t wo different times. All th e possible positions a mong
all the various nltc rua tivea mus t be accounted for in the trans ition
clement, and this accounting Introduces the extra term. Only at the
specified cnd points nrc no other alterna tives possible.
I We can better understand the significan ce of this result if we make
usc once agai n of t he terminology fro m our cla.s. sical analogue. Sup-
pose the pa th of the particle goes th rough a part icularly large value of %
at some t ime 8 . T hen the "average" value of z at a later ti me I
is not just the ord inary average 1'(t). There is a correlation with
·• the previous large deflection. Therefore, the "average" product is
not just the product of " a verages."
, I n this a nd other applications of the classical analogue, we remember
that the "average" referred to is defined with the help of the weighting
funct ion eiSf~. T his weigh ting fu nction is 1I0t positive definite. a nd
is in fuct compl ex. Thus wo devel op such purely qmUltu ~n-lllecha~­
·,
, ical results as tha t of Eqs. (7-6-1) wherein Ihe extra correlation term 15
pure imaginary!
,I
Problem 7-8 F ind the transition clement r{l)r(s) = /(/,s) when
the poteu rial is not consta nt but, rather, CO~~'SPOIl~~ to t.hat of a
•"
•..
forced harmonic oscillator. Do th is by obtaining diflcreutial equa-
t ions for J alit) trying th e solution
(J(/, s» ~ 1'« I)'« s) + p(t,s)I(I ) (7-65)
Dbtnin a n eq uutiou for U(I,s) showing th nt !1 is in~l('pclU.)~nt ~f the end-
point values I I und x, uno of the Ioreing Iunet icn [0('n \"8t IVt.' or tho
QunnlufU mf'CllOniclf IIIld pa l ' , inte,ralll

182

potential) 'Y(t)]. Show in general that, with T = I, - tl,

g(1 ,
.) = . ~ wT sin ws sin w(T - l)
1n1"" Sin
8 <t

_ h sin f.d sin weT - 8) 1 <8 (7-00)

- mw sin wT

GENERlL RESULTS FOR QU,\UR\TIC ACTIO NS

Evid til.' if the action S is 6 quadratic form, trol~sition clements

of'"1many
en oJIun ct .iouals can be dctc . cd readi ly . This suggests that
ctc rmm
we extend our consideration into n somewha t more general etas.s of
funct ionals. The technique to be used is the same as ! hnt ~cscrtbcd
in Sec. 3-5. For examp le, we note th at with a qu adratic action S we
can easily evaluate the transiti on clement of cxp (i/~~ fJ(l)z(l) ell,
where J(I) is any arbitrary function of time. The transition clement
of such a functional can be written as
(c(,ml/(f);r(0 4l) = i"
e h }AlI S +I/(f)J:lIl.II I :r>x(t) (7-67)

If the original action S is gaussian, then so is the action

S' ~ S + J/(f)z(t) dl
Thus the path inte-grals on th e right of Eq. (7. 67) ca n be carried out
by the metho ds of Sf'C. 3-5. If s:
is the extremu m of t he a ction 8',
then t he factor cxp (i .';'.,/fi ) call be extracted as a fucto r for the path
integral of Eq . (7-07). The remaining factor is a path integral over
the pat hs y( I), which rU11 from zero to zero during the allowed time
int erval. (We set x = £ + y, where i is the classical path correspo nd-
ing to the extremum of t he uction.)
Th e integral over the paths y docs not depend upo n t he funct ion
/ (1), since this Iu nctiou npp(~nrs ill the action S' multi plying on ly a
linear term in x (t ), uud we huve seen (cf. EC(. (:1-10)1 t hat the remaining
path integral involves only th e quadrutie purta of S' which arc not
more than th e quadmtie parts of S. T his menus that the path
integral On the right-hand side of Eq. (7-{j7) call bo reduced to an
exponential function multiplied by th e tralllsitiou clement (1). Tho
result is

(exp [f. J/(I)z(l) dl]) = (cx pU(.'1;, - S..) ] I (I) (7-68)

Once tile extremum S:', ha s been e\'aluat('(1 th e 1 S •• I be

. . ' . • ex rcmu m ef ~ I
obtai ned from It by setting / (/) Ident ically equal to zero. The action
 Trandtlon element.
183

of thc forced harmoni c oscillator, defined in FAI . (3-68), is a special

case of this act ion s:,.
Problem 7· 9 Usc th is result to show that if S corresponds to an
harmonic oscillato r

S m
="2 f :i;
2 m",'
dt - 2 f xtdl
then

( cxp [i f f(l)x(/) dl]> = (I ) ( cap /[i 2 sin :;~ _ I,)]

m;;; i;«
X [ 2 X' . w(1 -
" t) ern I.) dl 2% , f," f(l) sin ",(I, -
+ m;;; h I) dl

- m~w' f,:' f,: f (l)f(o) sin w(I, - I) sin "'(/ - I.) ds dt]l)

: where XI , %2 are th e ini tial and final coordinates of t he oscillator.

From the transition element given by Eq. {7-68) we can obtain

the tra nsit ion clement of x(l) itself by another method. Suppose we
differentiate Eq. (7-68) wit h respect to f ell. The result is

(X(I) exp [i f fx dl]> - ~ 6f~t) / exp [i (S:, - S,,) ]J(I)

.:
,"" = :f~;; / exp [i (s,. - s..)]J(I) (7-69)
1
r Therefore, by evaluati ng both sides when J(t) =: 0, we obtain
-
•
(x(l» - (1) :f~;; 1
' 0' (7-70)

We can continue this process to get the second derivative as

(x(l)x(o» - (~)' 6f (I)6:f (0) cxp U (S:, - Sol) ] 1,_.(I)

.,
• " 6'S" 6S" 6S;,] , (7 71)
= ( 1) [ i 6f (t ) 6f (s) + "iN ) if(;) , -. -
Actually, si nce S:, is quadratic only in l [d. Eq. (34iG)J, the transiti~n
elcmou t of a factor of any number of r's cun be directly evaluated lit
ter ms of 8S~/8/(t) and th e quunt ity 8~S,';fJ/(t) 8f (8), which is indr.....
pendent of f. T his exp lains the form of Eqs. (7· 6-1) and (74 ..') and
,.J pe rmit s thc transition clement of e factor of th ree z 's to be written
down.
QrumWnI naedlfmic&and pat', intea rau
1M

ProMeni 7-10 Show, for any quadratic functional, if we write

(x(I)) = j (I)(I ) and (X(I)X(8» = l (j (I) ;;(8) + 0(1,8)/(1), that
(x(I)X(8)X(u» = I( j(I);;(8) ;;(U) + ;;(1)0(8,U) + ;;(8)0(4")
+ ;;(")0(1,8)1(1)
Find the transition clement of the product of four x's. (Suggestion:
Since S:t - Sd ie quadratic in f and zero for J = 0, it must have the
mathemat ical lor m S:, - S" = )4.ffl(I)I(8)0(I,8) til de + f;;(I)I(I) tl4
where g and :f nrc some functions .]

7-5 TR'NSITION ELEIIIENTS AND TilE OPERATOR NOTATION

In this and the following sections we shall sec how transition clements
look in the conventional notation of wave functions and operators.
Th is will help the reader who is familiar with that form of expression
to relate the res ults of path integral calculations to other results that
he already knows.
]f F is n function only of x at a single time, say, the function V(Xt)
at time tt, we know from Eq . (7-10) how to evaluate its transition
clement. Sinrilarljr, if F depends on the value of xCt) at two different
times, Eq. (i- I5) tells us what to do.
Let us consider next the case that F represents the momentum at
time tl; and make usc of t he approx imation that the time axis is cut up
into slices of length f . Thus
m
F = - (Xl+J - %1)
(7-72)
e
Then we have

(x17 (X'+I - x.) I"')8 = 7(xlx<+ M). - (x ix""')') (7-73)

The right-hand side of Eq . (7-73) can be written as

7[J x'(x, I + .)""(x, I + e) tlx - Jx'(x,l)x"'(x,l) dx ] (7-74)

Now making Use of the wave equation
a", .
"'(x, I + e] = + •_
"'(x,l)
iJt
= '" _ " IN
II (7-75)
x-(x, t + IE) -= x-ex,t) + IE Q.x* = x- + i lE (II ).
al h x (7-7G)
 185
from Prob. 4-3, if II is the hamiltonian belonging to the S . Therefore,
to first order in 4!

Jx'(x, I Jx'(x,I)2\I-(x,l) dx
+ .)2\I-(x, I + .) dx =
- ~. {f x '(x,t)x(ll\l-(x,t)] dx - J(ll'x'(x,tlJxl1-(x,tl dX} (7-77)

Dy Eq. (4-30) this lust integral can be writ ten 118 Jx' (x,tl lll2\l-(x,l») dx,
or more simply we have

(x!m.il\l-) = - i~ Jx'(xll - llx)\I- dx (7-78)

using t he operator notation. This is the same as

- i m J x" It'- iJr/t dz :E:Z Jx. laX

~ O!/t dz (7-79)
h . max
where we have used the result of Prob. 4-4. The operator (/1/11 iJ/iJx
is called t he momen tum operator or. more spcclficaily, the operator
·'. rep resenting moment um in the x d irection. we already sec why.
s Constructing the transition clement of mi: is equivalent to putt ing
e the opera tor (/j,/1"') iJ/iJz between x " and 1/1, just as construct ing the
transition element of z is equivalent to putting x bet ween x· and "'_
T hese relat ions can be understood, perhaps wit h greater cla rity, if we
, go over to the momentum representation. If

x(p) = J.""x(x).-(" " ... dx (7-80)

•
f'
lI-{p) - J.-_\I-(x), - (""'" dx
arc the momentum represen tat ions of X and ~. one can show that

, J" x'(x) ~ a.p(x

- . ax
) dx = J- x'(p)p\l-(p ) <Ip
1. -.
(7-8 1)

Problem 7-11 Show this.

Another way to sec this relation is the following. Consider the

;• transition amplit ude given by
<XII I\l-) = JJX·(XN,IN)K(XN,lN:x.,t.)\I-(x.,I.) ax. ax.v (7-82)
Now 6 Up poSC thc whole II axis is shifted to the right by a smnll amount
A. CaUing the new axis z~. we have
(7-83)
'.
Quont"m mrchonic. and path in tegra"

186
. this. new. vana
• hie m ther tha n the old Xl will not alter the tmnsi~
Using
tiou a mplitude of Ell . (7-82). It becomes

J.
N- I

<>:11 111-) ~ J:. J:. J:: X(XN,/H) exp Ki) S[X••,.I••• ;X.,t.J

+ (i) Six,. I,; x; - 1>. I) III-(X; - 1>. I) :ox(l) dX; dx, (7-84)

where the path integral for th e kernd bas been written out explicitly,
using t he methods of Eq. (2.22). , . .
X ext, we ex pand SlI !, I! ; x~ - A, I] and ti'(x• •- A, t) in Taylor ser~cs
and keep only thc first-order terms. In pnrtieular, the exponent ial
(unct ion becomes

exp (I (i) S[x. ...I...;X••t.] 1(1 - (;.) I> a~ S[x,.t, ;X;.I,] I (7-85)

W e may drop th e prime notation in the integral defining the transition

a mplit ude, since x~ is a variable of integra tion. The form of Eq. (7-84)
now becomes

(xiiiII-) = JJ x·(2)K(2.1)1I-(1) dx,dx , - i JJ x·(2)K(2.1)

I>

X (II-. aa%1 S[x••I,;X,.I,) + ,~ aa%1 Hx,,'I) I dx. dz. (7-SG)

where we retain th e nota ti on that the point X2 is spaced along t he path

%(/ ) only by the short t imc interval E from the poin t X l und ' : = ' 1 + f.
Th e first tern. on t he right of Eq. (7-8 (j) is ident ical to t he t ransition
a mplit ude on t he left. T his means that th e remaining te rm must be
zero. Bu t t his rcuiaiuing term is a com bina tion of two transition
clements. Thus

(x 1- a~, S[X,. 'I + '; x,. t,] III-) ~ (xiii ~ all-~:~tl» (7-87)

In th e convcution of Eq . (2-22) we usc the classical act ion along each

~f th e sl~ort l'I.CIll«:llts of !hc pat!l. T hus the action f:l12, 1) a ppea ring
m Ell: ( , -87~ 15 .t he classical action for the initial path clement. Its
negat ive derivative Wi t h respect to XI is the classical definition or the
mome ntum at x.. So we can write

(7-88)

which is the same result as that obt ained in Eqs. (7-78) a nd (7-79).
 Tramrition element.
187
\
Sometimes working with a complicated S that results perhaps
from the partial elimination of interacting parts, we would like to
identify the functional p(/) whic h corresponds to thc momentum at
t ime I . The work of the preceding paragraph suggests n. general
definition. T he first-order change in the transition amplitude (xl111J'),
if all coordinates corresponding to times previous to t arc shifted by
-A, is this A times (xlp(t) hf.). From this principle the momentum
\ functional may be found for nn arbitrarily complicated S . In a like
mBIU1('r, the hnm iltoninn or energy Iun cr lcnul can be defined by shifting
• the time variables, as we shall describe in Sec. 7-7.

Problem 7-12 Show, if V is any function of position only, that

, (7-89)

Consider the case that V is also a function of the time. Show that
t.he transition clement of dV/ dt is equivalent to the transit ion element
of the operator (il h)(HV - VII) + avl at.
Problem 7-13 Show that

<Xlmi l~) ~ Iiif ° x'(Hp -

_0 pH)~ dx (7-90)

and argue for any quant ity A, given in terms of an operator or other-
wise, that dA ldt is equivalent to M ia, +
(ilh)(H.l - .4l/).
N ext we consider an expression F involving two quant ities evaluated
in rapid succession, such as

(7-91)

This evidently gives

•';
'~
<X\FI~) = ~ t: J:. x'(x; t + .)mxK(x, t + .; y, t)yf(y,t) dy dx
'J·
~.
,
- ~ Jx'(x,t)mx"f(x,t) dx (;-92)

where t = II<. In developing Eq. (4.12) from Eq, (4-2) we saw

J_O. K(x, t + .; u, t)/( y) dy = I(x) + ~. /I/(x) (7-93)

,
"
,4
188
50 that the first integral In Eq. (7-92) is

~ J-'. x"(x, I+ o)mx (1 + ~' 11) ",,(x,1) dx (7-94)

. x " by Eq . (7--,6) and using the hermitian property of 11,
E•xp ressmg

!n (1
we find that this integral is

~ t: x"(x,l) (1- + ~' 11) %,/(x,l) dx

mz

=
,
i
! f-". x"(x,l)mx""(x,l) dx + J--' x"(x,l)m(x/l - Hx)%,/(x,CJ <k
~~
Thus finally

I
( x m x,• • ,- x, -l"')~ if x"(x,l)m(x/l - Hx)%,/(x,CJ ax

= Jx"(x,I)1'Z'/(x,l) ax (7-96)
the last step follow ing from Eq, (7-78). This is on exnmplc of the
general rule: In writing the integral defin ition of the transition clement
for u set of qunutitics corresponding to a succession of times, the
corresponding operators are writt en in order from right to left, accord-
ing to the order in t ime of th e original transition clement. If there
is a finite time interval !:;J. between them, a K, or alternatively the
operator c;(./l ISA I, must be inserted. (For an example, sec Prob.
7-1 6.) As the time interval e between two successive quantities
approaches zero the K approaches a 6 function and the rule results.

Problem i-14 Show that the transition amplitude of (1n/f)(xlr+1 -

x,)!(x,..) is equival ent to that of (J . pl.
Problem 7-15 Show that the rule works for two successive
momenta, that is,

(x Im %'+ 1 E- x, m x, -E :C'_I I"') = J/_-_x*(Y,l)PP'J!(x,t) dz dy

= - A' J-". x"(y,l) : :' "'(x,1) dx dy (7-97)

Problem 7-16 Show that

(x Ix, m(x,+~ - x,) I"')~ J x"(x,l)xK(x,l;y,s) G:) "'(]J,-) dyax

y (7-98)
if I.e = t end t, = 8, provided tl > t,. What happe us if t
l
< f,?
Qunlltll na narcll fln it'a nnd patll intc,rob

288
with indisti nguishable part icles, one alterna t ive way for acco~plishing
011)' event nlwnys cxi~t s ; na mely , UU~ i nt~rchnllgc of l.wo pnrt ielos. III
such a case t he amplitu des for t he POftl clf's (1) as intcrchuugcd and
(2) as not. intercha nged must be added. (Th is add itio n rule applies to
Bose particles. For Fermi particles the cont ributions Ior amplitud<'5
which urise from odd permuta tions of particles will subtract fro m each
ot hcr.] Ordin ary helium ntoms arc of isotopic mass 4 and conta in
Ii parti cles: 2 protons, 2 neutrons, and 2 cl<.'C t fOIlS. Th is mean s that
helium atoms nre Dose part icles and t he a mplitudes for interchange
of part icles add. (For insta nce, we say that Bose pa rticles follow
symmetrical statistics, whereas Fe rmi pa rticles follow antisy mmetricnl
statistics.)
To sec how th is addition of am plitudes comes about, at least for
helium atom s, we can follow this line of argu ment: In the final state
the atoms cannot be d istinguished from cnch other. T hus, although
the uppcara nec of the configuration of atoms may be the same finally
as it was init ially , the identi ty of some of the atoms may have been
cxcbe ugod.
For example, an atom which we shall designate as I starts 0. posit ion
:r1(0). \\·c h3\'Cassu med that some atom at least will be in th is same
posit ion at th e d ose. Thus, Ior some atom :r(fj) is equa l to Xl(O)o
However, it way not be atom 1 which ends up in t his particula r place.
Ins.tl'3.d , ato m 1 lIl ~y go t o the init ial position of atom 2, say 2'2(0),
while at ti l t' same ti me at om 2 has moved into the init ial pos it ion of
atom 1. That is, it is possible that atoms 1 and 2 exchange places in
the fina l configuration.
To describe t his sit · ua t ion in the most general t erm s • let Px • s tand
f or some p(·r lllutQh~n umoug the atoms which nrc init inlly at r•.
Thus, for example III the sit uuticu in which atoms 1 end 2 were
excha nged and all others remained where they were, we would havc

• • , P x .• - XN (10-75)

In general, the f in al state cnn be any perm utation of thc initial state:

x,(ll) = Px.(O)
(1(l.7 6)

Thus in order to constru ct th e COtup let e Q I' .

tudes over nil t hc I'l l ssibl mp itude, we must sum ampli-
. possr c pl'rmutntio ' I .
represe nts a ll nlh'nantive 01 ili . liS, s ince cu e t permutancn
if we average over nil tJ pass. II tty. 1 lac nor nmlizut iou is correc t
0

rc per mutatIOns. T he res ulting rules for

 S tatisticol mechnniclI
289
symmctricalstntistics mean that Eq (10 71)
. • . must he replaced hy
Z - ...!..
- N! f~' d VR(O) J,PR.(ll' [ cxp ( -
. ,(0)
I (
2t. m l [." IRI' dl
•
+ £: [." VIR,(/) - Ri(/H d/l )]:D"'R(I) (10-77)

where L'
r
menns a sum Over nil permutations P.

I.r we were d enling with Fermi particles, e.g., the isotope of helium
wh ich h~s. three nucleons, we would have to includ e an ext ra fac to r of
+ I , positive for even permutations and nega t ive for odd per mutations.
There would a lso be so me extra features wh ich depend upon the spin
of t h e atom in our resu lt.
It is possible to give a mo rc d etailed d erivation of Eq. (10. 77) in
the followi ng manner. For helium-4 atoms thc quantu m-m echanica l
a mplitude for two atoms which start at pos it ions a and b to get to
positions c and d is
K(c,a;d,b) + K(d,a ;c,b) (10-78)
(Amplitudes for al ternative final condit ions add, since these co n-
ditions cann ot be d istinguish ed from eaeh other.I In this expressio n
K(c ,o jd,b) is the co mplex amplitude to go from a to c while the ot her
particle is going from b to d.
Since the particles are indistinguishable, their sy mmet ry properties
imply t hat the a mplitude to find t he two pa rticles eve ntually at thc
poi nts c a nd tl must be a sy mmet ric funct ion of c a nd d. T hat is, the
wave function "'(c,d) must be a symmetric fun ct ion of the variables
r e, r". That is,
"'(ell) ~ "'(d,c) (10-79)
If the par t icles were Fermi, t hc wave fu nction would have to be an
a utisynunctrie fun ction of these positions.. . .
If many particles arc involved, the rule IS Simply extended, that IS,
"'(1.2,3, .•• ,N) ~ "'( 1,3,2, . . . 'N)
= "'(1 ,2,4• • . . ,N)
= etc. (I ll-SO)

The simplest statement of the general rule is ~hnt t~e wave funct ion
must he sy unuetrjc (Ullti:oynmll"tric (or Fc~nll p:~rtldl'S) . .\ lt hou":,h
other solut ions of S('llriKli ll~' r'~ WllX C' equation l"XI~t, 0 11 1,- :<Ylllllll'~rlc
unt!"I)'1l1iIl Ct r ic on es
an d 6ntL ~'"
nppenr
r -: i ll nnt ure " lienee III th e sum d efining
Quantum mnhanit:' and path intesror.

t he partition function in Eq. (10-2), "'·C do ~ot wish the SUl~ over aU
energy eigenvalues of t he ham iltonia n H whic h ca n be ~bt.nlUcd from
ti f IrA ~ E.I. but onlv over those for which the wave
so Iu la n 0 ..... .." ..... , ~ dcnsitv rnatri
funct ion t/l.. is a sym met ric function . F OTex amp le, the CU!Hty m.a t :ue
p(x',x) is defined b)' Eq. (10-28) with a disrcg~rd for t~1C s tat istiCS
of the ..Y atoms involved. How can we reduce thia s u m to Includ e only
sym met ric wnve fu nctions ? . . .
To accomp lish t his red uction , we use the following trick. F irst we
notice that fro m any fu nction a sym metric fu nction cnn be produced
simply by permuti ng all variables a nd a dding toge~heT. the resulting
fu nctions. Thus, for any function !(XI ,X2) the co mbinat ion !(%1,%2) +
j(XI,Xt) is a symmet ric fun ction . It follows t hat for any wave func-
tion 4>(Xl,2:'l, • • • ,%N) the function
~'(x.) = L ~(Px,) (10-81)
r
is symmetrical. N ow if ¢,,(x,) is a solut ion of the Schrodinger equa-
rion, then ~: (.rJ as defined by Eq. (1Q-81) is a lso a solu tion, since the
hamilton ian II is symmetric for an in terchange of coordinates. T here-
fore, each interchanged Iorm ¢ ..(Px) is a solu t ion, as is the sum.
Some of t he energy eigenv alues E.. have eige nf un ct ions t/J.. which are
symmetric, a nd some d o not. Sup pose Eit is a n ene rgy eigenvalue for
whi ch the Schrodi nger equation docs not ha ve a symmetric solut ion .
Then the s u m L
¢ k(P X) mus t vanish , since if it existed it would be a
I"
symmetric solution for E. . This res ult implies that the ope rat ion
d efined by Eq. (10-8 1) selects just those sol utions t o the wave equations
wh ic? are sY~lD~etrjc. All other solut ions vanish . If ~ .. (I) is sym-
met ric,. then It IS equal to ¢ ..(Px) ; a nd eince there are Nt ways of
permuting the N atom, we have
L ~.(Px.) ~ NI~.(x,)
p
if ~. is symmetric
= 0 if ¢ .. is of any other symmetry (10-82)
These res ults give us an answer t o OUT questi on . \Vc can now sel ect
out. of the SU Ul defining .tlle density mat rix those particular elements

};'(Pr,x) -
.LL
which apply to sym mct n c states. Thus

~.(Px·)~:(x)",,·.
r .. r
.~

= Nt L ~.(r)~.(x)e-'"
•
- Nrp.~... (:r',z)
(UJ-83)
 291
This is t he reason why in Eq. (10-77) d fi . . .
for sym metr ic statist ics we pcrmut 1I t ~ uung .the pnrtlt~o~ function
The resulting partition function eoe . edJXlrllclcs end divid e by NL
rrcspon s to

JP.v...(z o,xo)dNxo = Z...... = Ye-,e. (10-84)

•
We note some of the Ieatures of F.q (10-77) At hi h te
II I ' ' . II';: mperatures,
we Shou t expect? c nseicnl soluti on for the partition funct ion with no
qunntum-mcchnmcn! effects in evidence. Suppose we d isregard the
cfTc~ts of t he potential for the moment and consider t he effect of the
motion of an atom rro~l1 its initia l point to some other point a d istan ce
d away. In the path integral of ECI. (1 0-77), this is a motion from th e
initial point RI(O) to the permuted position PR,(O), and the contribu-
tion of that particular perm utation to the sum over nil permutations
is proportional to exp (- 11Ulz/~T/2h2), thus decreasing wit h increasing
te mpemturc or increasing spacing bet ween the atoms. Hence, unless
the atoms are ext remely close together, no permutat ion in th e sum is
important-cven the simplest interchange between two at oms-in
comparison with the identi ty permu tation which leaves all atoms in
t heir original locat ion. If we include th e effects of the potential
which increases steeply at a radius of 2.7 A from the center of an atom
in liqu id helium, then no configurat ions in which th e atomic spacing is
less than this value arc importa nt.
Since only th e identity permutation makes a significant contribution
to the summations, all that remains for our considc m t ion is the factor
[/ N L In the carly days of d as8ical thermody namics it was realized
that such a factor was convenient when deali ng with identical part icles,
but its significance was not clearly understood . Its effect on the
chemical constant is called t he entropy of mixing when sys tems of
BCYeroJ different kinds of atoms are studied.
As the te mperature falls, the expo nent ial (actor cxp (-n&d!kT/ 2A!)
prej udic ing agai nst migmtions to new Iiuul posifions OC'COIHC'$ sma ller
end smnllcr. Th is means tl18t at extre mely low temperatu res new
terms become important in the summation over pe rmu tat ions. Of
course the quantu m modifications must be Included : and we saw they
could be included tI.S a first approximation by replacing the potential I'
by a correc ted po tentia l U. As the te mperature falls, the specific
D
hent of liq uid helium begi ns to rise slightly near about 2.3 or 2.-1 I\:.

l'rofJlem 10.8 The density of liquid helium is 0.17 ~/cms. Give

nil order-of-magnitude ostimntc of the temperature at which pcrturbn-
Quantum n1('dlanic li arad palla inr('gml.s

292
t ion terms should begin to pb y an impor ta nt. role in t he description of
liqu id heliu m.

At first sight, one would Ilot expect vcry. ela borate . cxchn~lgCS of
ato ms to eve r be important. An exponen tial fa cto r . lIlVO~ vlIlg the
spacing must be included each time nn a tom move s to Its IlCighbori ng
locat ion. If we roll this factor y, then for T ato ms to move to neigh,
bori ng spots the factor y" must be included , and since U is certainly
less than 1 at any temperature, y" could become q uite small for large r.
' Ye ecrtninly would t hink that as r ap proaches euy reaso nable fraction
of t he approximately 10:: a to ms in a cubic ecutimcte r of liq uid helium,
contributions from facto rs like y" meet be infi nitesimal. H owever,
th is first sight docs not take into a ccount t he fnct t hat with T atoms
permu ting, t here a re e n enormous number of possible permutat ions, r !.
Thus t he small weight of one particula r permuta tion is offset by th e
large nu mber involved .
Ano th er quest ion which arises in t he description of liquid helium
concerns th e t)'PC of permutations which a rc involved . Any permu-
tat ion can be descri bed by cycles : t h us 1-4, 4-7, 7-6, 6-1 is a cycle.
Arc t he importa nt cycles long or sho rt ? A careful es ti m ate shows
th at a t modera te t empera tu res, only simple excha nges of two a to ms
arc importa nt. Then as th e temperature falls, cy cles of three ato ms
become important , th en four, a nd so on. But then sudde nly, :1t a
certain critical tempera t ure, cyc les of much greater lcngt h 1. offset
by their great number the sma ll value of y L. At t his te m pera ture
cycles of importa nce become very long, in volving nearly nll of t he
a to ms inside a conta iner. At t his point t ile cu rve of speci fic hent vs.
tcm pC'~ture Eho\~'S .8 d iscout luuity. Below t his t cmpvruturc t he
beha\' l0~ of t he h(IU1~ Is very st ra nge . It flows t hrough very th in
tubes Wit hout a ny rcststunec for low velocit ies. It st imul ntes infinite
heat conductivity
. in bulk ' elc . '1'1 lese odd uu CInuuctcrtstics
' , nrc n UU H~ ,
((:stUtIOIl 8 of (!U3I1tum mecha nics , pnrtieuln rfy tl IC consI rne t I\"C .III I Cr -
fcrcnce. between . a mp lit udes for repla cing one a t 0111 W 'I 1"I a no,IIl'-r •
Qua
t l lltltnh . .\'dy, the det ails of th e hcl ul\'illr t lr tlH" spee if r I C Ile8 I JU
' S,t at
rc t.rnll~l tlQIl temperat ure lire (lot On n very fi rm fou ndat ion . But th e
qualitative ~son Ior t he trunsificn is cleur.!
TIle expression all u!oJ!;()UJoi tu F' I (1 0-77) r I'
H S ' I.. .'1 ' . . or -cr nu. part ,ie1cs, sueII B;i
C , IS u ..0 r usr Ywrrt t on do wn. H owever i ll tI . r I' ' I IIc'
Ihc err~t ......
of U Ir-ut i I'
It" po I ' ll III IS very lin d t
, I e ca se 0
I rq u n . ,
a ccura te man lier . The f{1l."'i011 f r r . 0 .l · \, a ua te q uu nt itut.ivvly III fi ll
o ti ll.,; IS t hat ti le ec ntri butjon of 8
1 A more d ct.ail~·, 1 .ti..rll""ion 01 t il.. t "t" . .
point of view rna)' lie found in It p Pe v 1 11m (UIIl'l wn o( li(llI id hcliu Ul (ronl (hI.!
. . ~)n nllan, Pit" •. RI!I'., vet. m, p. I 2tJ I, 1953·
 Stotbliall mecllonit:8
293
cycle to the su m over permutations is either iti "
depCIHI"rug on WItet her the cycle has an odd' POSI lye Or negative
" c_
" - 1 II or ('\CII IlUIU IJl.:r of atoms
III Its _ t'nr.: ~t 1 ~. At _low tempera tu
'
re , tile c011 t rtib 11 tiIons 0 f cycles such
us L r- .>1 and L = 012 nrc very nea rly equal but °PPOSIitcC iu si
III sign, and
t~crc ore they v<'ry nea rly cnnccl, It is necessary to compute the
d!ITcTl'llce between such terms, a nd this requi res very careful cnlcula-
tl0~1 of onch term sepa ru.lf" Y. It is very difficult to su m an alternati ng
1 .terms which nrc decreasing slowly in mngnitud c w-hen n
seri es- of large
precis e ann ytie for mula for ench term is 1I0t availa ble.
Progress co~ld be made in this problem jf it were possible to arrange
til e ma t hemat ics describing n Ferm i syste m in a way that corresponds
to n sum of positive tenus. Some such schemes have been tried but
the resulting terms appear to be much too hard to evaluate 'even
qualitatively.
For molecules which nrc separa ted by d istances in the neighborhood
of 1 A we have seen that the effect s of exchange (the nonidentical
permutations) are i mporta nt only when the temperature is down to a
few degrees a bsolute. In contrast to this, consider the behavior of
electrons in a solid meta l. The mass of the electron is so much smaller
than that of a molecule that the crit ical temperature is much higher.
At room temperatures, electrons in n metal a rc described accurately
only by equations which include the exchange effects of these cyclic
permutations. From this point of v iew, room temperature is very
cold for electrons. The excha nge effects arc of do minant importance,
Of, to put it another way. the electron gas is degenerate. Of course,
the electrons internet by Coulomb's law, which is qu ite strong. But
since the effects of the Coulomb a ttraction arc of long range, they
tend to average out. To (J, fa ir approxima tion , the electrons act 3S if
they were independent, although, of course, each moves in t he sa me
periodicn lly varying potential produced by the arrangement or the
nucl ei a nd th e average or t he positions or neighboring elect rons. Fro m
the s tudy of t he ideal Fermi b'1lS neglectin g iuterncticns, we can learn
n lot about the behavior or elec trons in met als.
However, it is apparent that we cannot learn quite enough, for
the superconductivity of meta ls occurring bdo\~ a few degrees a bsolute
would remain n mystery. 'rlli~ phenomenon , 111 some metals at least,
involves all interaction in which the alow vibratory motion of th e atoms
is involved . 'Ve conclud e t his beCAUSC t he tra nsition te mpera tures
Ior two different isotopes of th e some metal depend on t~l<' utouuc ".~ss.
This value of th e isotopic mass would not be huportnnt If till' tra nsition
were simply n umtter or mutunl inh'nu~tioll between electrons, or
interaction of the electrons with nil idealized urruy of ji.u tl atoms. The
Qllnlllllm mechollics nnd pal" itl leB ro l.
294

idcaliantion t hat t he atoms arc fixed must be incorrect. But how docs
the mot ion of the atoms produce a sudde n j um p in speci fic heat in
some metals an d permit elect rical conductiv ity below this t emperature
wit hout rcsistanccf T his qu est ion was first an swered in n. convincing
way by Bardecn, Cooper, a nd SchricfTer. ' T he path integral approach
played 110 pa rt in their analysis, and in fact it has never proved useful
for degenerate Fermi systems.

The Planck Blackbody Radiation Law. The partition fu nc-

ti on for any system of interacting oscillators is easily worked ou t.
Such a syste m is equivalent to a set of independent oscillators of Ire-
qucneies ClJi. However, the va lue of free energy F for ind ependen t
systems is the su m of the values of F for ea ch of the sepa rate systems
which we find directly fro m the sum of E q. (10-2) to be •

kT 10 (2 sinh 2~';,)
T his gives the fr ee energy of a linear system as

F = kT ~ In ( 2 sinh 1;)
= kT L• In (1 - ......,,'1 + LIi.>, (10-85)
• • 2
Th~ last te rm in t his exp.rcssion is a grou nd-state energy of the system.
I·or an electromagn etic field in a box of volume V, the moore are
d(,~lIed by U~e \'e~tor wave number K, two for each K. T he zero-
point energy 15 omitted. T hus the free energy of the elect ro magnetic
field computed per un it volume is
d'K
F - kT / (2".), 2 In (I - e: 'K,"'1 (10-86)

~1~ ;lIt
w II C 1
('rllnl cnergy C! is thc partial deriva t ivc of {JF with respect to {J
lx comoe (puttlllg w = K c)
U = 2 / d 'K hw I
(2r)' e"w f"T - 1 (1G-81)
Thc volume cleme nt ill K space ce b .
, n e wrlttcn as
d'K = 4rK2dK = 4r ~ dw
c' (10-88)
I J . nard f'f'n. L. ~ . C"..onJ)("r a nd J n Sc.h .
aod vol. 108, p, 1175, 1957. ' " rK'lTer, Phy•. Rn ., vel . l OG, p. 1(;2, 1957,
 SIoti8'iml mecllonir a

295
This menns tlInt the cnergy in the elcctrom . .
frequencies from (oJ to (oJ + dw is agnetie field In the range of

2 · 421' flw
(2~c) ' eI* /lT 1 ( 1Q-89)

Thls
,
is the fam ous blnckbody-mdiation
. •
la W dilSCOVCred Ily Planck. It
was the first real qu nlltltnbve (luuntul1l-mcehanicnl result disc ed
d . tl Ii t . I "'" rseover
an " US re nrs step III t io discovery of the new laws.
Another early tlunntum-m cchnuicnl triumph was t he explanation oE
thc te mperature d?I~Cnuellce of the specific heat of solids by Einstein
and b)' Dchye. This also COIUCS from Eq. (10-&; ), but the oscillators
a~ now the normal modes of the crystal, D.8 descrihed ill Chap . 8.
l~ or example, the ther:mal energy JK'r unit volume of such a crystal is,
like Eq . (1Q-87) [leaving out the zero-point energy) , just

u - '"
- 3. 6..~
f exp [hw(k)JkTJ
,",,(k)
-
d'k
I (2r),
( 10-90)

where w(k) is the frequency of n phonon of wave vector k. In a

crystal, t his is a multi ple-valued function (t here arc 3pwJ values for
each k if there arc p atoms in a unit cell), and we must sum over each
of the possible values of (oJ for each k. The k integral extends only
over the finite range proper for th e crystal. For light there are t wo
mod es for each k, each or frequency w = kc, so the sum gives a factor
2 and Eq. (10-87) results, the integral on k now going to infi nity.
T he result of Eq . (10-00), studied in vario us approximations by
Einstein and Dcby c, gave D. good accounting of the mai n feat ures of
thc specific-heat curve, particularly the behavior at low tempernturee,
which had bccn in direct contradi ct ion to the classical expectations.
T oday, putt ing a morc complete knowledge of th e phonon spectrum
w(k) into Eq. (1 0-90) yields a COIU I)Il'lcly se tisfecto rj- description of
t hat part of t he specific heat of solids due t o internal vibration of thc
a toms.

10-5 REMARKS ON METHODS OF DERIVATION

The presentation of statistical mechanics given in t he early part. of

this cha pter leaves much to be ul·sin'tl . 1'lIe r.Ulldnllwutnl law wllI,c.h
1:
ahcwe thnt the probability Cor findi ng u system t~l th.c l' lIe~ state IS
propcrtionel to C- ./~T is usually derived by eoueklcriug the intcruct jon
Quantum m ecl.ataic a and pod. integral.
296

of com plex systems over long periods of timc. Bu t an entcrtaining

problem prese nt s it self, . . . ,
\Vc have started ou r d iscussion of phys ics In tins hook with a
d efinition of the laws of quantum mechanics using n path integral
tech nique, as shown in Chap. 2. Just R:3 0. question of curiosity, let
us take t he point of view that t his is the fundamen tal law. Then
ul timately t hese stat istical pro perties of a system whose qua ntum,
mechanical properties are defined by such a path integral a rc found to
be exp ressible in te rms of t he part ition function Z. This fun ction
can be defined by a path integral of au obviously very similar and
closely related form, as shewn by Eq. (10·77) . Yet the derivat ion of
this result requires not ing the wave equation, the existen ce of stat ion-
ary state s and eigenval ues, eud the argument about in tc ract ion over
long periods of ti me to which we re ferred , all of wh ich leads to t hc
express ion (10-1) for the partit ion fun ct ion in t erms of the energy
levels E., Finally, we proceed to the reverse argument producing t he
path integral formulati on for Z. I s there a ny way to d erive the pat h
integral expression for Z for a system in eq uilibrium d irec tl y fro m the
path integral description for the t ime-d epcndent motion ? Can wc
find a short cut which avoids the mention of energy levels al together ?
If it is possible, we do not yet know bow to d o it .
One migh t ask: 'Why try it at al l? I t is like showing that you can
swim with your ha nds tied at y our back. Aft er all, you k now the re
'" are energy levels. T he only excuse for trying to avoid t heir mention
wou ld be t hat i ll 50 doing a deeper und ers tanding of phys ical p rocesses
migh t result or possibly more powerfu l met hods of stutis ticu.l mechnnics
might be evolved . At an y rate, it would be interesting to solve the
problem.
I~ ~'as the .pr?l1Iptings .of. a sim ila r quest, to get the well-known
va riat ional prJllclpl.t· perun ttiug the compu tat ion of the lowes t ene rgy
Icv~l o~ a 6yste ~n directly fro m the path lntcgrul for mu lati on (instead
of indirectly ~ 1fi t~IC Schrbdiuger cq untion}, which resu lted i ll the
method~ described III Cha p. ) 1. Thus the results of th is a pparently
ncedcmic
",.
problem. wen' of some use as \\··..-11 e S 0 f some .Ifl t ercs t .
o
Neverthel
I ess,. If we. prefer
. I
we ca ll suppose ., ° f or one par-
. our uesrro
t rcu ar course In nclllc\' IJlg a solution is pro
.1 • • , tu p ted °
t U s unp y
I b Y a ll ucn-
ucnue mtercs t III th e methods of elnssieu! I · S U t
have n system obeyi ng th . . p tYS ICS . upposc m we
to C prmcJple of ICU8t action with t he action
d c fi 11ed by ,

s = 21 J11IX' dl + 2k J%(/)%(1 + 0) dt
°
(10-91)
 297
so that the equation of motion is
k
mi = 2 [x (1 + a) + x (! - a»)
(10-92)

Here we have cres ted th e curious situn tio" hi h " "

d . b f n 10 W Ie a particle 15
nven y a orc~ depending on t he uvcruge va lue of coordinates that
were nud t hat will be. T here nrc cxponcn tiall I di I "
E ( ) y cxp 0 10 9 80 utions of
•q. ~O-n2 , b l.lt let us sny that only lIlotions for which z rema ins finite
both. In th e d ista
. . nt .past and in the dista •.u nt rut ure WI"II CI)C nIIowcd .
(Incidentally, I t I~ likely t hat solutions which we wish to ignore nrc
excluded a nyway If the action la w is stated ns oS :::: 0 for nil variations
of path ox subject to t he restraint 6x __ 0 for t - t ± :Xl .)
I:~or ~uch a system it is possible to define an expression for energy
which 15 conserved ; for th e equations of mot ion of the system do not
dcp~nd on t ime. (No simple hamiltonian gives the equatio ns of
motion.) P rCS1.II11lLbly, such a system could possess properties which
allow it, for example, t o be perturbed by molecules of n gas and thus
achieve therm al eq uilibrium. 'Vc might ask : What are th e averages
of va rious quantities describing a system obeying the equa tions of
motion of Eq. (10-92) and ap propriate boundary conditions at infi nity
when it is in equilibriu m a t the temperature T ? Perha ps su ch a
problem is not d efi na ble, or perhaps it is cesily solved only in t his
special case beca use the equati ons of motio n a rc linear. But the aim
of these remarks is to ask whether t he existence of a hamiltonian a nd
momentum variables is indeed necessary to t he Iorrnulation of classica l
stat istical mechanics-c-or whether a wider class of mechanical sys te ms
can he an alyzed, a system in wh ich th e equation of motion conics most
simply from t he principle of least action, even t hough that act ion
Involves more than the instantaneous positions and velocities of the
particles in t he system.
This quest ion is the classical analogue of our more interesting ques-
tion, namely, how do we proceed directly from the . path integral
formulation of qunntum-mcchauicul laws of a lllCC~n lCtll sys tem t o
the path integral formulation of stat istical meclmnicnl laws for th e
same syste m in equilibriu m?

Problem. 10-9 Show that the expression

E (I) = ~ m [i(I))' - ~ r (t)x (1 + a) + ~ J.Ho r(!' - a)i(l') dl' (10-93)

defines a conserved energy for the equat ion of motion (10-92).

...
c,. ..." ...... .....,.IttI",f'• • "rl/H'.h

In Kt·lIl·rnl.
,,. ••,,.,•

for I'll)' Arllnu funrlionnl, Ilk" ."1, UUIl d","", lIot Involvn
lin- t inu- t'xl,l ir iIJ)' (i.r., i" iU\'" riRlll f,lr thr IrllU",fUrlllnliull 1_'-}
nllllOl) Iln'n' i.. nil C'Xpn"NOion A'(T) fllr 1111' rfl.'rRY nl l illlr '/' whleh iJI
("unltl'r\'t"l.l. II cnu IH- Inuud iI)' ntlkillf( (ur till' fi",,'-orcJI'r d""IJ(" ill llu~
arliull S ,,111'11 nil Ilnllu~ nn- rllnnKI". Iroru .r(I) lo rfl + ,,(1)1, w"ere
,,(I) - -tfl:! (ur I > 7' nflel ,,(I) - - ./2 for' < T, with corUll.4nL •.
1.'\ be Iheu .1:.'(7/ (or iufill ih"fOilllnl f.

ProM,.". 10·10 Di""u".. (1.(' pmbk-m of the pnlh illl~Jtn\1 Icrmu,

IRI iUll or tltRI i!CticnJ U1l'ChllUi",a (or B pllrliclc which u in a limc-con.el.4nt
magnetic fidcJ.
 •

11
The Variational Method
 IN us Chep to r we dlISCusa
t hi S
method based
. '
on no variational principle
...
for the approximate eva luation of ccrtuiu pa t h integra ls. 1< lrat,. we
shall illustra te the method by SO llie exa mples. Late r, we consider
those problems for which the method may be useful.

11-1 A Ml lim l!M PRlliCIPLE

Su ppose we wish to evaluate the free enc~ F of a 5YStc~. T?is

problem ccu be expressed in ter ms of path lI~tcgrnls by st art ing with
the partit ion funct ion for the system defined 111 Eq. (10-4) as
Z = e- OF (11- 1)
I n E q. (10-30) the partiti on function was expressed as an in tegral
over t he density mutrix p(.r,x) . T hen, in Sec. 10-2, a k ern el expression
for p(..r,x) was developed. It allows us to write

Z = J--. J.~' e Sf
' :OX(u) dx .
,
(11-2)
so long as we usc the "time" variable u as an imaginary quantity.
In Sec. 10-3 we developed 0. perturbation tech nique for the evulua-
tio n of the path integral d efining t he partition function for certain
special cases. we shall now descri be another tech nique, a pplica ble
in t hose cases where S is real. For ordinary cases without n. mag netic
field (and no sp in) S is real.
Throughout the remainder of this chapter, we assume t hat we
arc choosing units in such a way that the value of 11 is 1. Whenever
it is necessary to include It sy mbolically in order to visualize t he
qu antu m-mechanical characte r of 11 result, it can be so included by a
straightforward dimensional inspec tion.
Let us suppose that some other S ' CRn be foun d wh ich satisfies
tw o condit ions: First , :i' is simple enough that exp ressions such as
Je8 ' :o.z (1) or f Ces - 1)x(t), for s imple fUIl(;ti ollal~ G can be evaluated.
~ceolld, t he impo rtant pat hs ill t he integra l f e s :I.>.t(t) a mi t hose in the
J1I1 Ch'1'nl Jt s • :I.>.z (t) arc similar, that is, S ' and Sure simi lur when t hey
nrc I~th small Now suppose P' hi the frcc cuergy associated with S'.
T hat IS,

e- OF' - J_". J.:' . 5' :Dz(u) dz, (11-3)

so t ha t
He s :Dz (t) dz .
De" :DA t) dz, - e-",-r, (11-4)
300
 Th e tariot ional method
301
ThCD since e3 =- es- s'e s ', we can write Eq . (11-4) as
H.s- s•••• :Dx(l ) dx, lffe" :0.(1) dz ,j- ' _ ..-"'_' "
(11-5)
This says simply that c- IC , - , ' ) is the average value of ~s' whcre th i.'I
average is taken Over all paths with the sa me initial and fi nal point
and t he weight of cech path is tt· :nol(t) . All possible values of ;r
ore included in the averaging process. '
One way to proceed now wou ld be to suppose that S - S' is small
and that F - F ' is sm all and t hen expand both sides up to the fi rst
power ill their respective exponents. T his method appears dubious
because (3 (F - F') is not SOlan if fJ is large. However, compa rison of
higher-p ower te rms shows that this is nevertheless n legitimate npproxi-
marion to F - F'.
The argument Can be made much more rigorous and powerful in the
following way. T he average value of ~ when z is a random variable
always exceeds or equa ls the exponcntial of thc average va lue of Xl as
long as z is real a nd the weights used in the averaging process are
positive. 1118t is,
(11-6)

where {;r} = t he weighted average of:c. This follows because the curve
of ~ is concave upward, us shown in Fig. 11-1, 50 that if ~ number of
masses (weigh ts} lie along t his curve, the center of gravity of these
masses lies above thc curve. T hc vertical height of this center of
gravity is the average vertical posit ion (t"') of the points. It

-----------., ~

o.
0,
V>
itivo nnd look c e t hem as d ifferent
Fig. II-I we assu me t ho we iJ;ht ing r. ctors 0 , Il r e ~ of the "'ei~hted 1l" C",~ of r, tMl
ln lLS!l('ft ~itioocd alo np; A et rin" . T hen I h~ c;r;;:nen IA n Clit illl>J (, ' ) h l 't":tU >!C v f t he COOt"ftVO
il. l ·). m u...t l ie be low tile " ci~J.tcd a vc l"lI.rc, U " IU l~ t l.... c ur,",." but (c'). tile center of
nA ture o f t ile eu rvc c· , TI Ie va tee u of C" IIU b 1f' " I .. •
-
Rruvit y vf t he tlevcn.1 po lp hl, flI Uti re-t I' above the cu rve .
Qunn'um m edlflnits and po'" integrnl.

:102
') d i t f the eurve c- at the abscissa. position of the
exceeds cv , the or 1110. e 0 I ()
. hi 1 i the evcrege vu ue %.
center of g J1I.\"lt )· , w It.~ 1 \ E (11-5) we take t he avera ge value of
On the }rrt-hund $ 1 e 0 ~' . • I ts oS ' :Dx(t) where S' and S
er S' over pat hs with the positive we~g I . C cd the qu antity eS-s'
I II by Eq (11-6), tillS exec S •
arc rca . C~IC~, • of S _ S ' with t his same weighting
where (8 - S ) IS the Bverage TI "
scheme, namely, wit h t he werg c
" ht S ' :nr(1)
•
mt IS
,
(S _ S ') = ff( S - S' )e S ' :nr(t) d.J:. [Ife ' :ox(1) d.J:.I-·
S
(11-7)

'We havc then

(11 -8)

T his result implies t hat

(11-9)
r, $F; -~ (S - S' )
Our final result is then
(11-10)
F< F' - ~

where

~ - ~ ff (S - S' )eS' :ox(t) dx . [ff .s' :ox(t) d.J:, r (11-11)

It is very fortun ate that we have a minim um p ri nciple here. It

says that, if we calculate F~ - li for various Unctions" S ', that calcu-
latio n which gives t he smallest result is nearest to th e true frcc energy
F .t The energy F is actually obtained, of course, if S' = S j but we
can guess that if S and S' differ i ll some se nse to 0. firs t o rder of s mall-
ness, t hen the derivation of F' - li from F must be of seco nd ord er.
If only 0. reaso nable general form of S' ca ll be guessed but certain
pa ra meters st ill remain u ncertain, t he calculation ot F' - li call be
made leaving these pa rurnctera u nde termin ed . Then t he ucnrcst
approximation to F will be t he lowest 1'" - li uv nllublc. T hat is,
t he " best" values of the parameters arc those wh ich mini mize F' - liJ
" best" in the sense that t he resultant F' - li d iffers least Irom the
t rue F.
This same minimum pri nciple can be used to find an npp roxit nate
t Agllill, it is ~' o rt)1 t m!)bUllizing t h"t nt.'it h('c S not S' is an nc\ ion (uncliOn,,1 in
the .p W (K."C pla}· Mc ul lll (.un~ n g u( 1I1c t erur, lIitlc(, 1'0' It n rc defim-d wi th t II<' i J1) ll ~i nt\ 1')'
Vo.rl:I),1(· « used n.!I lI, l· " t um': ' va riable. lI u'o\'c\'cr, op('rut iCJIl~ with path illh',;r"b
urc 1I lC same Ior them! functlon ul~ DJ:I (ar proper J)h}'hienl ecfi on s u sed llrC" KtuslY·
 . TIll.: ru,.infionol mer/lOll

303
value for the lowest energy state of th .~ E
C system . 0. Recall that
•
Z '= r,-6F = L e-/JE ..
• - 0 (1l~12)

.As the temperature of the system becomes Iower an d Iower, t hat

IS, as {J grows .la rgcr, terr~ i n~ohri llg higher values of energy become
~css nl~d less uuportaut III this series. Eventually th e series for Z
15 do minated by tile term of smallest energy, e-Bl!.. That is,
lim Z = CBS.
.-.- (1l~13)

Now following tl.1C line of argument developed in the preceding para-

graphs, we can simply replace F with Eo. ',"c define E~ as the result
of the puth integral involving t he new action S' Bud finally derive
E. < E; - ~ (1l~14)
as an approximation in the limit of large {J.
In approximating Eo by this technique, our task is somewhat simpler
than it was for the free energy F. Specifically, we can d isregard th e
specification that the init ial and final points of the pat hs he the sa me.
To understand this, we refer back to Eq. (10-28) and note that as /3
becomes huge the density matrix {J(x',x) is also dominated by the
zero-order term and approaches e- BE-4Jo(x' ) 4Jt (x). Thus the depe nd.
once on x' and x enters into a multiplying factor but docs not affect.
the nature of the exponential behavior of the funct ion. It is this
exponential behavior which is fundamental in the evaluation of Eo by
this technique.

11-2 AN APPLIC.\TION OF TilE VARIATIONAL METIlOD

As un example of the ovnluation of n. partition f~ nction u~illg this

variat ional pri nciple, consider the exa mple of a single particle CO~l­
strai ned to move in one d imc usiou, Using the approach developed lit
Chap. 10, we write the action for such a particle as

S = - I: I; :1;(/)' + V[I (/)ll dl (11-15)

So, for large values of P, the partition funct ion is

.-'" ex 17 [,.x p( - I: I; i' + I'[X(/)]l ,/I)] :Or(l) de, (H -W)

"
Qllnntllm mechnn i t s a n d parh inregfflu
301

Th is path int egral is over paths which return to t he in itial !iO tortillg
poin ts ; and utter t he path integral h.RS I ~n e~ulunted, a furth er
integrat ion ove r nl! possible starting points IS carried out. .
I n See. I£).2 we consid ered t his same p~hlcm nr~d POI1~tcd out
bow the elassicu! a pproximation may be derived by inspection. In
the clnssical Iimit of high temperatures Of high val ues of k T com pared
with fl, t he value of (lfi is so small that pn.tbs which get very far away
from xo do not contribute. T hus, t he pote ntial can be replaced by the
constant val ue r(xo) , and the path integral contribu tes on ly a con-
stant, giving

m J.,-BVld ax
.-'E, (classical) ~ ~2~{J (11-17)

as shown in Eq. (10-18) .

I n Chap. 10, one quantum-mechan ical improvement was made on
t he classical result by expanding t he potentia l about t he average posi-
t ion of the path and using t erms up t hrough t he second order in this
expa nsion. Th en a st ill greater imp rovement was achieved by using
0. pot ent ial U, developed ill a parti cular averaging process. From the
poi nt of view of this chapter, we sec t ha t t ha t a pp roach ,..ras 0. special
appli cation of t he variat ional met hod . To clarify t his point, we shall
review t he key steps using the notation and concepts of this cha pter.
Thus we wish to deri ve n suit a ble t rial fu n ction l V(x), where i is
t he average position of a pat h defin ed by

x = ~ J: x(t) dt (11-18)

Along any part icular path, th is su bsti t ute for the potential is a
constant, so th at t he new form of the action a long that p ath becomes

S' ~ - J: ; :t' dt - (J1I'(x) (11-19)

With th is more general form, it is possible to cal culate l oth 1'" nud
(S - 8'). )
P roceeding along this COurse we usc E q . (1l~I4). Substituting
into this exp ression, we have '

- JJ UJ.' Vlx(t') Jdt' - 11'(i) I

6=
X [ cx p ( - J: ~:t' dt)] lexp [- (J1I'(i )JI ~x(1) dx,
(11-20)
JJ [ cx p( J.' ;l:t'dt)]Icxp [-{J W(x)JI fu(t)dx ,
 The mriorionnl metllOd

' 1 305
1t IS to )C reJnrmbrm l thnt Ih the
i h
o I E q. ( 11·20) nrc th ose whicl chpe to be- uscd In t C! path 'II1 tegrnls
and , ns in £ (1. (ll.W) a furth n~e the FUme initial and final points
. , er IUlegral io 11 ' •
to be carr'icd out " n over a end pom ta Zo is
No te that the nllnlcrntor of 6 is . "
introd uced in E (I (lO-f ')) ' f . qtnte ~lIl11lar t o the term l (z)
• • • Jo) ,I WI:' IY'st r.ct ou I-
specifi c avcm ne vn lue • a d ' rse \ cs to paths t hat have a
,.. , ~ -... n COu nt on Iut cemt i
values of ;f at n Inter staee of II I 1 . II egmtlllg over all possible
I') Ie en C'1I nticn n th
as were used in the d iscussion of J(,i we' Y c sa me argu ments
~ is indepeudont of t' \V I}' eoo that th e numerator of
" e can eva unte the path integrals in both
nu rncrntor and denomina tor hy the methods used in Ch 10 d
take the uuswcr from Eq • (10-"') \N ,
rc be ine
mem ring t at th ep . an

y = x,- i (ll-21)

~inc:c the denom inator is simply a special form of the expression a r-

mg m the numerator, the result is ppea

t: f-'o /CXP[-6
(V(x,) - W(x) ] ; (x, - x)']l
~ = X ' c. PI ~Jr (i')JJ d.r, dx
(ll-22)
t: f_·./exp [-7 (x, - x)'J)
X I cxl' l- ~W (x)JJ dx,dx

The integral over %0 in the denominator in F.q. (11-2'-.2) can he easily

evaluated to give (81T{ Gm) H. Furthermore, the inte gral over the
term in the nu merator conta ining the factor Jr(i-) resu lts in this SAme
multiplying consta n t . It will be- IUOrc convenient for our futu re work
jf we carry out t hat pnrticulnr intcgrutic n ill t he nu merator and further
simplify the resu lting expression by defining the function I'(i} as

(tl-23)

The form of l' (x) reveals the qunntum-mechan ienl effect we hnvc
introduced, T his Iunct ion is u weighted uvvrugv of I"(r c) with a
gaussian weightin g Iu uct iou just like- the funct ion U(r ,,} defined by
FAt. (l ~,s) , a nd t he- gnussinn spu'ntl is agniu (dA !; t:?",r~, For a
helium atom at a t r-mper utu rc of :!°l'-. t " ~ spn-ad 1I11l0UII l s to abo ut
0 .7 Jt At room tomperutu res, however, it is only ab out 2 per cent
of the 2.7-J\ dia meter of t he atom. The value of 6 eiu uow be written
Quantum mec/ln"ics and palh integrals
306

as

[(1I'"(x) - VWllcxp [-PW(x)JI d1; (11-24)

~ = f1exp [-PW(r)JI dx
Thc next step is to evaluate TV(l) by the requirement tha~ :\·c obtain
the minimum value for It" - a, as shown in Eq. (11-13). F 18 defined
by

exp ( - pE;) = JeS':ox(I)

= J Icxp [ - J:; :c' dl - PW( X)]I :Ox (I)
= J lexp(-PW(x)JI
XL .... [exp ( - J:;:c' dl)]:OX(I) d1; (11-25)

The path integral is a simple one whose value we know to be

v'm/2rfJ, 50 that we obtain

exp (-PE;) ~ ~2:P J [exp [-pW(x)]] d1; (11-26)

The next step, finding the optimum choice for lV(i), requires us to
determine the eITect of a small variation in the function IV(x) on the
value of F' - 6 and set this effect equal to O. Thus, imag ining W to
be repla ced by
W- W(x) + .(x) (11-27)
we find from Eq. (11-26) that the variation in F' is
dE' - f,(x)[exp (-PII'(x)JI dx
0 - Jicxp I-PW(i»)! d1; (11-28)

and the variation in 6 from Eq. (11-24) is

d~ = f1 exp[- PII'(x)IIlP. (i)IYm - lI'(x)l + .(x) I dx

f1 exp [ PII'(i )]) dx
f1exp [-PW(f)lIIlV(x) - I'(xll dx
+ X JP. (.i)l exp [-PII'(.i)JI dx (11-29)
(f1cxp [- PII'(x»)J d.i)'

Finding n. stationary value for the right-hand side of Eq. (11-13)

 The t'nrintional naetilOd

307
requires simply that
aE; - a~ = 0
(11-30)
which will be true if we take

IV(;;) = Vi;;)
(11-31)
This, r implies that 6 is 0 and that F'
• • inI tum, has th e same form as the
.ctassiea
h d firee. .energy defined
, ~ . (11 -17).
in Ell 1/on:ever,
· tl lC potential
.
1D t e c mtlon of F t has been replaced by V(i). That is, '

exp (-/IE;) = ~;:/I J [cxp HJV(.t>Il <Ix (11~2)

where V (;;), the etTective classical potential, is given by Eq. (11-24).
For large values of P, the free energy is essent ially t he same as the low-
est ene~gy I~vel Eo: thus " :c can interpret Eq. (11 ..32) as providing an
apprcximatiou to Eo. Th IS means that the variational nppronch has
produced the same result as that obtained in Chap. 10 and shown in
Eqs. (10-67) and (10-68).

11-3 THE STANDARD VARIATIONAL PRINCIPLE

There is in quantum mechanics a standard variational principle, called

Rayleigh-Ritz method, whieh is this: If H is the hamiltonian of the
system, whose lowest. energy value is En, then with J representing any
arbitrary function
(11~3)
Eo::; ff*Hf d(vol) (ff*f d(voI))-'
This has wide application and is very easily demonstrated. If the
function J be expanded as a series in the eigenfunction 41.. belonging to
thc hamiltonian, i.e., if J = '};a~4J"t it is evident that
(11-34)

This latter expression is an average of the energy values (with positi ve

weights la..I:) which therefore exceeds (or equals) thc.le~t ~nl~e E&-
The principle expressed in Eq. (11 -..1 ;~) has ch~~sc~erlStlcs ~mltlur to
the principle of Ell. (11~13). I n Iuct, Eft- (11.033) I~ a l'l ~l'CIn.1 c~ of
E (t. (11-13) . (1'0 he more precise, .we :;h~ultl ~'strJct this conclus~ol\
to those cast'S for which the humilton mn 1/ IS derived fron~ a lagr1~n~uLll
which docs not contain any magnetic field. Under this restriction,
Quonlum mechanic. and poria inlegrob
308

then, the conclusion holds.) To sec the relation between these two
equations. we shall consider the following exam ple: .
Suppose the action S is connected with a lagra ngmn su ch 88

L = Hm.i' - r(x) (11-35)

'W here 1'(z) is independent of t. (Gt herwise, of cou rse, there arc no
fixed energy levels to scekl) w e shall limi t ou rselves to t he case of a
single variable x, but th e general case follows d irec tly. " 'c uote here
t hat if t he Iagru ngian co ntn ina the term xA - for exam ple, if the
lagrangian represents a particle in 8 magnetic field-then E q . (11-33)
is st ill corre ct . H owever, the action S is com plex. In this case we
suspect that Eq. (11-13) (or some simple mod ification of th is equation)
is st ill valid . However, this has not been proved. So, for the present
we shall limit our discussion to a cnse in whi ch no magnetic field is
present, Then in the limit for large values of {j we have

J(cxp ( - J: ~ m.i' dt + J: 1'[x(t)] dt)) :Ox(t) - e- u , (11-36)

Now su ppose we usc for our trial action S' the form

S' = J: ~ m.i' dt - J: V' Ix(t)] dt (11-37)

which involves some other potent ial V' (x). This means that

S - S' = J: W lx(l)) - V(x(t)JI dt (11-38)

or

6= - JeS' ~ J: lV[x(1)J - V'l x(tlil dl :ox(l) [J e B' :Dz(t) r

(11-39)
If we were to defi ne the mean If . .
the path x (I) "'I such va ue 0 a ny fun ction wh ich dep ends on
c a m an ner Us this . . 11 '
nearly indepe ndent of t I ' we \\ a u ( find t hat t he value IS
Therefore to a 6uffic icn::' popOg ~s l \~·ns not too close to ei t he r 0 or (j.
, roxtmnticn, we C811 wri te
6 = - f eB'Wlx(l)) - 1"lx(t)JI :ox (I) [feB' :Dz(I)J- 1

= ( \'(X(I)) - V'lx(l)]) (11-40)

Following t he methods given i CI
Integral if we ass um e that the In ~np. 2, we CRn eva luate th is path
A' a dE" L-I
UIlctlOI18 ...... n • uc cngt' ng to the S'
II
 The ~riationQI method

arc known. If o ur pat h goes fro 309

Ulx(I)J) = r [exp [_ (.B _ I)E'I m x. t o x~ for example, we obtain
n • /(exp (-It . )]¢:(x')¢:(x,)f••

X {~(exp (-/lI:.~)J¢:·(x,)¢:(x.) 1-' (11-41)

where
I •• = / ¢:'(X)/(x)¢~(z) dx
nut, if
P approaches infinit ad . . .
(11-42)
t = P/ 2), alI t he Jligher CX ~ ~ . t IS Ilkewlsc large (for exa mple,
exponential involving the Jpo. etll ials arc nrgligible compared to the
. owes Mencrgy term E~ Thus in the limit
10m (f) = I"
.-.. (11-43)
This result can be written as
6 = - /¢;'V(z)¢; dx + J¢;'V'(x)¢;dz (11-14)
Of c~urs~. we must subtract this value from E'o- However, if 1/' is the
hanuJtonJan associated with S'. that is, if

E. + V'(z)
H' = 2m (11-45)
then
H'¢~ = E~~ (11-46)
so that
E; - 8 - !f/J~·H'f/J~dx + !¢~·V~d% - I¢~·V'thd% (11-47)
But the true hamiltonian can be written as
p' ,
H=-2m +v=L+r+v
2m -r-H'+v -r (11-48)

and th is means that

Eo < f¢~·Hf/J~ d% (11-19)
wh ere ¢~ is normalized and is the wav e function corresponding to the
lowest energy state of the lmmiltonian given in Eq. (11-1,) . " ·e note
that t he estimate of the lowest energy level, as given ill Eq. (11-19),
Involves t he arbitmry potential F'(.r) ani)' through the \\':1\"C function
¢~. Since this potentia l was arbitrary, so is the wave fu nction 9~.
Therefore, inst ead of choosing nil nrbitmry pctcut jul and finui ng
from it the resulting wuvo fuuct ion nnd then proceeding to evaluate
Quan,um meclumiclf and pad. i,,'cgrab

310

E (11-49) we couJd i)115 t cad pick the wave function itself and. then
q, E' (11 '9) -it l out ever bothcring about the potentin] to
evaluate q. - \\ 1 '1'1 ' . 11 f I' .
I . 1 II ' bitrary wevc functio n belongs. ic \ urrn ) o une IOn In
w IIC I l IS ar . , h II th t •
t hiIS process IS. II1('n the wave function . 410 rot 'or • IBnI o pch ential
. 1"()
f unction x . w e.. fi nd , theu , that this result IS simp y anot er way
of stating th e result of Eq. (11-33).
If the problems such as the one giv;n in this example were the only
ones In which the concept expressed In Eq. ~11-13? were useful, then
th -ould not be much point to this Jong discussion. But there arc
m~~~ : 10re complicated integrals for which Eq. (11-13) can be used in
a way that, at le8st as far as we can tell, is not so easily t~nsformnble
into Eq. (11-33). We shall describe such an example m the next
section.

11-4 SLOW ELECTRONS IN A POLAR CRYSTAL'

We imagine an electron moving in a polar crystal, such as sodium

chloride. The electron interacts with ions, which nrc not rigidly fixed.
Thus, the electron creates in its neighborhood a distortion of the crystal
lattice, and if the electron moves about, the region of distortion moves
with it. This electron, together with its distorted environment, has
been called a polaron.
One consequence of the distortion of the lattice is that the energy
of the electron is lowered. Furthermore, since as the electron moves
the ions must move to adjust the distortions, the effective inertia of the
electron (or to usc the currently accepted term, the mass of thc polaron)
is higher than simply t he mass th e electron would obtain if the lattice
were composed of rigidly fixed points. TIIC precise motion of such a
p~laroll analyzed quantu m-mecl1anicaJly is exceedingly complicated.
'~e s!mll, however, make a nu mber of approximations whose justifica-
hOI.1 III the ~cal -:ase may be quit e difficult. Nevertheless, we shall
nrrlv~ .at a!1Idealized probl em which has been st ud ied by II number of
phY~ICISts.: It has been st udied not only because of its possible con-
ncction :\'Ith the real behavior of an electron a nd a crystal but aJso
because
t It. represent" one 0 f t he srmp
• 1est examples of the int
. • em ct .iou
b a particle and a field . The path integral variational method has
een very successful in the solution of this idealized problem.
I It. P. J:cynmao 81 EI . ..r-n
HIS5. ' OW " eet rons rn a Polar Crys(al , Pill/B. Rev., vol. 97, p. uvv.
t For exam"1 II)' .
c, . Irohhch
nef CfCn ce/t (0 011 . ..
writ inp; in AdllO. , • PIIva., VO I. 3. p. 3"6
.. . 195-1.
. rer wcrze nrc given in th is article.
 The l:ariotional method
311
First, we note thAt even if the ions were ri . .
th e electron would still In ' gldJ~ fixed m the crystal,
, ave In a vcry complIcated potential. In
such n° case,
f
one
J cnn ahcw that th ere arc .solut ions 0 f tl ie S CImxnnger
,·,_1-
equutaon or t ie electron "~ith characteristic wave numbers k. The
e~cfgy levels of these solutions arc generally very complicated Iunc-
ti ona of the wave nu mber. Nevertheless, we assume that the relation
between the energy E arid the wave number k is still a quadratic form
such as '

(11-50)

where m is n constant (not necessarily the mass of a n electron in a

vacuum) . Next, we note that th e force which the electron exerts on
the lattice is such as to pu sh away the negative ions and attract the
positive ions. The motion of these ions will be uuulyzed by consider-
ing them as 0. set of harmonic oscillators a nd employing t ile methods of
Chap. 8. However, we shan assume that the only harmonic modes
which we need arc those with high frequency, in which ions of opposite
sign of eharge move in opposite directions. The frequency "'II of each
mode then really depends on the wave nu mber k of the mode. How-
ever, we shall neglect this dependence and assume that (oJ is 0. consta nt.
OUf obj ect is to find the electrical foree generated by a distortion
characterized by the wevc num ber k and fi nd the interaction of the
electron in this force. Here, we neglect the atomic st ruct ure and
trent the material of our crystal as simply a conti nuous dielectric
whlcb carrics waves of polarization. If P is the polarization, written
in the form of n longitudinal wave

P = k_ a.l:e,1r.-r (11-51)
k
then the charge density from the ions is
(11-52)
p = V. P = ka.l:e,k·r

If the potential is V, we have

(11-53)
t"V = p
'£ 'lS IIle a mpl itude of the lith 101lJ!;itndinnl running wave, the
TI lUSlqt
. _ ' . tionnl to qJ: und t hc .intcrnettcu
. Ill' t ween
o t ll C
polnrlzutiou a. 18 pro per . • - 1 I
to
' 0 d tl c t'!('clron is proporUollu to t re sum over
wav e 0 £ pn1nrrxn I OU nn I
n il values of k of the ter ms (qt/ k}C,II'••
Since 't he energy aud the momentulIl of the electron are feinted by
Qllontum mecllonic.s ond path intesrol.
312

t he expression E "'" pSJ2rn, we can write t he lagrangian of thc entire

system as
1
L = 2 Itl' + L-~ 21 (ti,' - g,') +
(2V2V ..a)" L-~ kg··
1 ••.• (11-54)
• •
The first term of the expression is the energy of th e electron in
a rigid lattice, where r is it s position. The second t erm represents the
lagrangian of the oscilla tions of polarizations taken alone, where it is
assu med t hat all waves of polarizat ion have the same frequency and the
coordinate of the H h mode is q". T he last t erm is t he lagrangian of the
interact ion bet ween the electron a nd the lattice vi brations, where V in
this expression represent s the volu me of the crystal and a is a constant.
To simplify writi ng of all our subsequen t formulas, we hav e writ ten
t his in dimensionless for m. T hat is, t he scales of energy, length, and
t ime arc so chosen that not only 'A but also the common frequency w
of the oscillators nnd the mass m of the elect ro n are all unity. The
coupling constant a is then the dimen sionl ess ratio

a - -
V2'~
I
(.L !).,
, (11-55)

where € and e.. nrc the stat ic and h igh-frequ ency dielectric constants
respec tively. In n typ ical case, such as the crystal of N nCI, the vnlue
of Q mal ' be about 5. Thc values of energy which we shall ca lculate are
in units of fu.J.
No w we can study the quantum-meehunienl motion of the elect ron
solving t he mot ion of t hc harmo nic oscillat ors co mpletely. For exam -
~Ie, th e a mplitude that the electron statts at fl , ...· ith the osci llators
In. t~e ground state and ends at the position r t with the oscillators
still 111 th e ground stat e is
0 ,,(2.1) = f .'s :Dr (I) (11-56)
where we have used the results of Chap. 8, and

S= ~ JI~ r + J"';,..
ell a . ·· ··,,'.- ·....'. -.10-01dl d
8
d'k
(2,,>,
(11-57)

U we complete the iutezml h

b·... over t e wave numbers k we find
I · •
S = 2 J It l' dl + VB
~ J . -;1'- ' 1
Ir (/) r(8)1 dl cis (11-58)
This quantity 0 ,,(2 I) will de
of the elect ron t add pend up on th e initial and final positions
, I n rt, an Upon t he time interval we are considering,
 The tlOriarionol m~rhod

T. Since this function is a k I ' 313

.
wa ve eq ua tion, considered
erne 'f It is .a. sol t· f
Ula n 0 the Schrod ingcr
as
T Iacref e re, we rea lize t hat it "II a Unclton of th ti
' C rmc interval T.
hi h
\V rc nrc p roporl.iounl to tI
\1; I contam frecluenCI(. . "15
· ' 5 In I exponent ials
of these en ergy levels wh ich 1,, (', energy levels E.... It is the lowest ODe
. c now seck.
In developing our va ria tio, nl ' .
we arc no t intercsted the ker I I rnncl~I~, as we have explained,
ill
we wont quantit ies such as t" ; C,\"~~c~n tunc ~ntcrvRls T. Instead,
values of fJ. By 10lIo wing a ll ; 1 c l al!..p,"!'r In Eq" ( 11-8) for large
dil I 1 S cps eam ng to Eq ( 11-.58) it en
be rca I y S tow n for imaginary values f the t i " J n
resu lting kernel has the form 0 e t ime variable (J that the

K(2,1) = f es :Dr(/)
(11-59)
where the varia ble t goes lrom 0 to fJ and

S = !Jl dr l' dt+ ~

2 dt V8
'f Ir (/)" '. 0r1(')1at as
J. (11-00)

T his result is just that whi ch one m ight expect from the replacemen t
of t by the imaginary val ue it in Eq. (11-.58). Asymp tot ically. lor
large values of 13, t his kernel becomes proportional to e- EefJ.
\Ve no w have a relatively complicated path integral on which to try
our varia tional principle. Next, wo shall have to choose so me simple
ac tio n S', ,..·hieh roughly a pproximates t he true a ct ion S, and t hen find
E' and s,
W e note that in E q . (11-00) the particle considered at any particular
t ime ' " interacts" with its posit ion at 0. past t ime by 0. reaction whic h
is inversely p ropo rtional to thc distance traveled bet ween t hese t wo
t imes a nd wh ich dies out expone nt ially with t he time d ifference. The
reason for th is is that thc disturbance set up by t he elect ron in t he
crysta l lattice in the past takes some t ime to die out . T hat is, it
takes so me ti me for the ions to relax, and here ill this relaxation pe ri od
the elect ro n still "feels" the old dist urbance.
\Vc shall try a n action S ' which has t his same property, except
t ha t instead of involving the inverse distance as Do coupl ing law, the
attraction will have the geomet ric form of t he parabol ic well. This
would be n poo r approxima t ion if t he dista nce .Ir(s) - r (t)1 coul? ,~ery
often becom e exceedingly large" However, SIllCC there 18 8 limited
t ime available before t he exponential t ime fuetor forces t he interaction
to die out, la rge va lues of this ditTerellce will not make a ny importa nt
I Alt hougb I ie Eq. (11-61.1) iI:l not rt'all)" the t ime. Lut .a n. intl'gmt ion ' "ariaLIe
inst eed it ill useful to think !\bout it es J\ l ime, jwt as " ' C d id In Sec. 1()..2.
•
Q"an,"m mecl'Rn;~!t and pa". in . egrala
31~

contribution to the integral. Thus, we s hall try

S' = - Mnt l' dt - H Cfflr(t) - r(8)1''-..I,-·, dt d. (11 ·01)
The constant C is a measure of the strcngth of th e attraction
between the elect ron end the previously created disturbance. \Ve takc
this as an adjustable parameter. F urtherm ore , we can with no extra
difficulty permit thc exponential cutoff law to contain the adj usta ble
consta nt W , which can be different from un ity. \Vith this extra
paramet er we enn partly compensate for th e imperfection which we
have introduced by replac ing the Inverted distance e ffect by a parnbolic
effect. I'Ye also note in this regard that adding an extra constant
to the parabolic term frO) - r(s)l 2 lends to no further freedom, since
such a term would drop out in evaluating a for mula for ~. J We
shall adjust varia ble parameters C end w la ter in the evaluation in
order to make E~ a minimum.
Sincc the action S' we have picked is quadratic, all of the path
integrals which result are easily worked out by the methods des cribed
in Chap. 2.
By comparing Eqs. (11-60) and (11-01), we find that

! (S - S') - .s. I I J \ o-~-'I d8

Ii - VB \lr (/) r(B) /1

+~CI (Ir(/) - r(8) 1·).-·'....., ds

= A+ B (11-62)
We ~hall con~cntratC'. our attention on th e first term on the right-
ha~I~,slde of tillS. equation, A. In this term we call express Ir(t) _
r (~) 1 by a Fourier tra nsform . As 8. matter of fact this term is the
result of the Fo urier t Iorm j • '
( II - 0)"7) alld ( 11-58). Soruns orm involved III the step between Eqs.
we have
Ir (/) - r(s) I-' ~ f d'k exp lik -lr(/) - r(0)J(2,,'k') -" (11-03)
For this reason we need to study

{exp lik. (r(T) - r(u)JJ) = f (cB' exp I ik . [r(T) - r(u» ) /) :Dr(1)

[foB' :Or (/)J- '
The ' to I' (11-&1)
In gta In the Ilumerator is of the form

I = I !e,p [ - ~ I I: I' dl - ~ o II Ir(/) _ r(o>l'o- . I<-o' dido

+ I f(/) • r(/) dl] I:Dr (I) (]1-05)
 The t'oriotiono' metlloo
315
where s pec ifically
f (1) = ik6(/ - .) - ik6(/ - u) (l1 -f>6)
Now we sltnll ev aluate Eq . (l l -Cw) in SO far us it depends on f or k aside
from a normalizati.on foetor which drops out in Eq . ( II -G-1). Inci-
dentally, let us notice t hat th e th ree recta ngular components separate
in Eq, ( 11.6;) and we need consid er only n scalar cas e. T he method of
integration is the same us tho.t int roduced in Chap. 2 for the evaluation
of gaussian path integ rals. Thus we substi tute X (I) = X '(l) + Y(t) ,
wh ere X'(l) is that s pecial functi on for which t he exponent is maxi-
mum. Th e variable of integrat ion is ne w Yet) . Since t he exponent
is quadratic in X(I) and X' renders it an' ext remum, it can contain
Y(t) on ly quadratically ; so Y th en separates ofT as a factor not contai n-
ing I, wh ich may be integrated to give on unimportant constant
(depending on T o nly). T herefore, within such a constant

1 = exp [- HJX"(t) dt - H CJJ[X'(I) - X'(. )]'cvl-"'dtds

+ Jj(I)X'(/) dl] (II-Gi)
where X' is that fun ct ion which minimizes the expression [subject for
conv enience to the boundary condition X'(O) = X'(T) = 0 if the
time intcrvnl is 0 to T]. The variati onal problem gives t he integral
equation

d'X'(t) = 2C
dt'
J[X '(t) - X'(s)]c -·-·I ds - j(t) (11-68)

Using Eq. (11-68), Eq. (II-G7) can be si mplified to

I = exp [J~j(t)X'(t) dl) (11-69)
m
nC nced mercy I Eq. (11-68) and su botitute into Eq. (11-69).
I save
To do this, we define

Z(t) = ~ J,,- 1'- ' 1X'(s) ds (lI -iO)

so that
(II-il)
d'~~t) _ w'[Z(t) - X'(I)]

while Eq. (11-68) is

(1I -i2)
d'X'(t) = ~ [X' (l) - Z(t)J - j(()
dt2 W
Quantum mechanics and pad. integrob
316
Th~ equations arc readily 5Cparat~d and solved. Th~. solution for
X ' (I) substitut ed into Eq. (11-69) grves, for the case of E q. (11~),
I = exp I ik · IX(, ) - X(a)]J

= exp
[-
2Ck' • w' k'i T _
vito (1 - e- I-#Q - 2v 2 (f
I] (11-73)

where W~ have made the substitution

(11-74)

The result is correctly normalized, since it is valid for k = O. Upon

substit ution from Eq. (11-73) into Eq. (11-63) t here results an integral

r
on k which is a simple gaussian, so that substitution into A gives

A = 7'-» 10 t - [ tot,. + v' -v w' (1 - e-)

at! 10 e-dT (11-75)

To find B, we need (Ir(/) - r(s)I '). This can be obtained by expa nding
both sides of Eq. (11-73) with respect to k up t o order k'. 'Therefore
I
3 (Ir(,) - r(a) I')
4C
= v'w (1 - e~) + u'w' I, - al (11-76)

The integral in B is now easily pcrformed and the expression simplifies

to

B = 3C
uw (11-77)

Finally ~·c need E'I the energy belonging to our action S'. This is
most easily obtained by dilTerentiating both sides of Eq. (11-6) with
respect to C. Onc finds immediately
CdE: _ B
de - (11-78)

60 that, in view of Eqa. (11-77) an d ( 11-74), rntegrauon

• .• gives
Eo = :v.(u - w) (11-79)
. E~
emce 0 = 0 for C = 0 S· rl
obtel f • 'IDee "'0 - B = (3/4u)(u - lO)' we finally
In or our cllcrgy expression '
3
E = 4v(u-w)'- A (lI.go)
 The t'Orialional method
317
with
. A given in Eq. (1I -75). The qua n titi d
I leg V an 10 can
be con-
Bl~e~ed as two parameters which may be varied separately to obtain a
muumum.
The integral in A, unfortunately, eannot be performed in closed
forn~ , so that_a complete determination of E requires numerical inte-
~tIO~l. I~ 1~,. however, possible to obtai n approximate expressions
m venous hnutmg cases. The case of large a correspcnds to larg
The c hoiorce 10 = 0 leads to an integrnl cv.

ru.sn
and E~ = 3v/4. It corresponds to the usc of a fixed harmonic binding
potential in Eq, (11-37). For large v, C " can be neglected, so that
A = (rw) -·~av». For a less than ;). 8 a nd 10 = 0, E(I_(11-80) docs not
give a minimum unless v = 0, so that the 10 = 0 case docs not give a
single exp ress ion for all ranges of a . In spi te of this disadvantage, the
result with Eq. (11-81) is relatively simple and fairly aeeurnte. For
a > 6, only fairly large values of v arc important, and the asymptotic
formuln (good to I per cent for v > 4)

(lIoS2)

is convenient. Frohlich, however, considers the discontinuity at

a ... 6 as a serious disadvantage-a disadvantage which can be avoided
in our present approach. This we do by choosing w different from
zc~. .
Let us study Eq. (II-80) just for small a. in case tv .1S not zero. The
minimum will occur for II near tD. Therefore, we write v • (~+ t)1O,
consider E small, and expand the root in Eq. (11-80). ThLS gives

(lloS3)

The integral is
(lloS~)
2ur-'[{1 + tv)" - II = P
The problem of Eq. (ll.sO) then correspOnds, in this order, to mini-
mizing
(1l-85)
E = %w,' - a - a,{1 - P)
QlIflIII."" ml'chnn;cs ond po'" inl~grols
318

That is,
2ael - P) (11-86)
e= 310

which is valid for small a only, because E was assumed small. The
resulting energy is
a '(I - P)' (11-87)
E= - a - 3w

Our method therefore gives n correction even for small a. It is least

for w = 3, in which case it gives

E - -a - ;; = . r-
(a)'
a - 1.23 10 (11-88)

It is not sensit ive to the choice of w. For example, for w = 1 the 1.23
fnlls only to 0.98. The method of Lee nnd Pines' gives exactly the
result of Eq . (11-88) to this order. The perturbation expansion has
been carried to second order by Hega," who shows that the exact
coefficient of the (a/IO)' term should be 1.26, so that our variational
method is remarkably accurate for small a.
The opposite extreme of a large a corresponds to large v and, as
we shall see, W near 1. Since v» w, the integral in Eq. (11-76)
reduces in the first approximation to Eq. (11-81), which we can use in
its usymptotie form. The next approximation in w call be obtai ned
by expanding the radical in Eq . (11-75), considering w/v «I. Fur-
thermore, eN is negligible. In th is way we get

E = ~ (v _ to)' _ a (~)l\ (I
4v ."
+ 21n 2 _ to')
V 2v
(11-89)

This is minimum, within our approximation or large v when w = 1 Bud

v = (4,,' /9.) - (41n' - I). Then we find' '

E = - ;". - 31n 2 - ~ ~ -0.1061,,' _ 2.83 (11-90)

· 'T.
F re I I Lee.: and D. . Pines
. ' lnteracttcn of e Nonrelutiv leti P nruc
onre U IVU;tlC . ,e \Vlt
. 1I a ~.
o-alar
I wu I Applu'ohon to Sio . 1', . I 9"
p . 1)1):1. J ~ '':;:J. Yo ~ l '1:tro n lJ til Polar Ct}-st ubi, l'},YB. Rev., ,"0 . ..
s I~. Hugo Note on the BI n . h
H,I ~ II . p, 44!I, 1 !154~w ~ ectrcns m Q Pclnr Cr.Yl:lwl, Prugr. Th eorel- P lis.
( K JlQlo) ,
I S. I_Peka r ill Tlll'Or)' of PI . .. 190.
HI'W, hUH shown ti ll t E O uruns, ZII. Ek spenm. I Teor , Fiz., vel, 19. p-
I goc'fi WI - 0.108& 1 Icr thc CIUiC large a,
4 or
 Til e "'"rintiOlw l trlel /lfJtI

319
TAIlI.E II-I

• 3 5 7 9
-• II

..E, 3 .44
2 . .'i.')
- 3 . 1333
4 .02
2 . 13
- 5 . 4401
5 .HI
I.(;()
- 8 .1 127
9 .1l'
1.211
- 1l .4R6 -
rs.s
1. 15
1.'; .; 10
Eo, - 3 . 10 -5 .30 - 7 .SS - 0 . 9S - 12 41
E. - 3 . 09 - 5 .24 - 7 .43 - 9 65 - II S8
E... - 6 fl.1 -1 0 .3J - 14 .7

The a pproximati ons do not keep E as an upper limit h CCllUS(', unfor-

tu nately, the furt her te rms, of order I/ a !, a rc probably positive.
Detailed nnd numerical work hosed on this approach hns been carried
out by T . D . Sc hu ltz.' Using n digital computer, Schultz worked an t
v alu es of v and to which would give a minimum for several d iITCfCllt
val ues of Q . He a lso evalua ted E and compared it with the values
which would be obta ined from several ultcruative th eories. In par-
t icular, he worked out t hc self-energy from t he t heories of Lee, Low,
and P ines (Ell,,) ,' Lee and P ines (£1")'· Gross (f;,),. and Pekar,'
Bogolubov," nnd Tyeblikovt (E...l .
The results for a , e, and 'Wand also (or the energies given by t he
Fcynman theory (E,) compa red wit h energies derived Irom t he otber
theories nrc given in Table 11-1, which is rep roduced from t he pa per of
Schultz. I n t his ta ble, both w and Ii. are assumed to ha ve t he value 1.
Note that for all values of a, t he value of hi is 1(':$S th a n all others.
IT. D. Schultz , Slow Electrons an d Polar Cry'dols: SCIf-('DN"IO' , )l ~...", end
Mob ilit)" PhyB. Rev., vel. 116, p. 526~ 1959.
"Lee, Low , nnd Pi nes, The Motion of Slow Electrons in a Pclnr Crysta l,
PAya. Rev., vol. no, p. 297, HJ53.
· Op. cit . . r P rt i I
• E. P . Gross, SmAn OscillAtion T hC'Of)' of tile Interaction 0 a a 1(" e unc A
I
Beele r Field , Pli ytl. Rro., "01. 100, I)· 1511, 19.55. • .
• S. I. Pekar, "Unt l"r.mchungcn llber die Jo.lcklrollt'nthwtlc d("r Kr~talll',"
AkluJem ic-Ve~lnr' ne~li n, ~54: Form of th e AJiuhs lic 'Iltror,r of ni~turhnn("l':'l in
• S, J. n(l~O u 'Iov , n ,~ C
"r Pa rt iclcs with u Quunt uln Fjcltl, L'J..-r. M ol. Zh.,
t he Problem 0 r nt crac Ion 0
" 0 1. 2, n. 3, J950. A A I' 1 t Form of p ert urbeticn Tl II 'U f)' in till' 1" l,I>"'1lI
.,S V T )'nhhko" n ( In 10 Ie , . . .T F·
•. . . ' P ' I -ith QusntulII Field, Zh . E Z'Pf'rl lll. r ( Or . I: .,
of the Interaction of 8. artie o , \I n
v ol. 2 1, p. 377, 1051.
, .
 12
Other Problems in
Probability
 IS" the preced ing c'hnpl('l'S we have seen how to usc I,)oth intcgrals to
trent n number of (IUont um-m crh nnicnl problems win ch nrc , by (heir
very ph,r~i t'nl na ture, probnhil isti c proh lt..oms, 'Vc h~v~ also used the
pat h integra l method to analyse some n.specl ~ of stnhSl!Cnl mechanics
wherein the prohabilistic natu re of the functions p ermitted t he path
integral techniqu e to be partic.'ul arly cffc('ti ve. ,~r~ cen continue this
line of uC\"l·lopmcn t into a wide variety of probab ility problems where
this appronch has special a nd valuab le applications.
It is the purpose of th is chapt er to explore a number of th ese proba-
bility prob lems. TIl e)' will be of t wo kinds. First we shall discuss
direct npplicatious of path integral ideas to classical probability prob-
lems. This is quite different from all p receding chapters, in which all
a pplications were to q uantum mechanics. Following that, we shall
deal with prob lems in which both prob ability and Quantum mech anics
ore involved . " ·c cannot , in t his chapter, deal wi th these matters in
8 11)' deta il. ".C'shall on ly outli nc by so me examples ho w certain
p roblems limy be set up nnd thereby suggest to th e reader other appli-
cations of the path integral approach.
T ile ma in direct a pplication of pat h integrals to probab ility problems
is d ue to the ab ility of pa th int egrals to d eal d irectly wit h the notion
of the p~ L uh ili t y of a path or fu nction, To ma ke this ide o. clear, we
I) ~ c'ccd m steps from t he well-known ' id eas of probabili ty applied to
discrete evenls and to continuous variables.

12-1 RAl"1l0)! PULSES

'l~o start wi~h, suppose we consider a typical probability problem for a

discrete• va riab" le We arc eiv Itunti I' ,
i;' en 0 5 1 u uuo n III W lIch a scn es of discrete
,
events IS tak iue • b
place at rand om ('lines, e.g. COHIl UC . rays ' .
st riking a
d~t cC'l or or raindrops fallillg 011 a specitieully d~mnrkcd nrcn of ground.
" e.1, 110 ,," t hnt the particles' r.11 n t ra ild0111 limes " hut JI\ any long period ,
o r,t lU IIC T we ex pect. ii -- 7'Il paruo ' I 1.'S WJlI
' be observed
• In other words
il lS t rc mean ('Oll ll t i ll g rat e. • ,
Of course in any actual
n recorded ' " 11 . Ineasurem tllt the exact number of part icles
l."U " I no t III general ' d
But we ( 'a i ' ask d i • I \\' ,corrcspo l1 to the expect cd number.
...., rreet y ' hat ' 11 I '. . .
Jar nu mber n of rt i I ' d . rs ie pro mhi lity of observ ing a p ur t rcu-
parliclrs is ,1? Ipat " 1(" C~ un uu ... a pc r 'io d W IIlOU t Iio expe cted number 0r
. • Is given by the I' Olsson " d 'ist ribu
, fiou
[>
. =-!c'l
,, "
1t (12- 1)
I II nrtlld Crnm':r " M II '
Pr , - I' · • . .Il Icmnl ll:al Method r " . .
~/i.l'I. rm« lon. X.J . 1'''1 II' I a 0 SI"t ll~tICd." Princeton Ull1vt'I'IJd Y
322 . ....., . e ~umek
now1wec or usual probubility th eorY·
 Ollier problems in prolHJI,ililY

323
On t he ot her hand, we might ask a .. .
kind. ' ''c miglll , for exam, I k : ~rohab.l h(y quest ion of a different
interval from one parlif')C il"' f'! , D.:t't " VllIa( IS the probah ility that the
• par. 0 t te next \ ·'11 1 '
lime 17 Actually there is no \J >C SOme perti culnr
hi '
t IS way. If we were to ask II
correct a nswer 10 th
b I':
. h
e question IJ rased
be equal to or great er thun ; e :;ro a ~J1Il Y that t!IC ti me int erval will
cxp (-pi)I. That is . ', 1<'11 we could give an a nswer [it is
, we ('an get 8 11 a nswer to a I ti bo "
with in n cert uin range Th "f . q IC'S IOn a III t failing
. I . u ~, I we arc int erested in a pnrtieular value
we mu st n low ourselves a n infin it esimal • d ask " •
WI t · I (' . . range an ask th e (IUcsf IOIl :
18 IS t io m fi mh$ lmnl) prcbahi fity t hat Ih time i I "
ithi I
WIt m t re range dt centered around I . T h
e rme mt crvn WI I fell
" .
. e answer IS written as
P(I ) dt = ~.-... dt
(12-2)

~ we create: a concept of a probability distribution of continuous

II.
variable: ~(t) IS the proba bility per unit ran ge of t that the interval is
t. "rC.~·Clte th e probability distribution of x as P(x) if P (x) dx is the
probability that the variable tics in th e rouge dz ebour e. We can
~)y ex tend th is to t wo variables an d write t he proba bility distribu-
b on of x and y as P(x,y) dx dy. By thi s we m ean tha t the probability
of find ing the variables z and y in the region R of the xy plane is given
by fR P(z,y) dx dy"
We wish to expand th e concepts of probability still further. We
want. to consider the dist ribution not of single vari ables bu t of complete
curves : i.e., we want to const ruct probability functions, or ra ther Iunc-
t ionals, wh ich will permi t us to answer the quest ion : Wha t is the probe-
bili ty of obtaining a particular time history of n physica l phenomenon,
such as th e voltage in a resistor or the price of a co mmodity, or, in two
variables, the probability of n certai n shape of the surface of the sea
as a funct ion of latitude a nd longitude? Thus, we are led to consider
th e probability of a j unction;
\Ve shall write it down t his way. The probability of observing the
func tion/(t) is a fun ct ional rtJ(t) ~ . But we must be careful to remem-
ber t hat questions rela ting to such n proba bility ha ve meani ng only if
we define th e range with in which we arc looking for a specific curve.
Just as in th e examp le above we had to ask the question : What is the
probability of filld ill~ t he ti me interval within the rouge dt? so new
we must ask : Whnt is t he proba bility of fi nding: the function within
some more or Il' SS restri ct ed class of function, for exa mple, those curves
wh ich a rc bou nded be l wee n values a Dud b for t he complete time history
in which we arc inll'l"l'sh 'tl? If we call such a subset of curves the
class A, then we ask : Whllt is the probability of findingf(l) in the class
QU(mrl~m mccllanic8 and path ;ntc8rals

324

A ? and we write th e answer 88 the path integral

fA P[f(ll ] :Of(I) (12-3)

where the int egral extends over all fun ctions or class A.
Actually, th is expression can be though t of as simila r to the proba-
bility funct ion for e number of different. varinblcs. If we imagine time
to be di vided into discrete intervals (ns we imagined it wh en we were
first defining path integrals in Chap. 2) taking on the values of II, h •
• • • , then the values of the function at those particular times/(/l),
J(/ z), • • . = /I, fz , •• • arc a nalogous to the variables of a multi-
variabl e distribution funct ion. T he probability of observing a psrticu-
lar curve ca n then be tho ught of as th e probab ility of ob taining a par-
ti cular set of values f l' 12, . . . in the range dh, dh , .. . , that is,
P(j.,f" • • .) dfdf• • • • •
If we th en proceed to the limit as the number of discrete intervals
in time becomes infi nit e, we obtain the probability of observing the
cont inuous curve J(t) in th e range $)J(/) as the integrand in th e path
integral of Eq. (12.:3). It is thi s probability concept a nd th is proba-
bility fun ctional with which we shall be work ing in the remainder of
this chapter.

12-2 CHARACTERISTIC FUNCTIONS

It is hcJpful to continue using the analogy between the probability

funct ional of a path and th e more traditional probability funct ion of a
variable. A nu mber of concepts, such as the con cept of a mean value,
arc common to tile two approaches. With usual pro bability distribu-
tions for qua ntit ies which have discrete values, so that the probability
of observing the specific number n is P ft' the menu is

(12-4)

F or a continuously distributed variable, it is

f_-_ xP(x) <Ix - i

(12-5)
~nd i.'t't an a nalogous fashion, the mean value of the functiona l Q[f(/»)
IS wn e ll

JQI/(t!JI'lf( t)J:Df (l) _ (Q"

JI'I/(I)J :Df (t) - I (12-6)
 Other problem. in probability
325
In this last equation as in Chap 7 . h .
• I d ' ' . J we ave mcluded th .
m t io cnommator to remind oursel that w a pa Integral
normalizing problems. In princi(llc v~ \\"0: \ \\C arc nl~\-ays faced with
the path int egral of the di t ib ti 'f . d be possibk, to work out
_. s n U 1011 U1U~tJon , set It equal to 1 d
evaluate
. I the normalising
. . ) 'gm \\1"II' I. II owev er .'ITtnn
constant to bezi many
so
pracucc cases It IS more convenient to leave th f ti ' .
d si I c uno 1011 unnormahzed
an suup y cancel out factors On the top and hotto r th .
hi I . It ' li m or t ne expression
W ten nus I , m actua ity, he extremely d ifficult to evaluate.
. J ust. lIS the ~cnn value of the function can be expressed in the path
integral 50 can the mean-squa re value of th f ti at a
. 1 notation,
. e uncuon
part leu ar tunc, say, t = a. Thus,

(If(a))') = f[f(a)J'1'If(t)) 'Df(t)

11'If(t)J'Df (t) (12-7)

for this is only a special runctional.

One of the most important mean values of a function as evaluated
with Eq. (1z..5), is the mean of eliz • It is called the 'chamcteristic
function, and it is

I/>(k) = (~") = f--- ."'1'(x) ax (12-8)

This is sometimes also caned the moment-generating function . It is

simply the Fou rier transform of P(x ), and it is an extremely us eful
Iunction for evaluating various characteristics of the distrib ut ion, since
it is equivalent to a knowledge of th e distribution function itself. This
last fact is the result of the possibility of performing the inverse trans-
form as

P(x) ~ f_: .-"'I/>(k) dk (12.9)

A number of important parameters of the distribution can be deter-

mined by taking the derivatives of the characteristic function. Thus,
for example, the mean value of z is
(x) = _ idl/>(~)
dk
I
k_ O
(12-10)

as is readily demonstrated by differentiating each expression i1~ Eq.

(12.8) with respect to k and then sett ing k = O. In fact, a scncs of
such relations exists;
1/>(0) ~ I 1/>'(0) = i (x) 1/>"(0) = -(x' ) (12-11)
Of course our nex t st ep is to generalize 1he concept of the character-
istic Iunetion to the Iuuetional dist ribut ion case. We could const ruct
3.2',

n mnt hemnt lenl tlf'linil ion of such a l'Imrncl,rrif41 ie Iu ne t ion hy rC!lurllill~

n~lli n In ou r pid u n' of d isen-tc t ime lnt ervnls. We l llt:" wish 10 J H~r·
form Ilu- Fourier Irn nsform on t ho Ilrol mlJ ility f unf'l loll of n lul"J(C
.
number of vn rinbles using tho kerm-l ex p Uk vl), (')C I'. ( il.-,]2) . • . .
A ~ we go 10 the limi t of e n in finite nu mher of tunc int erv al s, this
bcconrca t>imilly (';hlll/ (. )dI. T his, thr -n, iM the Iu nct ic unl whose mean
value we wish to take in orde r to develop the charcdcrislic f unctional.
13)' usi ng E£]. (12-6), we obt ain

¢>ik(I)] -
f" '''''''')" 1'[1(1» :D/(I)
f/'I/«(») :J>!(I)- (12-12)

This characteristic funct ional also II BS impertuut speci al properties.

For example, ~ (O) = 1, an d the mean value of the fu nction J(t) evalu -
ntcd at the particular time t = a is

(J(a)) - - i 'k'~(
" a
) ¢>i1:(I)] I
~tfl_O
(1 2- 1 ~)

where we have used t he tech nique of the fu nctional d erivative as

described in Sec. 7-2.
In pri nciple, we can inv er t our path in tegral Fourier transform a nd
write the probability funct ional as

1'1/(1)] - f ....." '''' ", '"~/;(I)J :ok(l ) (12-14)

where now, of course , the path integral is carried ou t in the space of the
k fu n ct io ns.
We may remark, for usc in int erp ret at ion later on, that if the func-
tion J(I) is not u ncertai n hut is defi nitely kno wn to he some s pecial
Iuuetiou F (t), that is, Ji/(I» is zcro for ollf (/) cxcc p t / (I) = F(I), then
the characteristic function is

(12-15)

12-3 NOISE

SUPI~Otle we apply th e ideas so far d eveloped to a particular ex nmple

a.ll(ll1~ th~ prot'.l·S!; develop u few mere ('ou{'t'pls. IA't tis consider- the
srtuat 10 11 w h ld~ we arc l 'Olllll i li~ !"('11m' so r t of pulses pe rhaps pu lses
II I
~~I ll'rul c"t1 hy th e uupaet of voa mir- ruys 0 11 u ( h-igcr ('Ul:lltcr o r 111'rhnlls
thcrmul-uoisc Il\Ils(" ill a r ....'
• • • l'j
,\
. -s l:- or.
I II S Uf ' Ia (·1\......·8 the p ulses are not
HlJllply
•
d iscrete suikc...." of enonrv
-
1, 1 are rt 'I'f('S('tl l\-u
f'V) I
_ .1 ' •
hy n nSIll ~ an u.•
fa lling vol tage, Thus . ref uI JIISI)CC
....., ca.... . , 10
. 11 of the uet unl voltage Ill:s.l . orr
 Qrher problern~ in probabili'y

327
associa ted with such a pulse would shn-· th 1 ·1 h h f
I ' ow a I as t C onn g(t) for 8
pu so occu rnng a t t =:: O. So, if the pu lse occu rred at ( the h f
th e voltage curve would be oCt _ to). 0, B ape 0

. Now, su ppose we oo~duct OUr courlting experiment for th e time

l~'tcrvnl of length T dunn~ which a number of I lUISCS centered on the
times I I I Is, ••• ,t" ocllc urrcd . Th e complete voltage history Over this
experiment would be ,-I oCt L - (,). Since we know when all the events
occur~, our probability Iune rion would simply be the representation
of certainty, and by usc of ECJ. (12-15) the corresponding characteristic
fun ct ion becomes
•
II> = exp [i I f k(t)g(t - I,) dl]
(12-16)
,-I
But now SUppose that we wish to determine th e probabil ity of find-
ing a part icular lime history for the voltage before conductin g the
experiment. In thnt ease we permit th e n events to be randomly dis-
tributed with unifonn probability over the complete time interval.
That is, the proba bility of an even t hap pening "..ithin the time interval
dt is dl/T. In this case the characterist ic functional becomes

II> = f: exp [i,-Ii f k(t)g(t - 4) dt] ~' ~. . • • a;

= (loT ~)"
eiJ.l: (Hd l1 (1) GI (12-17)

'Vc call the exp ression in parentheses A and mil e this resul t as A".
I! the number of events in the time interval is distribu ted in such a
way tha t th e Poisso n d istribut ion a pplies, l.e., the occurrence of each
even t is independent of the time of occurrence of an y other event an.d
there is a constan t ra te I.l. for the expected lI.umber ~f ev~n ls per u~t
time then the expected number of events III the time interval T lS
~T ~ ri. The cha racteristic functi on is
s-
eJ! =
L•A" -,
n . .....
(12-18)

The sum all the right-ha nd side of this equa tion is the ~x~nsion .of an
exponential fun ct ion, so that we ca n writ e the characteris tic function DB

eJI EI.
[
e- Cl- AJII = exp -pT 1 - ( f,0T e
i/ .t(l+_),(I) dl "s)]
_
7'

= cxp [ - "" }o
[T (1 _ eo/ i Cf+- ),,(l) . ) ds] (12.1 9)
Q,wntum mechonic. and padl integrals
328
Thus. we may determine thc ('hnradcri~t ic function for m~ny diffcrcnt.
situatio ns. "r
c next go on to d iscuss this result. u nder venous a pproxi_
mate circumstances. .
Suppose we imngiue t hat. the pulS('~ get very weak while the expected
number of pulses per unit li me, that IS, lA , be~11lcs large. I ~ that case
(I) is small, so we ca n expand e-1J,(H . h IUJ JJ III a power se nes a nd we
9 " iee f une tiIOn as
ea n a pproximat e the cham clenstl

exp [ ;p J:J: k(t + s)g(1) dt as] - exp [ipG f k (t) dt] (12-20)

where we have used the subst itu tion G - f get) dt, thc area of the pulse.
This means tha i lfl is in the form of Eq, (12-15) with F (l ) = lAG (n con-
stant ind epend ent of 0. That is equivalent to saying that J(C) is
certai nly p.G or, in other words, that t here is un it probability for
observing the functi on l(t) = p.G and zero probability for observing
any other I (t). That is to say , the p ile-u p of u la rge Dumber of small
puL"CS generates a nearly steady direct voltage of value equal to the
number of pulses per secon d p. times the average voltage G su pplied by
each . Xext, we go to one higher a pproximat ion and st udy the fluctua-
tions or irregularit ies of this nearly direct vo ltage.
Equation (12-20) is a 6rst-order a pproximation to the exponential
il
e J,(I+- I,,(l) dl in the description of the characteris tic functional of Eq.
(12-19). Su ppose now that we go on to the next-order approximation
and include the second-order term. This is

- ~ ff k(ll g(t + .) dt f k(t')g(t' + s) dt' as (12-21)

To simplify this exp ression, we define a (un ction whieh measures the
overlap bet ween two nearby pulses as
A(,) = fg(t)g(1 + ,) at (12-22)
By usc of this substitut ion, the second-order t erm is reduced to
p (T (T
- 2 Ja Jo /;(t)/;«()A(t - t') at dt' (12-23)

I nclud ing bot h first- and jsec d -ord cr terms, the characteristic
runcI 10" 11 ul 18
i ~. . . .on

(12-24)
The first rector in this ex " . . I
we might call tl c d I prc~lon 18 t he cons tant average level, WlliC I
I -e evel If we arc thinking about voltage pul~"
 Other problenu in probability

.( . 329
W c can, we wish, nCJ!:lcct this) CVCI
1
varint ions around it hy shift in th .a~d conccntrntc only on the
g e O"gon
alw ays ta k.c o u t a fnel or ci f,t(I) FUI 4l b I " of J{/). °rhat .I S, we can
wri t ingJ{I) = F{I) +
nl) and stud y s nfl ong th e onlPu of J{I) [i.e., by
ret) and itscha rnctcristic fune tim lBJrn~:h.e prohahtl.lty distri bution of
we arc in n posit-ion to study th
d-e level.
n t w ~ make this cha nge of origin,
e uc uationa of voltage around the
We notc onc special a pproximat ion to E . .
adequate. Generally ~( ) . .q. (IZ-24) which IS often
. .' T' IS a narro w function of r, The ul h
get) rtscs nnd fal ls with a fi nite width 0 ,' ( I _ I purse s ape
dl . l oS " 0 pu eee nrc spaced a
very grout istauec upurt, their ovcriapiling area van ,' I 'Ihi
II L savi I S ICS. IS IS
Jano tor way 0 snylll g .t ant. >"(T) approach ca 0 raptidly as r becomes
urge. As a result or tins, .lr >"(T') is narro w enough, the second term in
Eq. (1Z-24) can be approximated by

(IZ-25)

where we have used the substitution q ,.". Po I:. >. dr; This is equiv-
alent to the probability distribution

Plf(l)) = .-(\/2<)111'<>1' '" (1Z-26)

Such fluctuations as we arc describing here are often called gaussian

noise.
Characteristics of distribution funct ionals describing noise fun ctions
have been st udie d extensively ill recent years in t he theory of communi-
cations. A n umber of cha racterist ics or
noise spectra have bee n
defin ed and evalua ted, and we shall carry through similar discussions
here and in t he next sect io n, where we t reat gaussian noise.
Now we shall continue to show , by giving one further example, how
characterist ic Iuu etionals arc set up. Wc shall consider pulses which
come at random times aU with n given characterist ic shape, SAy, u(I),
but each with a difTeren t scale height, so a typical pulse is written aU(I).
We might allo w the height a to be eit her plus or minus. So now we
suppose th e t imings of the pulses arc randomly spa ced instants ti and
the heights take Oil random positive and negative values aJ" The
resulting fuu ction is

fIt) = L Gj" (I - I,)

(12-27)
i

If first we set aside the random nature of the events, we obtain a char-
Qunnlum medwnlclf nnd palla ;nlesra's

330
ecterietlc functional equivalent to that of Eq. (12--16) ee r

4> = exp [iL

,
0, I k(t) u(1 - I,) dl] (12-28)

Next if we in clude the presumed random nature of the scale hcights

of t h~ pulses and say tha t the probabitit! of ob.taining n particular
scale height a, for the j th pulse in the region da, IS p(aj) daj, then the
charact eristic funct ional becomes

4> = II ... exp [i L0, I k(/)u (1 -

,
I,) dl] p ea,) do. p ea,) 00, •••

(12-29)
Of course, each of these probabilit y fu nctions for the values of OJ has .
associated with it a cbaracteristic function or moment-generat ing func-
tion. Suppose we call this function W[w] and definc it as

11'/"'1 = J....'1'(a) da (12-,'l()

Th en thc exp ression for CIa can be written as

4> ~ Il IV [f k(/)u(1 - 4) dl] (12-31)

r

Now we can p roceed as we did (or the derivation o( Eq. (12-17) and
introduce the not ion that the exact time at whi ch a pulse occurs is
randomly distributed with B uniform distribution function over the
jn~er.val 0 < t :5 T. If we suppose that there are precisely n pulses in
this interval, the characteristic functional becomes

(12-32)

where

'I' - JIVIJk(/)u(1 - 8) dt] d8 ( 12-33)

I
th Ifd~gB!bn w.e assume, as we did in the derivation of Eq (12-18) that
e istn uticn of the ti n
ti ona of tl I"
f . ,
d i I . !'S 0 Occurrences of th e pulses fit s the assUInP-
ie Olsson ist rib uticn tl . . n
of Eq. (l2-32) b h _ . IC II we must multiply the cXll resslo
expected Dumb y .t ;~n.c ~or '~ "e-Il/n!, where, as before, ,1 = IJT is the
er In e tim e mterval T. \Ve th cn sum on n to get
oJ! "'" c-,. ( T~)

~ ex!' (-~Jl1 - IVlJk(/)u(1 - 8) dill d8) (12-34)

 Other pro(,L I
Ie m • n
• . .
prouafJII.fy

331
As a special example of this result we eseu
extremely narrow, In fat l we ru ' I me that the pulse shape is
• I 't'lUmc I tnt we Cal .
shape Iun rfion hy (L delta fuuet io Ih ' l upproxirnate the
charaeteristie functional is ", at lS, u(t) = &(t) . Then the

4> = cxp ( - pfll - lV[k(.}J1 d.)

(12-37»
N ext, we a ssume tha t the dist rihut ion of e-el I . hta i . .
e IClg I s 19 gaussian \..-i th
d
zero mean nu 0. root · mcn n-~ u nrc value of . . I '
di . . --I (J, In at ter words t he ordi-
I
nary norma 1St ribution is given by J

pea) da = V1 tr"',... da
(12-36)
2.. a

In that case, the charnctcristic fun ction WlwJbecomes

lV{w] = e_'ut/'l
(12-37)
and for 4> there results

4>{k(l)) = exp [ - pJ(1 - r """"'''') del (12~18)

So we find again that a characterist ic Iunetionul cfllk(t)J ca n be derived

to fit our ass umed condit ions . At any stnge in th is derivation, approxl-
mntiens that would reduce this to a quadratic form may be valid .
For exam ple, in t he CllSC just described a small valu e of the root-mean-
squ are scale heigh t t1 corresponds to weak signals. If, at the sa me timc,
the expect ed number of signals a rriv ing in a ti me interval is not small,
then Eq. (12-38) can be approximated quite well by

4> = exp 1-,; J [k(I)]' dll (12-39)

A distribution like this is called while noise.

12-4 GAUSSIAN NOISE

TIle type of distr ibution whose charac l cris~ic run~tional is gaussian

comes up in many situations, and we sh~l~ d,se~!t h~re. . .
'Vc have been working with probability c.h stnbuLlo.llS \\ hl(,~ nrc
gaussian, i.e., exponent ials of second ordef. ill t he defi ning functions.
Allhoul!;h we arrived at t his gnu.<:sinn f lUl CtlOllnl by making n SC\.'Ond·
. ' I
order npproximauon to l lC cxp0 114.: · ",,·,.1 tenu introduced
• • by our
nssurnpn. c n of n POisson
. n UtiIOU of random pulses, It t.S worth
rllst rib
dist
Quon tu m nlrcllonic. o n d pa t h intrgrol.

332
remarking that a nu mber of physical proc~ .actu ally seem SO dis-
•,
tribut cd by their nature. I n trad itional proba b ility tl.l cor:r the normnl,
"
or gaussian, d iIS t flu
ibutI ion fils \lh"si('n1
~
Ilhcuomcua wh ich nr c the result I
of the cc mb iuntion of n large number of iud cpcnd cnt .cv~n t s Occurring
l Tl is is the conclusion of t he central-Iuntt theorem of
mn d D ill ) . 1 l I d i "b '
pro bability theory. 1 The sa me cOllC'lu sio ll. e pp res 0 15t l'I uhon
functicnals and result s in t he rect t ha t ma ny important cases for study
of phy sical phenomena have ga ussian distributIOns.. For further .rc~~
ercnee , we writ e here the most general form of a gaussian ch nr acter18tlc
fu ncti onal as
l) = ei/ k (" F(I) fltr}i/ / k CI) k(f'IA e, ., ' ) <It 4l' (12-40)

The first factor in this expression can be removed by u sh ift of the

origin defi ning f (t), as we discussed in deriving the dist ribut ion of
fiuctuations of voltage a rou nd a d-e level. Thus, we could define
f' - f - F(t). Next we note that , if the system we are describing
behaves in a manner ind epend ent of the absolute value of time, then
tbe kern el A (l,t' ) must have the form A (t - t' ).
In actual physical situations this particular function A may be
d efined by mecha nism s in some so rt of experimental situ ation or by
approximating a particular piece of real ity in such a way that it behaves
nearly like the distribut ion fun ction we are s t ud yin g. \Ve have an
example of such an a pp roximation in the derivations given above on the
noise spec t rum . For it, A (t,t') = $lA(t - 1'). In either case th eorems
of the beh avior of the system which resul t from the usc of t his fu nction
win be the same so long as the charact erist ic fuuctiounl 4> can be sui t-
a bly approximated by the quadrat ic or ga ussia n form of Eq. (12-40) .
. Of course, by now we know how to deal wit h gaussian Iu nct ionals,
SlOr? we h an~. sp en t quite n bit of t ime ill rh o precedi ng ch a p ters manip-
ulati ug them In one way or a nother. I II this part icu lnr case the np penr-
u nec of the .fatta r i is differen t from that in typical quantum-meehunicel
cases. This mea ns t hat fu nctions which were real in Sec. 7-l, for
exa!np}c, arc imaginary here. lIo\\ ev er, this docs not require any
review of th e mal hematical as pects of thc subject · it simply is au BWlU'C'"
ness of end p~cparal iOIl for ccrtui u differcnces in d etail in th e resulls.
T h? IJroba}nlity d istribut ion wh ich corres pond s to the ch aracteristic
f " " cllo nal of Eq. (\ 2-10) is

PlfWJ = cxp 1- V,fJIf (l) - F(l)][f(() _ F(t')]B(I,I') dt dl'l (12-41)

I llrid., pp. 213fT.
 Other problema in probability

333
wh ere now the function net i') is a kern I . I
is, the functions A lmd n a;c relnted bye recrproen to.4 (i,i'). That
fA (I,T)8(T,8) dT - ~(I - 8)
(12-42)
Problem 12-1 Prove this.

AU thc. p~mmete.rs of the distribut ion can be calculated from the

chumcteristic Iunetlonul by tho methods introdu ced i Ch 7
'" I II ' nap. •
• . ,f C S 10. no.w Shl~Y In more deta il some of the physical cha racter-
' of ~aussrnn IlQlSC that is ti me-independent; i.e., we shall s tudy
Is.hc~
distributions whose ehuractcristi c fun ctiono.l is
ell = e-H/J.I;(I}l- (l')A(t-t ') <£I <£I'
(12-43)
Thie funct ion A (T) is called the correlation funct ion. Equat ion
(12--43) means that the probability of observing 11 particular noise
function f(l) is
PU(t)] = e- HJ lI Ct)/(t')B(I- f') dl dl' (12-44)

The funct ion B appearing in this Jest expression is the inverse of the
correlation Iuuetion A. That is, fB(1 - slAts) ds = 1(/), or, if
(12-45)

is the Fourier transform of A (T), the Fourier transform of 8(T) is

1/<1'(",) .
\Vc shall begin by calculating some of the propert ies of th is distribu-
tional. \Ve first show that the average vo.luc of the noise signal van-
Ishee. That is because the average value of the noise function at a
parfieulnr t ime t = a is, as in Eq, (12·13),

(f(a)} = - i Ik~)
(12-46)

In this expression, the functional derivative of ~ in Eq. (1243) is

given by (ef. Sec. 7-2)

~
Ik(a)
= [- f k(t)A(t - a) dt] 4'
(12-47)

and , if it is evaluated for the particular function k(i) = 0, thcn it

becomes O.
,. 1 ul t II c a"ep<>fl'C
' rUIlCtiIon
of the square 0flI IC. norse
Next. we ea c n c I "'f:' '
I expoc ted v
or, b etter, the
nlue of the product or two norse junctions at
Quantum meclumit'l' and pGth in'egrolll

~I ~
. b Thi . ealled the correlation function of the noise. (;(
ti mes a and . IS rs . f E (12- 12) twice]
Jt. is Iby difTerent iat ing bot h sides 0 q. ~

(f( a )j (b» _ ~"f> = A (b - a)4> I.

~k (n ) ~ k (b)
-/fk(t) ,I(1 - a) dfl /fk(1') A (I' - b) tlt l4> (12-48) .,
and, if this is evaluated lor the funct ion k = .0, it is simply A(b - a) .
TIlBt is why .4 is called the correlation fun ction-
81
th
12-5 NOISE SPECTRUM ()
01
A most useful characteristic of the noise distribution is the power
spect ru m of the noise (d . Prob, 6--2G) , wh ich is defined ~ t he m.ean
value of the square of the Fourier transform of the n OlSC fun ct ion, m
A
that is, the mean square of
<1>(",) ~ Jf(l) e~' til (12-49) •I~
By using our previous results, we can evaluate this as
d<
(1<1>(",)1' ) ~ (ff(a)e"" tla Jf(b)....... tlb)
Fe
= JJ< f (a )f (b»e weo- &> cIa tlb
10
- JJ A (b - a)eweo- &> da tlb
= Jcp(",) cIa (12-50)
Here we have made usc of t he function <p(w) , the Fourier transfonn of
th e correlat ion function A ref. Eq . (12-4,')J.
If we ca rried out the integrat ion defined in th e last step of Eq.
(l2-;j() , we would, of cou rse, get a n infinite result. Therefore, the
menu-square value which we a rc a tt em pting to work out can be
defi ned only for rome finite time interval. If we take 0. unit time
bJ
'11
interv al, thcn we S8 y that the menu power per se cond is
p
M ean of 1<1>(",)1' per second - cp(",) (12-51)
~Ve call ap ply som e of these general result s to our s pe cial example of \1'
n.olse produced hy a mul titude of smal l pulses. T he correlat ion rune- in
tl 011 for our problem is Jt)..(T ) introduced ill Eq. (12-22) . T hat is, f l,

A(T) ~ .JU(I)U(1 + r) dT (12-52)

.
Th is n~('o.ll~ lI.tnl the power fun ction . actually called the pO~'er spec- p
trum SI IJ<.'C It 18 defined in terms of fr equency, is
CP(",) = .Ju(t)U(1 + T).... dT til ~ . h (",)I' (12-53)
 O'her pro"'C"UI in prolmlJiIi ,y

3.'15
whore "Y {w) is the Fourier tmnsform orour pul f ti ()
· I · . I I
SC une lon g t " re rnn
expI alii t us simp C result more uirt'ClIy lor
r bl ·
Our p ro em D.3 Iollowa
If the pu Isee occur at times t so /(I) = \' g(1 I) tb F · .
" L., - " e ouner t rare-
form of /(t) is <>(...) - L ~(...)c" ' . Tb~ the square of <>(...) h.., the
•
average

(1<>(...>1') = IL h(...)I'c'o·....,'!
,~
(12-54)

But, since the ~ ime~ I. ere at random and independent of I, forj #- i, all
the terms for t ;II! J average out, because thc average of e""'i.-I,I is zero.
Only the terms with i .:: i remain. Each is 1"Y{w) I!, and they are itT in
number; 50 the mean of 1¢{w)12 per seco nd is ph'{w) l'.
In the special case that the characteristic function ran be approxi-
mated by th e white-noise chamcteriatie of Eq , (12-.2i;), the function
A (t - t') = conet !(t - I') . This means Ihnt <p(...) is independent of
wand there is the snme "rower" per unit frequency runge {mean
1<>(...)1' per second] at all frequencies.
The distributions we arc describing can very convenienlly be
described b)" giving the probability distribution not for / (t) but for its
Fourier tmnsfonn ~",) directly and the characteristic functional not
in terms of k(t) but its Fourier transform K(...).
K(...) = Ik(t)e'"' dt (12-55)
Using these functions, the characteristic functional for tbe noise distri-
bution correspondi ng to Eq. (12-43) is
(12-06)
by d irect substitution of the inverse of Eq . (12'<;5) into Eq . (12-43).
The corresponding probabili ty functional of Eq. (12-26) is
P "= g-Hl1tt (...)II IlJ(J'I.. n fl,., I2w (12~5i)

We ca n deduce the result of Eq . (12-57) from Eq . ( 12-56) very directly

, in the following way. We note that

(12-<ill)

,
I
so that Eq. (12-14) implies
(12-.'i9)
p = f~IK Mt {oo) ""/lr :DI\:(w)

If we now .n nc grue
. theI pcssiible v alues of
.
(oJ 10 be discret e and sepe-
. .
( rated by an infi nitesimal slml'i ng 6 , the Ul It'F:r:'ls III the CXPOllCl\ t 111
Ec:1S. (12....50) and (12-57) can be replaced by R ICIlUl IUl sums, and our
Quantuna mechanic6 and pad. inregral6

336
path integral becomes
p = n ! e-(.1 J21IK(",)llJ'cw)e';.b,K(.. I . M dK(w) (12-60)
•
The integral for each value of (0) can be done separately (by completing
the square), and we get

(12-61)
•
Putting the product together gives Eq. (12~S7). It is clear that what
happens at on e frequency is independent of.wh.at !lappens at another,
and the signal strength ¢«o) at Irequ eney (0) IS distributed as a gaussian
with a mean square proportional to a>«o).

12-6 BROWNIAN MOTION

It is usually true that the path integral method docs not really help
to get the solution to problems that cannot be solved in some other
manner. Nevert heless, someone who has followed us this far and who
is now familiar with path integrals will find its mode of expression and '-ol
logic very simple and direct when applied to probability problems. .
For exampic, in the theory of brownian motion we might have 8
linear sys tem-s-say , a damped harmonic oscilla tor being driven by 8
fluctuating force 1(/). Assume the mass of the oscillator equal to I,
and we must 60Ive
x. - 'Ix. + .,,'x = 1(/) (12-62)

where x(/) is the coordinate of the oscillator. If the function I(t> is

not k?own but is given by n known probability distribution PAf(OI,
what IS the I~rohabil ity t1 istrihution p",J.r(t») for the various responses
x(/)? Equation (12-(;2 ) relates x to I: that. is, for eneh J(I) there is an
x(i). HCII~c the probability of given e's is the same as that for the
corrcspondlllg Fs, or
P.[X(I)] :D:l:(t) = PAI(t)J ~/(/) (12-03)

whereful x is . 1 VUl.
r relat ed to . J'"'~q . (12"{)2). In general we must be very
care 0 thc reinlion of ~ (I) t " if( ) • ' fa
"jaeohianlJ b t ' . x 0 . ) I, there being an analogue 0
r I ted ( ~ wcell tl~e "volume" ~1~l1lcnts. Dut jf f und x nrcliucllrly
c th! as u >O\'c), this jacobian ls a (·onstnllt. SO if us is usual with
po Ultegral!:l 'we n t ' ) . ,
•, C n rust ourselves to be able to normalize our
 Other' problema In probnbility

337
a nswer in the end, we have
P.(r(t) ] = const P,(x - "'rx + wo'.r) (12-6-1)
whi ch gives us a Iormal solution. If P, is gaussian, then P, is and
the problem may h~ wo~ked o~,t i~l muuy ways, the most evident being
by the method of Fourier scnce if wo' and "'r are independent of time.
At uuy rn!c, many problems can he set tip and solved or partly
solved by U~In~ 1-A1. (12-6-1) a"l a starting po i nt . We shall look at a
specific examp le, A fast pnrti ele goes through matt er in which it
receives small, sharp ult erat ioua in velocity es a result of passage by
nuclei. Aft er gciug through a thick ness T, wha t is the prcbnbility it
will eme rge n d ista nce D from th e origin (t he extension of its original
strai gh t-line path) and will be moving with deflection angle 8 as in
F ig. 12-1 ?
"-c assu me that the inte mc tions cause no mensurable loss in the
longitudinal velocity of th e particle a nd Ihnt the ma tte r through which
tbe part icle is passin g is homogeneous, Further, we assume that 8 is
always small and that th e mot ion is the result of 0. large number of
collisions ea ch of which has 0. small effect . We assume that the
expected number of collisions in th e infinitesimal th ickness dt is ,.,. and
that the deflection suffered in each collision is given by th e angle A,
which is governed by the pruhnbility d istribut ion p(~) dil. We further
assu me that this probability distribution results in a mean-square
value of l:J. given by

J:. A'p(A) dA = .'

and we shall UBe the substitution p.at 0:= R.

Quantum mechanirs and IHlth integral.
3.18

Wc shall confine our nttent ion to the motion as projected ooto a two..
dimensional plane contain ing the original pat h of t he particle. Motion
in a plane normal 10 this wiU follow similar rules. and the motion in
either plane cnn be co nside red independe ntly of the other. \Ve shal l
usc t to m easure th e dep th of penetrat ion inlo Ih e sinh , 8 to reprCSCnt
the instantaneous direction of motion in the plane we nr e consideri ng
and r to measure the posit ion of the pa rticle away from an cxtcnsio~
of its original path of motion , as shown in Fig. 12-1. These parameters
arc related by dx c= 8 dt, or x = 6.
We assume that the deflections of 8 occur suddenly. so th a t IJ = f (t)
where t he fu nctions J arc a set of randomly spaced d elta funct ion~
having random scale heights. This m eans that z = f(t) and PAJ(t)!
has the characteristic functional

(lUll)
where

WI",) - ! p(A)...• dA (1~7)

\~7e note that the mean val ue of .d is assumed to be 0, and these deflec-
1I0llS themselves arc assumed small. Now if we expand G(w) as

IVI",] = / p(A) (I + u"A - ~' A' + . . -) dA (12-68)

:~~usc terms only through second ord er in A 10 get WI",] = I _ ,,"'/2,

(12-69)
This in tum im plies that
p Af(I)1 ee e-<1I2RJ/ U(llJ· eta
(12-iO)
Hence

P ./Z(I») = const ex
p
I I f r
- 2/1 Jo ['«/))' dt
J (12.7\)
\Ve wish to evalua te tl
gives the ,)robnljility U a t tile probability distribution P(D 8) which
!J.~ I'd a11fd(! of lIlotion ~ die parOtic "'iII exit with t he d is;)I~cell1cnt
lIutlal con " ' 115 .r(O) = 0u n or the
, d 1I10 n ~· · . hi e
. -,"Uillp t te ns t hat it ent era W i t t I
the exact pat h that the and ' x(O) - 0 . w e nrc concerned 1I0t \\ I"th
part icle tak
es .III th e mat eriel, but only t I)6 I
 Oth er problem. in probability

, ~9
t he particle exits with t he di ,
0011 ' 100118>(1') - D d ' (1')
we express this p robnLiJity dist ib ti b - . an x ... 8. Thus,
• n u Ion y an Int egral over all paths as
I
I
P(D,O) = f exp. ( - 2".
-!- J. TZ'dI)3)%(1) (12-72)

I where t he pa ths included in th .

condi tions. Th is integral ran el lnt eg~cd
3-5. The integral is a
.
l ~l lsry thc assumed end-poi nt
. IC corn out. by (he met hods of Sec.
ga USS18n anti becomes an ext remum Ior thc path
'z'(I) = 0
(1 2-73)
Thed~lutio~ of this equation, which satisfies our assu med boundary
con ItIOM , IS

x (I) = (3D - 6T) ( ~)' + (OT - 2D) G), (12-74)

By using th is pat h in the integrand of t he exponential function in

Eq. (12-72), " '0 find

...!.. J.T Z. dt = ~ (D _O!,\' II'

21/ • I/T' 2) + 21/T (1 2-75)

which means that our required proba bility distribution is

6 (D -
P(D,O) = eonst exp [ - I/T' O!,\'
2'J - 21I0'T J (12-76)

In some pract ical cases we may really be concerned not with the
exa ct linear spa cing of the pa rtide away from our assumed origin
poin t but, rather, with the deflection angle nt which it lea ves thc stab.
Givcn the overall dist ribu tion fu nction of Eq. (12-ili), it is simple to
evalua te the distribut ion function in a ngle alone b,)' integrating ove r
all values of D. The result is c- (,tmm. This is a ll expected result,
because we have already assumed Ihnt t he mea n-square value of the
deflectio n angle which would be acquired in a unit thickness is H I 50
t his value in D. total t hickness T should be RT.
Suppose next we look only at particles which emerge t raveling in a
specifi c angle 8 a nd consi der th e distri buticu function of the emerging
.;
posit ions D of those particles. We fi nd t ha t th e probability dist ribu-
t ion has a maximum a t D = 8T/ 2. T his would be t he position we
would oxpcet if t he fiunl deflection angle 0 were acquired in u smooth
manner us a linear Iuncfion of th ickness starting from 0 and building
QlICm'"111 mCclUlllrC5 01111 parll i"r('gl'flt.

up to its fiunl value. In that ceso its av erage value during the passage
through th e slab would be 8/ 2.
Problem 12..2 Show that. the constant required to normalize the
probability funct ion P (D,O) d D dB is
("6 1 1 (12-77)
const .", V;RTi V~iT

12.7 QUANTUM MECIIANICS

In this and th e following scctlc us we should like to sec how to formulate

stat istical problems in quantum mechanics. In quantum mechani cs
th ere arc probabilities involved in an intrinsic way, becau se even a
known stat e impli es p robabilities to be Iound in ot her states. But in
addition there may be extrinsic uncertainties. The state, for exam ple,
may not be known-we may know only that the state is such and such
with a certai n probability. This situation is analogous to th e classical-
mechan ics situation in which the init ial conditions arc not known and
only 8 probab ility distri but ion for such cond itions is available. We
have already dealt with such a situat ion in st at istical mechanics
(d. Chap. 10), but that is a very special case in whi ch the state of
energy E has the probability e- 1:tH . Here we shall be more general.
Again, under a ginn ext ernal pot ential , say l l"(l) , the behavior of a
quantum-mecha nical system can be work ed out but what can we say
if t hat pot ential is uncertain a nd has II p robability distribution
Fl n f)] 5>1'(1) 1 Xocd we act ually solve the problem for each V(t)
and th en average, or is th ere some was to Ior mulute the problem after
the average of r (1) is ta ken? (We hope so because it oft en Ol' CUl'S
!hat the solution of 8 stat istical prob lem af ter a ll uvemgc is taken is,
III fad , much e~icr than Iiuding the general solu tion of the original
p~blcl~l for .B Wide ra nge or cond it ions.) We shall find such a formu-
lation
.
ttl this sec tion
-
T hcrI " -C fd-I a II g o on to discuss
,. Sit . ,
ua tions III
which aIqua utum-mcchanicnl .svste oJ'"
m ,'0... Udisturber
. JCU 110 I J' US t b Yn eIn SS1C
' nl
system .)~~ by allot hc~ (1~U:lnt um-lllc(-hallienl system about whi~h there
a rc stut istienl u ncertumn es.
Our main purpose ill this el t •
questions n 1 " I f.' IRp er IS to show how these a nd olher
l a y Je JOl"l tHI utcd
•
tl - ,,- I II _ - ' Ve sn sl nil 110t dur nI "III d etail w ith eolvie. g
re specm pro ) ems mcnt lOlll'tl · tl • I
understand (he more rCII(' rn l f • tt y .nre n'ough t up only to help us
W e -- 'h fl -, ~ OrJUlllalJOlls we sh a ll urr ive at
wts H'8 ( to diSCUSS the all 1 r . ' .
qUfintum.mecllollicnl system TI a o~t1e of brownian monon for a
- 18t IS, we shall suppose that &
 I Other prolJlem5 in prolJobilify

3-11
qunntum·m('rhnnirnl system whose un " .
u nder t he illn Ucll r c of an external t ~~111~1('t)ro acnon I~ B(q). IS
is' po cn lt~ such that Its ecnon

S v(q) = Seq) + Jq(I)I'(t) dt

(12-i8)
. SUPJl~~c we ask : "",ltnt is the probnhility thai , sta rHog at some ea rly
t l m~ .' . with the c~rdmnl c 'l( /,) = s, we ~h DII arrive at n fi nal time I, at
posm• onOf 9,1 It"I IS Ithe ' square of au nmillitu dc: IK ('l1./••I 'q 1)1' 0
, • • r
ngam, I WC FP CCI ?' t 10 1 ini I inlly a sys tem be in n state of WB\"e Iunct iou
4>(9) a nd fi l1~ny In wave fu nct ion x (q), the proba bility of transiti on
from 4> to x IS

1'!x(q) ;4>(q)j = IfJx ' (q, ) K (q,h;q" t ,) 4> (q,) ,Iq, dq.I'
= fJJIx•(q,lx (q~) K (q,lt.qu';)K' (q~,I, ;q:.I,) 4>(q;) 4>' (q:)
dq, dq: dq, dq; (12-79)
It is evident that all such problems can be solved if we ca n evaluate

(12-80)
Thc first fact or involves the path integral I t'Slq(l1! 3)q(I), whereas the
second complex conjugat e! one is f r 3 1, (11I :Dq(l) . Each integral is
over path s wit h appropriate end points. I n wri ting the product of
Eq . (1 2-80), we shall call the path variable in the second integral '1'(1)
and we can then express Eq. (12-80) as the double path 'integral
fJe;S1••,H SI".lI nq(l) :Dq'(t) (12-81)

The sum ming of such integrals over various end points gives th e
req uired probability.
If t he pot ent ial T" is acti ng, we should replace S in E q. (12-81) by Sv,
.1
a nd t he expression becomes
i
I [fe'l Shr lt)J-SI'l' (I)I+1 , (I) V(l ) dl-I'l'(ll v(I) .u1 :Dq(l) X>q'(t) (12-82)

" But 1I0W suppose th e potential is know n. ~ l1ly in B. proba~ilisti c se nse;

f
i.c., we know th at there is th c probability P.·ll (t)J:DJ (~) t ~at the
potential is r(l). Then (he probability to go from ~ to X IS given by
{"
I W e 1:111811 do ('\"cr)rthi ng as the ugh th('J'e 1'I'('t'C on l! .ollc roorJ i nute ~. ~e ean
.
Im
I · t ~'
lll N I" 0"1) ' J!:(,fI( ' l1i
I,' ,c. to fI(' ,.t' f1\' ('vordinn tt'l> q. (..o
•
I• 18 a set
'
of pot l'n
I.. ,
h uls I 0) am!
. W III.I' , I .11(' (' ... ll~
to CIl..'K'l:! rn - ...
"'-,. t of 1' (1) in t ht· A('hon 18 nol suu pJ,r q '-'\It some more

compla'x o pt:'rnlt1r , , d > h •

1: We lIUPfIOl!C thal Slv(l)J is ftal and t hat our unus art' so c(inl'U t at "" I, M

,
i in a lar. 11 .

"" ,
Quanfuni nlechnnics and pall. infegrals
3U

Eq. (12-70) calculated for each 1'(1) and then averaged over 0.11 V(O
each with th e weight P ,-P"O)J ::o1·(t). This is then
Prob (~_ xl = ffffx'(q,lx (q;JJ (q"q; ;q;,q:) ~(q,)~'(q:) dq, dq: dq, dq;
(12-83)

where J is th e average of Eq. (12-82) over nil V(O with weight

P I'[I"(t) ) :orel) ; thus fI
J = ffJei loS'f Ull- SIV·(I)J1e" rt lll-t"(I)I" (I)otIP I·ll'(t)] :r>q(t) :Dg'(l) :Dl'(l)
(12-84)

with th e integrals taken bet ween appropriat e end points q(l.} = g"
q'(I,) _ q:, q(I,) = or. q'(I,) = q;. ActuallY, this choosing 01 end
point s and then int egrat ing over various values with wnvc-function
d istributions depending 0 11 the problem [as in Eq. (12-83») is simply a
sum of J 's for different end conditions, and we shall hereafter simply
forget this and speak as though with J we already have our probability
- it being left to the reader to remember that n bit more bas y et to be
do ne. T his is so that we can concent rate on thc main feature, the
cvnluntlcn of the double path int egrals needed to calculate J.
I n this form we call do the integral over " (t) explicitly and sec that,
to find th e probabilities after averaging, we must eval uate a double
path integral

J - ffe'ISl. UJI - Sl<Ulll4>lq(l) - q'(t}] :oq(l) :Dq'(t) (12-85)

,,:berc 4>lk(t)J is the generating funct ional belonging to the probability

distribut ion Pv, 50

4>[k(l)J ~ fe;f·""·U) ~P.(I'(I)l XlV(I) (12-86)

•
E quat ion (1"." -8i) then 01 IS\\ ' erg our ch uIIenge to express the answer
In a ,form Y~hd aft er t he averag:ing. It invo lvC'S evaluntion of the
~.OU b~ path iutegrul. ~Iow to evalua te it is, of course, allot her ques-
lOll! ut thc meth~ s d lSC'uSSl'd in this book may be useful I n these
sections we arc d iSCUSS' I . •
formulated, lUg 0 11 Y how various p roblem s may be

As.:on example of the appli cntio l' of Eq. (12.-8;» sUPl>OSC V(l) is
gaussian norse With zero In • d I . . J •

Eq • ( 1 2~ 1It':) • " .e must evaluate

CD,lI all Cturucterist ie Iu nction A (t l') OS m
'

J = ff exp ;11>1oI(1)} - ;W(I)!I ;Xi' 1- W f( q(l ) _ q'(IJI

X [i(t) - q «(JI A (1,1') dl dl' ! :oq(l) :Oq' (I) (12-8iJ
I
I Oth..r problem! in probability

M3
Because in th e new Iactor at 1 t h
rut ienlly, some of the met! d cas t .c q nnd. r/ appenr only quad-
forms may he useful. or CC)Ul~cg i r~v;o.u ~y UHicusscd .for quad ratic
ing to a harmonic osdllntor ih
fJ ~s ~ tsd( c(lIodrobc, correspond,
exactly by using the met hod' r"Se pal Integrals can be evaluated
S 0 ec, 3-5.

12.8 INFLUENCE FUNCTJONALS

Now we wish to dis~~ the behavior of a qunntum.mcchanicnl system

whose general COOr UlIlDt c we shall take 10 be q HI ' 'In I erneI'Io n WIith
another syst em whos? coordina te we call Q. t We shall suppose that
a~1 measurements which arc to be made arc on system q only, and no
direct m~u rcmcn~s of the system Q will be made. For example, we
may be Interested In how an a tom ma kes transit ions bec ause it is in
~hc electromagnet ic field and can radia te. we contemplate study-
mg 0I.11y the atom and v.. ill not directly measure the light corning
from It; then q are the atomic coordinates and Q the coordinates of
i:
t~c field. If "'C study thc other way- tha t is, if we only observe the
light from the atom, emitted, absorbed, or sca ttered, but never ask for
any quantity directly involving the ato m's variablos-c-then we may
use our present unnlysls with Q being th e atomic coordinates and q
those of the electromagnetic field. If, for exa mple, the theory of the
index of refraction is wan ted , then q are again the field variables and
Q the variables of th e piece of ma tter through which the light goes.
For one further example, suppose the behavior of an electron in n
crystal (or an ion in u liquid) is to be stu died: the measurements to be
a nalyzed involve directly ouly thc position of th e charge, not the
material of the crystal. For example, we might wish the current
(elect ro n velocity) generat ed in some circumstance, but we are not
contemplati ng correlations with the number of phonons produced.
Then q can be the coord inates of the electron a nd Q all the other COOrdi4
.r
nates of the mutt er of the crystal.
I Let. S[q(t)J be t he act ion of system q, So[Q(t)] t.hat of ~he environ-
mental system alone, and S.Iq(t) ,Q(I)J that. of t~le interaction hctw~cn
f the euvironrn ental system Q and th e system of i nteres t q. The acnou
or t he combined system is Seq(t)1 + S,(Q(I») + S .(q(t),Q(t) ]. nnd the
proba bility of any event involving the combined system can be evulu-

t Q slllndll for nny numh('r of eoordtnntcs-r-thie othc~ system meybc, nnd g C(I-:r-
n11y
'
l!l, very COIll P
Ic....
' \\'e t1hntl J'u:>1 (' art)' cue Q \'"ru,h le, but notlilng tss{'nlml
will be lost.
,
•
Qllnnfllm mechnnic8 nnd pafh integrnl.

ated from th e double pa th integmJ, an obvious generalization of Eq.

(12-81), and now written as
J - fJ ex" (i IS lq(1)] - Slq' (I)] + S,. ,[q(I),O(I) )
_ S,.dq'(t) ,O'(1)] + Sol O(t) ] - SolO'(t)]\) :Dq(t) :00 (1) :Dq'(I) :DQ' (/)
(12-88)

But , if we need no mcnsurements on QCt) ~nd if only t~c ~epcn dence on

q(t) need ever be studied, then we can w r ite our a nswer Ul the fonn

J = JJe'ISI'('"-"~(" "F(q (I),q'(1)] :Dq(t) :Dq' (1) (12-89)

where we shall call th e functional FIq (t) ,q'(t)] the influence f unclirmlli.
It is a fUllctional of the two funct ions q(t) and q'(t), aud for this par-
ticular problem it is given by

F{q(I),q' (I)] = l, JJ exp (i IS,[Q(I)] - S ,[Q' (I)J + S,.dq(I),O(I)]

_ S ,•.lq'(I),O' (1)1J) :00 (1) :OQ'(/) (12-90)

The 6Um on I means we arc to sum over ell possible finnl states of Q.
Thi s is because no measu rement on Q is to he t aken, and all final states
of the environment arc possible. Therefore we must add together the
probabilities [i.e., th e J functions of Eq. (12-88») of all. In coordinate
rep resent ation, for exam ple, L
, just means that a t some final t ime t,

aft er we are no longer interested in t he interaction we must take

0 (1,) ~ Q' (I,) = 0 , and integra lc over .11 0 "
To sum marize, the behavio r of a sys tem in an y environmen t can be
discussed ill terms of a dou ble path integral like Eq . (12-89), where F is
a property of th e environment-its "iullueucc" on the sys tem. It
summarize:' aUof the cl~vironme llt th at is relevant t o q(t). Two dif-
ferent pos.~lble sur round lUg cond itions, say, A and 11, might physically
be very differently . co nstruc ted ; nevertheless, if they happen to lend
to th ~ same fuuctioual F, th ey nrc ind ist ingui shable us far as the
behavior of the q system is L'OIICCMled .
This .F is somewhat analogous to the \1.6 C of " external forte" in
scpurnti ng the !,r hnvior of inte rueti ug syst ems classically. We N Ul
analyze
, rod thcde monon of q alo nc prc vrId cd we suppose we k now what force
IS " . ue (lIS • . Iurrc['Ion 0 f I IDle
' ) ..uy t he env iron ment. These JlC W~
tOUlD1l
<9) equat
'J ions r.of motion 0 f q 11i one nrc the t rough :an alogue'
of j".J]:.
9
(1 -~ • w te reas J'AI (12-00)
roduced I . • • •
d
corre-poll s to th e culculut iou of the fonoe
P
produce the f envrroumcn t . 1' \\.0 d'I ffercnt enviro
uy a giv en ' nments w"Ill'II
sa me ercc on q arc equivale nt. Actual lYJ t he nnulog,)' is
 Other problenu in probability
345

only rough: ~or F cont~ins the entire erred of the environment includin
t~~c chuuge 111 hcllB~'10r of the environment resulti ng from f('nctio~
with q: In t he cln.~,c nl analogue, F would corres pond to kn owing not
only "hat the ~orcc IS ~~ n function of ti me, hut also .....hat it would he
for ,every possible motion q(1) of the object, The (Of("C for n given
\ cnvlronn~clltnl tsY5( e~n depends in general on the motion of (}(O, of
course) smee the enviromncntal system is affected by interaction with
the system of interest q.
We arc therefore led to study the properties of influence Iunctionals.
We shell be cont ent Lo list a few such rul es and give some suggestions
on how they arc arrived at,
Rule I
F1q(I),q'(I))* = F1q'(I),q(t)) (12-91)

where the asterisk means complex conjugate.

Rule II. If the argument functions q(t) end q'(1) ere set equal for t
exceeding any value a, then F docs not depend upon th e actual values
of q(t) for t > a.
Rule III. If F. is the influ ence fun ctional for a part icular environ-
ment i and we do not know what the environment ac tually is but know
only tbat the probability of its being i is w., th en the effective influence
functional (for cal culating ell probabilities) is
(12-92)
F = L..,F,
•
Rule IV. If the system q is simul t a.neously in intcrnction with tw o
external sys tems A and B and if ... 1 and B do not intc~ct di~~l.ly with
each other and there is no correlntion between them III the mit tal con-
ditions, then
F =FAoF (12-93)
D

where FA is the influence functionnl if ...1 alone were interacting and

FII is that if B alone were interacti ng. .
Rule V. If the functional F ce» be adequately ap proximated by
the form
F = exp liJ [q(t) - g'(I)]I'(1) dll (12-9-1)
. o,c[iug as though under a elaseieal potenlial '.(1) with
tl rc sysI em q 15 . , f I f F ( ') ol>l (I)
action ofintemctiou fiI(t) r {l) tit. . I£ tt rs 0 t rc .on n 9,Q . ;:; . ~ -
q( » .1 <I>(k(IH is any fUl1etlollnl , the c n"lroumC'nt is equrv ".l c~l
to t a' ci~~:i~n.\ but u ncl'r(llin l)()len~ial 1'(0. {cfo is the ehaructcrssttc
fu nctiono.l for the dislrilJulio n of , (1) .1
Quantum mechanidl and path Integrars

. " d nt direcUy from Eq. (12-90). This

That rule I IS tz:uc IS eV1 ~ t . \ a much more subtle way. Nate
exp ression also cxplt\l l\s ~le II, ~ fiu ite aclion 8 . ( Q) and any given
that. for any system With My C lUI
initial state

I, II o' l-'. IO" " - S.IO'" '" :DQ(I) :DQ'(t) = 1

(12-95)

• , b . t -,~ and the Bum ov er final states

'This IS because t e III egrais
r arc
I

equivalent to
fK(Qfh;Q.,~)K"(Qlolf;Q:,~) :DQ, = ~(Q. - (/;) (12-96)
b)' Eq. (4-37). Thus, if the initial wave fu nction were ~(Q,). we would
multiply by ¢(Q,)¢"(Q.) as we did in Eq. (12.79) and integrate to get

f ¢(Q.)¢"(Q:> ~(Q. - Q:) dQ. dQ: {1¢(QlI' dQ (12-97)

1\0'" notice tb at if we put g'(1) = g(l) for a given fixed g(1) for aU time
in Eq. (12-90), ,~ c have an expression just like E q . (12-95) where the
effective (and definite) action is
S.[Q(I)J = S,IQ(I)] + S,..[g(I),Q(I)]
with
S. IQ'(t») = SolQ'(I)] + S••Jg(I),Q' (t))
as required, as !0I1g as g' (I) = g(I). Hence F [g(l),g(I») - 1. .
'I1IC same argument limited to the time range a < t < tl, usmg flo
relation like Eq. (12-00) but with t" Qi replaced by a, Q., shows that , if
g(1) = g'(I) for I > a, th e dependence of F on g(1) for I > a d rops
away, beeause the right side of Eq. (12-96) docs net depend on g(l)
fort>a.
Rule III is an evident result of the fact that probabilities arc deter-
mined by adding the value of J over va rious circumstances.
Rule IV is evident from Eq. (12-90) when it is rculiecd that the
conditions of the rule imply that the action that goes into Eq. (12.00)
is S,. [Q. (I)J + S ,., .[g(ll ,Q.(t)] + S, . IQ. (/)J + s... •lg(/),Q .(t)J nnd
that the exponential of the sum becomes n product as docs the integral
F, if the initial state is itself a product of wave Iunet ions.
Rule" is merely a statement of our results shown in Eqa (12-82) IlIld
(1 2-85). .
'l11CSC . arc so.me of the general properties of influence functionals.
Calculations With them involve the various meth ods for doing path
 Other problem. in probability
341
integrals appli ed to Eq. (t~9) . We shall concIuc d this scctilon by
d tscussmg eertaiu Important Influe nce fUllctionalso
o 0 0 0 .

.Jus~, as gaus~~all prohah~li ty d ist rihuliolL'i and gaussian noise d ie-

tributioua are simple a nd Important, so influ ence functi onals which
depend on q(t), ((t) as nn exponential of a quadratic Ior rn-c-w hieh we
5ha!~ call. gaussian .influcnce Iunctionals-c-am particularly important.
j 'II'8t, If th e environment is a set of har monic oscillators in their
ground slate (or at a given temperat ure) coupled linearly to th e system
of interest q, evaluat ion of Eq. (12-00) s hows that F is gaussian. But
gaussian influence Iunet ionala, like gaussia n pro babilities, oceur in
.
good ap proximation in a much wider class of situations namely , where
the effect is the result of a vcry large number of infl ucneea, each of
which by itself has little effect. For example, consider an atom in
weak internetion with each of th c large number of atoms of an environ-
mental gas. The influence of one atom A is vcry small, so its influence
funct ional FA. differs only slightly from 1. However, in view of rule IV,
the comp lete F is the product of many such factors, which becomes
(nearly) the exponential of thc sum of a small contribution from each.
This contribution expan ded to firs t and second ordcr in the Interaction
with each atom leads to influence functionals of the gaussian type.
As an application of this conclusion, a piece of metal placed in a
cavity reson at or affects the resonator in a simple linear way eumrueriz-
able by onc impedance function, even tho ugh the mult i t ud~ of clec-
trona in the metal behave in such a complex manner. The influence
functional of the metal (Q) on the cavity oscillator (q) is nearly a
gaussian, and to this extent the metal is equivalent to so~e set of
harmonic oscillators which would produce the same influence
funct ional. . . ( d -'( ) .
The most general exponential functional involving q 0 an '1 t In
linear form is

F[q(t),q'W] - cxp [ifq(t) 1'(1) dt - ifq'(I)U(1) dt) (12-98)

. d I 1'(/) and U(I) If this is to be an influence

for ar.bltr~1. nl~ com~ exust satisfy th~ conditions of our fi ve niles.
funct ional, . owcver, ~ ;I;.CO and rule II implies U (t) = r CO i hence
Uu le I requires UW d V is ~nl Thus the most gClIcral lincnr fWIC-
l( and . V arc cqu~l. Bl • \10 the ~clioll of a cln...ssicnl external poten tial
tionel IS that equrvaIen
in accordance with rule V. . . I 8SC Iurthcr: for it is completely
ot discuss this suup c C' , I
'Ve nccd II . (I) 1'(1) 10 the hnllliltoni:t.1l of t lC unpcr-
unalyzable just by nddiug q t I as both quudmtic and lim.-. ur terms,
turbed problem- 1£ t he cxponen I
Quantum mechanit~ and palh inlegral.
:us
the linear term can be factored out, so via rule IV we can say it is a
classical potcutinl plus the effect of 0. purdy quadratic func tional.
The most general exponenti a l functional which involves its ergu,
mcnts purely quadrat ienlly is of the form
F[g(I),g'(I)) = exp {- Jf' [a(I,I')g(l)g(I' ) + /1(I,I')g'(I)g' (I')
+ ,,(t,()g(l)g'(t') + 1(1,1')q'(I)g(I')) dt' dt } (12-99)

for arbitrary and complex I o , fJ, ")', and 6. The integrals on t', t nrc OVer
the entire interesting ra nge of time, but we always take t > t . This
is no loss of generality, of course, but it is convenient Ior Inter anntysis.
For t his to he a satisfactory influence functional, we must have from
Rule I
/1(1,1') = a'(I,t') (12-100)
and
,, (I,f) = 1'(t,I') (12-101)
Rule II gives us a .grent deal of infonnat ion, for putti ng q(l) = q'(I)
r
for I > a and, assum mg I > 0 , < 0 , the expression [which is part of
the integral in Eq. (12-99)]

J. r [a(I,l') q(t)g(f) + /1(I,l')q(l)q'(I')

+ ,,(I,I')q(l)q'(f) + B(I,I')q(t)q(I')] dl dl' (12-102)
must he indepe~ldent ?f g(t) for I > a and arbitrary q(I' ) and of q'(1')
for I' < a. TIns requires that
B(I,f) = -a(I,I')
,,(1,1') = -/1(t,1') (12-103)

as long as t > at' < B t si • .

hold for nIl t t' eu
d a' U ~IQC~ a IS arbitrary, Eqs. (12-103) must
11 , n cr t h c contlllulIlg rC'Stricl ion l > l')
icrefore, the most general ga . . n .
on only one compl ( . ussra n III UCIl ('C functional depends
T

J ex uncuon a (t,l') and is of the form

exp {- Jf' [q(l) - q'(I)j[q(t')a(I,I') - g' (I' )a ' (I,n ] dl' dl} (12-1(}l)
In (he case tha t aCt I') is real sa '
to the cxponCJll ial ~f E: (12-8 y, A(t,t ) Our fUfl ct ional is equ ivalent
noisy classical Jlerturbn~'· ;), and we have (he equivalent of a
IOn. n general, in quanlum.mcchau icw
J These functions are dcfmoo only (or I > I'
I

I systems a is complex.
. Other problema in probability '

A special case of importance is that

319

\ a(t,t') = aCt - I')

! depends only on the time difference t - t . We are then dealing with

an environmental system wh ich has average properties independent of
absolut e time.
To hell) understand some of the properties of Eq . (12-104) , we shall
ask for the probability that the q system makes a tmnsition from
energy level u to so me other orth ogonal level m during nn interval of
time T in the case that a is very small and we can use perturbation
theory. If we expand F in Eel. (12-104), the lending term, I, gives

Ir
nothing because the states nrc orthogonal. The next term linear in a
has four pieces. One ia - a(/,t')?(/)q(n de d/. When this is
substituted into Eq. (12-89) in place of F and this evaluated as in Eq.
(12-83) with 40 = 40. and x = ¢., the int egral on :Dq(1) and :Dq' (l) is
seen to be the product of two factors. One, the integral on q, involves

I c'S1,' [- II' a(t,t')q(t}q(1') d( dt] llq(1)

which is the transition clement (ei. Chap. 4)

.(- II' a(t,l')q(t)q(t') dt'dt).

= - II' .(q(t}q(I'». a(tl) de <It (12-105)

The integral on 'Dr! is just [e'S(". 'IJtf and is the complex C?nju~tc. of
. . I t (I)
t h e transition c ernen ... ,..
Anah·zing the other terms In a similar
.. .
way, the total transition probabilJty IS

P(n-> m) = II' [-a(/,n

(I)
'(1 t')
.(q(t}q«()}• • (I):
(q(/)q(t'»: + a'(t,t') . (q(t))••(q(t'» :
- a , • •• + 0(/,1') . (q(/»: . (q«()}.1 dt' d/ (12-106)
( ) 0 II S[q] comes from a constant
hamiltonian with en ergy Icve "or .
E
If m and n arc orthogonal, - ~ =r . states k then
(12-10;)
.(q(/». = q••..-',••- s,"
. (12-100) survive, and they ure complex
Only the lust two terms or Eq .
. es 0 r eac II 0 ther, 60 that
conjugat
'
(I l')e- iCg..-I',.) (, ....) dt' dt (12-108)
l'(n -> m) = 2 It.P. a, ff
Quantum mechanic. and path integral.

850
Problem 12-3 For m = n, verify P(m-tm) - 1 - ~P(m-n)
•
as required by conscn 'a tion of probabi lity .

In th e case of a timc-stcsdy environment a(t,() = aCt - t'). Sup-

pose we define the Fourier transform
(12-109)

[a (l) is 1I0 t defined for t < 0.] Then since Pen - m) in Eq, (12-108) is
proport ional to the time interval over which the integrals extend,
we can define a rate of transition per second and find the probability
of transition
P(n- m) per second ~ 2aR(E. - E.) !q••!' (12-110)

where we bresk 0(') into real and imaginary parta

(12-111)
0(') = aR(') + ;0,(,)
" 'e mny note tbat , for a disturbance by a classical potential under
gaussian noise, aCT) is real [cf. Eq. (12-87» and the reel part of a(..)
is th e power-spectrum function of the noise as defin ed in Eq. (12-32).
So, for such da8Sical noise systems

aR(') = aRC- . ) (12-112)

and in first-order perturb a tion

Rat e of transitio n n _ m = rate of transition m - t n (12-113)

and both .~t es arc proportional to the power P(",) at th e frequency of

thc ~ rnnslt10~ .. Thus classical potcntials have equal probability of
causing transitions up and down.
Anothe~ int eresting example is when the environment cannot supply
energy
. . .. with auy reuse n uble prob nbO I I"
tty, For example, it may be
1111t mJly III ~he ground state or at zero temperature. \Vc shall call
such t a n environm
. ent
. IIcold ."
. F' or such a Situatio n traus ir ions or the
0

sY/'d em .~ gomg up 1TI energy V:. > Eft) nrc u nlikely. Hence lor such
CD -eu tn m meu l systems

aR(') - 0 for. >0 (12-114)

e nd for fi rst-order perturbations

Rate of transition n -+ m = 0
if E... > E" (12-115)
1
Other p roblerm in pro bability
I 351
I Si nce any a( , ) can be writ te n ee th e sum of one of the type shown in
Eq. (12-112) plus o~e ol. lhe ty pe shown in Eq . (12-11-1) , it is readily
\ apparent thet nny lImc-mdcpcndcnt gaussian fu nct ional is equivalent
t o n syst em in some cold environment acted on by n I luetuat ing elassi-
! eul pot en t ial described by e gaussian expression. T his conclusion Iol-
10"'5 from th e fact that th e produ ct of any two gaussian functions is
also n gaussian and from rule IV. H th e interaction of one environ-
ment on th e sys tem is represented by A ,(I ,t') in the manner of Eq.
(lz..87) and the interaction of th e other environment ua A , (l ,t'), th en
t he single in te raction t erm in t he single resulting gnussiun fu nctional
iBA, + A •.

12.9 INFLUENCE FUNCJ10NAL FROM A HARMONIC OSCILLATOR

We shell next give an example of how F can be wor~ed o~t from ~.

(12-90) for an enviro nme nt. consisti ng of a han:nomc rnu:llIator. Wit h
coo rdina t es Q, in the grou nd st ate, coupled to q hnearlY,wlth an mle~­
aet ion S,.,(q,Q) = CIq (t)Q(t) dL We suppose the oscillator 01 unit
mass and frequency lol, so that
(12-116)
S.( Q) = ~f[Q(t)' +
",'Q(t)'] dt
Then
F{q(t) ,q'(l)] = l JJ {i J[J1Q(t)' + ~"" Q(t)'
CXJl

+ C;(t)Q(t)] dt} exp {-i JI~Q'(t)' + H ",' Q' (t)'

+ Cq'(t)Q'(I» ) dt} :DQ(t) :DQ'(t) (12-117)
and the initial st ate is the ground state.
where m is th e final state . d in fact we have already done
.
The In t eg
rs1 on
Q is clearly gaussian, an
. . .
. 50 s-n
litude G...o worked out 10 c.
it ; for it is exac t ly th~ trnn.~~t1ou anibc forcing function there called
for a forced harmo mc 05CI ntor. . b Eq (8-14.5) with n = 0 or
It ' therefore stven y .
,.(1) is here Cq(t). t IB (12-118)
G•• = (ml)-"(iP') -a.. _ .
bs('r'\' cthat Eq. (l2.1 lf ) is
t T he rt'&der may prefer to 0 • ' Q dtJ.
~ . , )K' . (QI" I ;Q:.I,)4l o(Q.)(/lo«(I, ) d, ti

Flq(t),q'UH ... J dQI K (Q" I/, Q" , ro h:lfIlloniC' osd llntor ..- ith / ln. .. Cq~t)
~. kernel or E q . (3-£16) ror a ror~ \" '.CfUllr l ioll or t he o!lt'lllalo r m
:~~r~~~9t~~~et with f (l ) ... Pl(I)'Q ¢~,Q)l\:l't: ~1~(,1l nrl~"r in ft f'llll~lt't ~a~"""'~l\n
the Rfou ml sl nl e. AU vn.f1nhlt'!J ; \Ye Ilha ll II&('n find It NI eesy to to e III c-
be directly Inh'grnl .
wayan d mllY
Quem',.," lIIer/lonic. and pnlll in'egrnb
3S2

with G OD given in Eq. (8- 138) and fJ* in Eq. (8·143) repl.acing 'Y by
Cq(/). Likew ise, the integral over Q' is the complex conjugate of Q,
similar exp ressio n but with .,..(1) replaced by Cq'(t) this li me. We
distinguish values with this subs titution with a. prime. Then the SUIll
on final states in Eq. (12-117) gives us

F(q,q') = LG.oG:~ = L (m!)- "(i/l')-G"(m!)-"(-iP')"'G', ,

• •
= G ,oG.....·" (12-119)

Substitution from Eqs. (8-138) and (8-143) produces, as expected. an

F of 1100 form of Eq. (12-1lJ.l) but with

a(t i') = -C' r ;"'(,-c') (12-120)

, 2w

For example. tbe terms in qq' in Eq. (12-104) come directly from the
/l'tI in the exponential; for this product by Eq. (8-143) is

;:Uq(t)e"'dt] Uq'(/)e-i"'dt] ~ ;:11' Iq(l)q·(t·)e...·- n

+ q'(t)q(t·)e-o.«- nl dt' dt (12-121)

The quantity 0(') defined in Eq. (12-109) is therefore [cf, Eq. (5-17)
and th e Appendix]

e
0(') = 2" Jo
.« e-i"'e-'"
W
: dt = -2 C' [
W
-r
1
i P.P. w+JI + "~(,,, + .) ]
(12-122)
so that the real part of a( ,) is

xC'
aRC') = 2w ~(w + ,) (12-123)

This is zero for positive JI A ted

as specified in Eq. (l2-1i4). 8 expcc , we have a "cold env ironment"

h·JIlpl'rll.turt" <"1L8C. For lU"rc lita(e n is b . . .

t molll (0 ~ -ts£~1 so, in view of rule III ut e Ihl(~ul Ii(~te w i(~1 probability pro~r.
1tI.oO\·c hut with the wave Iuneuo • (QIC r;8uJ~lng F 18 cbtuined by the expression
ns ~~ , ) d>~ (Q,) rcpl uecd by
eOlUlt L d>., (Q.)d>:(Q:)e-/IE•
•
tbat is, by t he density matrix (Q Q'.
again ga ussian,
IU'e P i, ,) ".. orkee.! out in Prcb. 10-1. The intcKrationf
\
Other problerru in probability

I If many ind ependent osc illat ors of different frequencies nrc anacti ng,
353

then hy rul e ]\', their OR(l') funct ions add ; so any cold syste m (to
\ this gaussian a pproximation) is equivalent to n conlinuu m of oscillators
( in their ground stale. Thi s follows, since any function aR( II), for
negativ e .., cnn be buill up of Ii fu nctions of the form of E(I. (12-123).
Another intcreatiug exa mple is the int eract ion with nn oscilla tor
at finite temperature. If the te mperature is T, the initial slate is sl ate
n with relat ive probability e- S• fIrT • For our case, the absolute proba-
b ility is
tD. -= e-nAooI'u(l - C-,..,/l'T) (12-124)

If the initial state were a, the influence functional would be

I

l FII = 1.0....o:.. .
m
(12-125)
,
instead of the fonn in Eq, (12-119). Using rule Ill, we odd th ese
with probabilities w.,
60 our final F is
(12.126)
F -= L G"'.G'".·.. r"""J:I'(l - e-"",J:ry
m,_

The sum is difficult to work out directly from Eq. (S·H5), hut it is

F = G.,{;'.,e"·" cxp [ -
(fJ - fJ')(fJ* -
t!'",OT - 1
p'*)] (12.127)

The ••(_) that results from this in place of Eq. (12·123) i.,

"c. [t!'",ir + ) + 1 ~(.. __)]

0.(_) ~ :>... t!'" ,OT _ 1 ~(.. - t!'"'OT - 1
(12.12S)

. r man
oS("ilIntors constitu te the environ-
andsumsof such cxptCSSlonso ee-v (.. < 0) or up in energy.
Y.
. , go down Ul ene. e-r
ment. New tranSitions ca n . funct ion fails whereas if v < 0, the
\Vc note that if v > O. th e first ~ ,
second f nils, and that indeed
(12.129)
••(_ I_I) = ."""r••(+1_1) . •
. erturba tion theory, If E.. > EM,
This definite rc1al ion means that in P
if cr second up (m - 71) = e-{Ii"·-A"..lI l T
prohabili ty of a tronsl 1011 p ~nd down (It _ m)
probahility of 0. tra usitioll per sec (12-130)

by using Eq. (12-110).

Quantum mf.'C'/lanic. dnd path integra"
351

11lUS , 'I
I
II f
IC sys cm q
occupies states n with relative probabilities
. . '11 1 I '"
C ".,fI.T the net nu mber of up and down tranSlhons WI in anee ~ut
an d th~ system will be in sl at i~l i('aI cquilibrium for weak pcrturbatlon
with the environment. This , 1S
' J, US I \\-hnt
1
we expect
" 1' - -
from the Inw6. 01
stnt istical cquilibriurn. Any environment at temperature : produclllg
a Quadratic influence functional will have: the p.rop erty of I'.q. (l2-1 29~ .
Fe r an atom as svstem q in iuternctiou With the electrom agnetac
T
field at temperature as the environment, a R(") is given by a n expres-
sion like Eq. (12-128) integra ted over all th e modes of .t he field of
various frequencies Ca1. H can be spl it int o the cold environment of
Eq. (12-123) plus e noisy external potential :

7fC!
aR(v) = -2 6(", + v) + e"'''T
1 "e' [6(", + v) + 6(", -
1 2",
v)J
'"
(12-131)

Th e first term produces only transit ions down in cncrgy and is called
spontaneous emissi on, The second produ ces transitions up and down
with equal case and is caned ind uced emission, or induced absorption.
" 'e say that the transition is ind uced by an external poten tial or noise
whose mean-sq uare strength at frequency .. varies with temperature
as l / (cl • l lT - 1). This is the way Einstein first disc ussed t he black-
body-radiat ion laws. As we see here, any en viro nmen t giving a
quad ratic influence functional at temperature T (we say it is an
environment respo ndi ng linearly) can be t rea te d in the same way,
Xleny people have extended Einstein's argument to o ther systems,
Jike th e voltage fluct uat ional noise in a resistor at temperature T,
Th e fi rst ~ e rm measures the rate at which energy is taken out of our
~·.st ~m q In a one-way mallt~cr, It measures the amount of "dissipa-
non produced by t he environment (e.g., electrical resistance of 8
metal or rad iation resistance of the clectromognet ic field) . At tom-
)J~r~t u r: T we eun then M )' that th ings hehave as if, in addition 10 the
dissipat ion, th ere is a noisy sib'lull gencra tod by the enviro nment whose
m ean squ are at car-h frequen cy is proportional to th e d issipation at
that frequency
• , .
and to (e". I.r - 1)-'• 'I'hi , - 'I d I d ' , / '
115 IS Cw e t ie lSS Zpa wn-
jl I
ur ua/ UrII theorem .
'Ve can not purs ue tbis subject further here.•

J:;
I111e l>IlbjCC'l or in nuC"n r
F. L. \ 'tt"nUtl Jr A70
ti I ' .
unc ,1fJ~a S ll> cIl:if:U&lfil in d et nil ily H.. P . Feynrnan and
PAy,. (N .y .): \·~i, 12 "~. I v;~~ . ) l've l. 2.1, P: lI R, 1!.l():J, nnd W . II . W('lIlt, .. h ll.
polaron i!iill H. "'C"}"n;nun 'n W · tJ I ~ ,1l 11,.hcoIlI KlO t o cnlcul ut ion or 1II0llilily of Ibl'
PI'1J'l. /{ctJ., vel. 127, p. 1004, '1002. e \\arth, C. K. Iddings, and P. M. l~nt zmann,
,
I Other problem.a in probability
I 355

12-10 CONCLUSIONS

I• In these npilli cations oC path intr.grnls to probabilit th " •

that , if t he integru nds nrc gaussian we can mnk Y ~ry J Ilb",CVldcnt
I IIto I CChnituque. nut th ese pro blems nrc
I C conan ern c use of
isel h .
.. • precise y I esc for wh ich

I h
I
II
I
01· icr me l rode, 110t rcqUlnng path inlcgm'- arc'
G'J,
., bl
a so ave, n e to solve
l c p.ro) ern. One may rC'D...<:OIInhly clucslion the real utility of the
~at.h integrals. We ca n only say that if the problem is not gaussian,
Jt CBn a t Icas~ be formulat ed and studi ed by using path integrnls-c-
~nd that we ought hope that someday, when the techniq ues of a nalysis
Impr.ovc, ll1~rc can be done with it. The only example of a result
obtained With path integrals which cannot be ob tained in simple
manner by more conventional methods is the variational principle
discussed in Chap. II. We hope Ihat further study of these methods
may yield more such results.
In the meantime, however, it is worth pointi ng out that the path
integral method docs permit 0. rapid passage from one formulation
of a problem to another and often gives a clear or quick suggestion of a
relation which can t hen be more slowly derived in n more ordinary
fashion.
With regard to application to quantum mechanics, path integrals
suffer most grievously from a serious defect . They do not perm it a
discussion of spin operators or other such operators in 8 simple and
lucid way. T hey find their greatest use in systems for which coordi-
Dates and their conjugate momenta are adequate. Xevertheless, spin
is a simple and vital part of real qua nt um-mecha nical systems. It is
a serious limitation that the half-integral spin of the electron does not
find a simple and ready representa tion. It can be handled if the
amplitudes and quantit ies arc considered as qun ternions instead of
ordinary com plex numbers, but the lack of commutativity of such
numbers is a serious complication.
K evcrthcless, many of thc results a nd formulations of path integrals
can be reexp resscd by another mathematical system, a kind of ordc~ed
operator cal cul us. I In this form many or th e results of I he preceding
chapters find an analogous but morc general repr~l~tation (only for
the special pro blems of Chap. 11 is t hc gencrah~atlO1.1 not kIlO'''-!')
involving ncncom mu ti ng variables. For exa mple, III th is cha pter dis-
cussmg , ' IIUCI h...,
HI - fIl l Ict ·ionals it must have struck the reader that •nn
,
euvironmout e 110 I 10 the coonJinnlc q but to a ucncom muttng
coup led
• A 0 lltor Calrnlll!! 1I1n'i ng ApphcutioDe in QunntulD
I H. P • •' l',)"lI ll1 lln, II ' K"r ~ I
E lcetrOlly nnnlirll, /'l1l/s. Ret,., vol. 84, p. 1O~. 195 ,
t......,..... I'hN"H ..'n _"cI ,..'h ,,.,,,,,..,.
SAO

ClI»c'rn'nr, .tlrll lUI lit,. 1IIIIu, woull' IH'I All IlUlMlrlnnl nntl IfllI·" ... 'i'IC
1:,...llt'r.li,n'inn. :-;11 r-11 rll illW' mlillol I... N)m'f'lIil'ully ' ·Xllrf·M, ·d ;11 IIII~
pntll i111f'/otr.1 rurlllul",iull hut rAn I~ rllJlily f'Jlpfl'MM' ill II..• .·It....."
,,·I""'tl (ll~·r.lor 1".ll"lIhll',
An ...lTurt 10 .."Ie-ltd "II' I'l'llh Inlf'R:ml RppmlU'h I)("yon,' it,. """"'nt
Iil1lilll r'llluimll'" 10 he' A worthwhile JlUnOl;I: (or Iht'! Rrrnlf'flt vnhl" or t:!
thi,. Irrllllilill" rt'fI1"illl' in fIIpifr or ilA limi'nt iOlu" i.e., the flNIilllnfl~p' 'J
"bid. it Ioth't.,. 01""" intu ition in hringing together phy"i c41 in"ight And
IIlAlhl'nlQtiraJ Q(JAI.)·ala,
 Appendix

Some Useful
\ Definite Integrals
I
\
I

J_". ,CO' - ~a-

/0..12 C,.I.. % sin 2z dx = :: [(q - l)e" + I}
f· e.-I" sin (p sin x) sin az dx } _ ~p"
}o - 9.a 1
/0· e·ee.I' cos (p sin x) cos ax dz

t: . - -"
~ dx = -1
k + 1)
e-"~ :r,-
,1'1. - (H I)/"'r ( 1'h
o m
I

<

.
<
I

Index
 Absorption, 153
A ~t'l c rnt ion , 174
Act iun, I iii, 26 - 28
AIllJJl ittltJe, .5- 9, 13-16, 19-21
Ht'lltter ing, 142
Annillilllt ion, 232
App~x illl ntion o ( con t inuit)" 2 18-222
Ato on c po tcntinl, 13t-U I
Avc rnp;c, o ( Cxponcn t inl, 2&1
o( mcns u roo q un nt it)", 112-11 3
weighted, of po tctltinl. 305
Dcthc, If " 2M
DJnck-body Rnd int ion La w, Planck
294 - 295 • DenSoity matrix, 273-277
Boltzmann 's constant, 268
Bom approX~ll1l1tion, 128. 131, 169
Bom expne aio n , 128
Bose particles, 16-17, 231,244, 288
Boson (see Bose particles)
Dou nd nry con d it ions, period ic, 92-94.,
213- 214
Box, nonnatizing wave functions in,
89-92
Bro wn ian m otio n, 165-166, 336-340
Calculus o f variations, 26-28
Central-limit theorem , 332
Cha ra cteristic Iuncti cc . 325
of mcesc rcment, l 00-lI Z
Cb ars ctcrist ic fun ctional, 326
Charge density, 237
Chcmicnl rond a n t , 279
C1ll&icn l pat h, 59-60
ClflS5 ica l t rajectory, 26-28
Cold environm en t , 350
Co,m n uni cut ion5, theory of, 329
Com mu tation laws, 176
Comm utation between cpeeetors,
115 -11 6
Com pl ex conj uga t e of wave fu nction,
IVS-J 09
Compton wavelengt h, 245
Con lill;ura tion int egrnl, :'~8
Co llserva t ion of p robnbility. 82-84
Consliln t fieltl, GJ
Cont inu UllI, 150--1 52
Coordinate "pace compared to
momentum . paee. Un -JOS
CofTClntion (unction, 333-33t
Coulo.,n!' pot ent inl, n7, 239
CoUp11n1l; eoefJid ('nt, 70--1 1
Cro!ill '!Celion, 135-1 39, 152
Cryllltll,212-2 17
pol a r, &low c1Cl"trone in, 316-320
Curnnt den., it y, 237
Cut-orr rul e, 245-246, 2S8
d -e \'olt nge, 328-329
D~en l!rnte 8tn lf~9, 160
Delttl (unction, 53, 87, 281
Den ~i ty of lu 'cI'l, 151-1 52
Dirrrnclion, eleet mn, 140
o( Ji,::Jlt, 11- 13
of pn.rt icJ~, 47- 57
D ipole npproximtltion, 250
Dirae, Pau l A, M" 23, 2S5
Dime d cltn fun ction, 53, J03
Di ra c cq untion . 36
Dispersion , 225
DiSlIip3tioa-8uctWltion theorem, 354
Ea'ective width of di fl'rsctiag slit ,
49-52
Eigen runctioD.!, 145
of opera tor. 115
Eigenvalue for ope rator, 115
Elast ic eol.lisioD..:l, 130
E:5.Sf: icity ,2"..'O
.Elect ric d ipole, 250
Elcet romagnctic field, 39, 189-191
.EJ ectromtlwu~tit: mass correc tio n, 25.J
Ekctro n spin, 5
El ect rons in metal , 293
E mission, 153, 2017-250, 260-262
EnCTJ:>', 28, 46-1 i , 5-1, 269
correc-tio n, 253- 2.>5
eXplUlSion of kt:m cl. 116-117
and frequency , 46-17
in wave rueenene, Sl--SG
level:!, :.!4S
n~t , 256
EnCrlC)" shirt , first -order, 159-1 61
En ergy-tune t n~~rormat io n, JO'l - 105
Entro(l) ' , 27"1.
of mixing, 291
301
Qunntum mechanic. and pGth integra"
362
Envi ron ment , cold , 352-353
t inu.'..s t eady, 350
En" iron rucnt nl syst em, :H3
Exclusive ll!lernot h'cs, H
Expcctnt ion vntue, '217
Expeet ed value (or measure ment,
112-11 5
Extremum, 59-60, 62
Fermi. Enriro . ]6
Ferm j field, 231
Fermi part icles, 16-17, 244, 288- 292
F ermion (see Ferm i particles]
Fine-structure consta nt, 252
Foree, ]75, 270
ext em nl,344
Forced ha rmonic oscillnto r, 70-71
Form Iectc e, 138
F eur-d imnnsional sym met ry, 237
Fourier ~cri [S . e,' n.hmting path Inte-
grals by, 71-73
Fourier t n mJorm, 153,219-220, 226,
314, 325, 33S
lUI cncrro·-t ime l ransfonnat ion, lOS
Free energy, a pproximat e, 285
Free pert jcle, 42-47,120
rela t ivist je, 34-36
Frequency, 5-1
and energy , 46-47
o( wa ve funct ion, 84-86
FfC3Ilcl inlc b"1't1ls, 49, 55-S7
Feoblieh , II ., 310n.
Functional, pnth intcgml as 68-69
Funct ional deriv nti vc.s, 170-:173
Gaussian (u m-tion , 49, 52
Geussine in t eJ/:ral, 42-43, 58-62
Oe ussian flit for diffraction 49-"'.
·
G clger eoum ee, 3 • "
Gmvitnt illnnl t,rr~ts, 246
Ground stat e, 2'1 2-224
JIf1R8, E " J I B- 319
Ham iltoninn, COMtnnt 147
t ime-independent si
in ~C(:~r pot ent i; 1 field, 191
Bam ilto nlftn OJ.ICr&to r, 79-82
Harmon ic cecille tor, 63 , 65, 71-73
183, 198- 234, 276, 286, 3SI - sSt
da mped , 336
Ioeced, 64, 181, 233-234
Harmonic eseille to re, inde pendent
209-211 •
H ent, 271
Heise nberg, Werner, 9, 161
H elm hclta Free en ergy, 268
H erm ite po lyno mials, 199-200, 203
II crm it inn operntor, 114
Hermitian property, 82, 86, 188
Independent syst ems, 67-68
Influen ce Iunct ionnle, 343- 354
Integr nl equat ion, 126, 129, 146
Interaction , 125. 130
of field and mat ter, 247-253
pn rticlc e nd oscillator, 169
ot sys t em s, 66
Int erf erence, 5-8
pattern, 56
I nterfering clt cm etivee, 13-14
Invers e t ransforma tion, 111-112
Jacob ian , J ., 72-73
K ernel, 26, 28-29, 32-30
K incl ieooCliergy t erm, 72, 178-179
Kronecker delta, 86, 20S
LaRmnRian. 26-28, 42
Jl:t'flcr nl quudratic, 58
I..nllll" ~ir I tcruce , 253
Lnruh tlhift, 253, 256- 260
Loplncc, 2
Lt..tticc vibmti ons, 3 12
Least actio n, p r illeiple or, 26-28
Lee, T ., 3 18-319
Li(et i," e, 161
Lin enr opcrotor 114
Liquid hel ium, 287-293
 I ndex
363
Magnetic analyzer, 45
field, 64 OrtholConRl tlttlte3, 86
analyzer, 100 Ort honorn ml fun r t Kms 80
And Sc hroedinger equation, 79-80 Oscillnlo r, (jel,1 II! , em'
Me ss, exper imental , 257 inl.cract ing , 205
Mat rix ('I ('m ~n t, 145-161
(or trnnsit io n, 151-161
Mn x",cl/, J am es C., 23 Partit ion lunl"tion , 269-273, 280
M exwcll 'e cqu nt ionl.', 23, 230, 237-240 lor sy mm etric stAt18t ie8, 291
Path, 20-2 1
Icnst· nct ton principle tor, 240-242
Pat h intf'grnJ, 34
M Cfl.n Iirdim c. J61
I douhle, 3011 -342
M Ca8Urcm cmt and probability, 1 ~
(S t t 01U) 8pC(:,itic problem)
112
P auli , WoURanl':. 16
Mea.suri ng equ ipment and momen- Peknr, S. E., 318n.

I
t um , 100
P eriodir- boun dnry cond itio ns, 92-94.
M e90n , 231 , 254
213- 214
Minimum principle, 302-303 Pcriotlic pat h8, 284
Molecule, diatom ic, 139

I
P erm utat ion, 28S
polr etcmtc, 140, 203-208 P ertu rbatio n cxpnnMn, 120-127
:Mom cnt..ge n~ting tun ct ion, 325 firm:-ord cr. 2.'i2 - 2S.1
M omentum, 8- 1I, 28, 44-45, 184-189 time-d cpcndcnt , 1U-1 61
amplitude. 96-102 Perturbed po te ntial, 125
fun ctional, 187 Phase, cha nge of, 4S
measurement, 96 of pnt h, 2d
opemtor, 116, 185-186 Phono l1!, 2'22
or photon, 248 Pboto(!lectric effect , 153
probability, 9;-100 Photon, 231, 2-13
representation, 185 Pines, D., 318-319
epe ce, 101-1 05 Planck, M., 2-&3
Planck Block-body Radint ion Law,
294-295
Newton's law, 175, 251 Planck'! consta nt, 9
No ise, 326-336 P lessct , :\1. S., 23011.
classical, 350 Poisson d btribution . 322
correbuion funct ion of, 334 Polar crystnl, slow elect rons in, 310-
gnussten , 329, 33 1-336 320
NondeJ;cn crnte st at es, 160 Po la rization, 224
N onrclntivist ic npproximation, 237 oscillat ions of, 3 12
Norm al modes, 2U6-208 Polaron, 310
coordi nates, 208 - 212, 2 16-217 Position uieaaurements, 96
d istri h u tion. 50 Positron" 39
Normnlizatiou Iect cre, 178 Potcntinl, effecti ve, 2S5
of wa ve fun cl ionll, 89 -9-1. and moment um reprcsentat jon, 102
Nononlizing const nn t , 33, 01, 194, Z15 Potcnti,I1-cnt"r)O' term. 72
Fbtcnlill.l fun ct ion, ecriee expwl ilion,
6:Hl3
.• Operntor eefcutu e, 113
Opcmto r notation, 80-82, 170, 184-
Pewer, 153
mt"An, 33-l
spe ctrum, 334-336
189 .
Opcretcre (ete Opcmtor notatIOn) I'teisurc, 270
Quantum mecllCJnic.s and path integrals
3M
P rincipal pnrt of int egrnl, 103- 104,
156 -1 57
Probahilil)", 2- 9. 19, 134
a mplitu d e, 5-9, 13- 16, 19- 21
of rueeuee , 323
and meas uremen t, ros-uo
rcr nti vc , 43, S l
of t ransit ion. H S-152
Product, of kernels , 38
of positions, 18 1
Pulses, random, 322-324
Quadra t iI' Actions, 182-1 84
approxima t ion , 2M
fun ct ion nl, 1$4
Qunnt i.zoo field , 69 , 229
Qunntum elcct rod)'Dtlmic s, 65, 69,
236-265
Quantum field thoory. 229-232
Radiation fi ~l d. 242
RaS lcigh- Ri t z method , 307-310
neJath· ~ti c part.icle, 35-36
Relativistic qu antum mechanics, 102-
103
Rc lnth' istic 6)'mrnet.ry, 259
Reillth·btic thOOf)', 38-39, 139
Reson an ce, 161
Roo t.-mClUl-sq unI'C (rms) devi ation,
52- 53
Rut herf()rd . E., 2S3
Rut herford cross sect ion, 137
SaiI.U' potentinls, 79 -80
Scat tering, 14-19, 122-127, 129 -143
In.
mult iple, 130
second-oeje-, 147
x·rny. 138
Scbl'Ol-dinger, En'in, 22-23
Schroedinl;C!f equation. 22-23, 58, 79-
81, 129, 19,j
Schultt, T . D ., 319
SchWinger, J ., 173, 258
Second"rder tenn ' I..... rt ur L tio
. '~ uu ~ n ex.
P8.nSlOn, 154--1 58
Seperllhle 6}1ltems, Ci(H)g
Sound , longitudinal, 225-229
s peed of, 222
Sph ericl1l coo rllin a t C8, 173
Spin,S, 15-16, 3 9, 231 , 264
StlUldanl deviation, 50-52
State! of system, 5 7
Stationnry phase, method of, 132
Statistienl problems in q uantum
m ech nnjcs, 340-3 42. 3.50 -351
Steady states, 84-89
SUe<:CS9ion, events occurring in, 36-38
o f velocit ies, 189
Sum over paths, 29, 31-34
(8 ee also specif ic p roblem)
Superconductivity, 293
Sy mm et ry or cry stals, 224
T cmpClrolurc, critical, 292
finite, 353-354
ThcnnaJ equilibrium, 269
71Urd-(lrocr term, perturbation ex-
pans ion, 158
ntne-<lf-flight as momentum measure,
96-97
Trace, 273
Transformation , of coordinates, 68
encrgy· ti me, 102- 105
Trllnsfonnntion fun ct ions, 11~11 2
Trnnsit ioD a mplitude, 100, 143- 149,
165, 202
for hamiltonian , 192- 195
Tmns it ion element , 164-195, 349
of Jun ct ional, 168- 195
product of t wo positions, 181
T rl1o!liti oo pr obability 248-250
T rnvc1in ~ Wave, 222 •
' l'riul action, 308
Uncert ninty principle, 9-13. 52-54. 85
Um t cell, 224
Vacu um en C!rlO' . 244-246
~arintioDBl met hod, 2tJ6, 303-307
\ ec to r poten tinl, 79 - 80
ll.lI pert urba tion 189 - 191
Velocity, hl elm -Sl:;U IUe 171-179
Virl uul !ltAte, 157-1 58 '
I

I ,......
165
Vt\ltap. ftut1Wllionll nf, m Wavftmcth and mom~lWlll.~. W
,'Numl' ... aonnahainK rnnd.ant.. WaY"'. tt'tardt'<I, 2-\1
03-G4 Nnninl. 2-42 -24.1
tr.lUITt'~. 22.\, Zl3

I Wa"" ...UI'r'fd. 142

w.". 'unrlton. sr-ss, 17
Wci«hl...1 . ..~""'. 1&8
Wt'iMkol". V. F.• 2.:iG
IOS-109
Mmpl("l( ronju,;ate nf. While DoiM, 331
opan,.am, for, t27-t2A
Wan number, 54
and rnomeotam. to\, 47 x.....,... eeau.erinc of. 133

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