Homework 5
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Alejandro EspinosaHomework 5
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Alejandro EspinosaQuantum Mechanics - Homework Assignment 5
Alejandro Gomez Espinosa
October 16, 2012
Shankar Ex. 5.2.1 A particle is in the ground state of a box of length L. Suddenly the
box expands (symmetrically) to twice its size, leaving the wave function undisturbed.
Show that the probability of nding the particle in the ground state of the new box is
(8/3)
2
?
A particle in a box of length L, in the ground state (n=1), is in the state:
(x) =
_ _
2
L
sin
_
x
L
_
|x|
L
2
0 |x|
L
2
if we double symmetrically the length of the box, the new system would be:
(x) =
_ _
1
2L
sin
_
x
2L
_
|x| L
0 |x| L
Then, the probability of nding the particle in the ground state of the new box is
1
:
P = |||
2
=
_
_
L/2
L/2
2
L
sin
_
x
L
_
sin
_
x
2L
_
dx
_
2
=
_
2
L
_
2
2L
3
__
2
=
_
8
3
_
2
gomez@physics.rutgers.edu
1
Integration made in Mathematica. Wolfram Alpha LLC. 2012. WolframAlpha.
http://www.wolframalpha.com (access October 15, 2012).
1
Shankar Ex. 5.2.4 Consider a particle of mass m in the state |n of a box of length
L. Find the force F = E/L encountered when the walls are slowly pushed in,
assuming the particle remains in the nth state of the box as its size changes. Consider
a classical particle of energy E
n
in this box. Find its velocity, the frequency of collision
on a given wall, the momentum transfer per collision, and hence the average force.
Compare it to E/L compute above.
The energy of a particle of mass m in a box of length L is:
E =
2
2
n
2
2mL
2
, n = 1, 2, 3, ...
Next, lets calculate the force:
F =
E
L
=
L
_
2
n
2
2mL
2
_
=
2
2
n
2
mL
3
=
2E
L
On the other hand, classically, we know that the energy is:
E
n
=
p
2
2m
p =
_
2mE
n
v =
2mE
n
m
In addition, the time that one particle needs to collide again on a given wall, i.e., its
frequency is:
t =
2L
v
=
2Lm
2mE
n
The change in momentum, in an elastic collision, when the particle hits the wall
would be:
P = p (p) = 2p = 2
_
2mE
n
Finally, using all the previous computed results, the average force of the particle is:
F =
P
t
=
2(2mE
n
)
2mL
=
2E
n
L
Shankar Ex. 5.2.2 Hint: The spirit of this problem is to see how the kinetic and potential
energies scale as 0 (i.e., for a very wide Gaussian) and show that the (positive)
kinetic energy drops to zero faster than the (negative) potential energy.
(a) Show that for any normalized |, |H| E
0
, where E
0
is the lowest-energy
eigenvalue. (Hint: Expand | in the eigenbasis of H.)
Lets dene |n as the orthonormal eigenbasis of H, i.e., H|n = E
n
|n and
n
|nn| = 1. Then, we can compute:
|H| =
m,n
|mm|H|nn|
=
m,n
E
n
|mm|nn|
=
m,n
E
n
|mn|
m,n
=
n
E
n
|n||
2
= E
0
|0||
2
+E
1
|1||
2
+E
2
|2||
2
+...
E
0
2
(b) Prove the following theorem: Every attractive potential in one dimension has at
least one bound state. Hint: Since V is attractive, if we dene V () = 0, it
follows that V (x) = |V (x)| for all x. To show that there exists a bound state
with E < 0, consider
a
(x) =
_
a
_
1/4
e
ax
2
/2
and calculate
E() =
|H|
, H =
2
2m
d
2
dx
2
|V (x)|
Show that E() can be made negative by suitable choice of . The desired result
follows from the application of the theorem proved above.
Lets calculate the value of E(a):
E(a) =
a
|H|
a
=
_
_
a
_
1/2
e
ax
2
2
_
2
2m
d
2
dx
2
|V (x)|
_
e
ax
2
2
dx
Lets calculate separately the value of H:
_
2
2m
d
2
dx
2
|V (x)|
_
e
ax
2
2
=
2
2m
d
2
dx
2
_
e
ax
2
2
_
|V (x)|e
ax
2
2
=
2
2m
d
dx
_
axe
ax
2
2
_
|V (x)|e
ax
2
2
=
2
2m
_
a
2
x
2
e
ax
2
2
axe
ax
2
2
_
|V (x)|e
ax
2
2
=
_
2
2m
_
a
2
x
2
ax
_
|V (x)|
_
e
ax
2
2
Returning to the value of E(a):
E(a) =
_
_
a
_
1/2
e
ax
2
2
_
2
2m
_
a
2
x
2
ax
_
|V (x)|
_
e
ax
2
2
dx
=
_
a
__
2
a
2m
e
ax
2
dx
_
2
a
2
2m
x
2
e
ax
2
dx
_
|V (x)|e
ax
2
dx
_
=
_
a
2
a
2m
_
a
0
_
|V (x)|e
ax
2
dx
_
=
a
2
2m
_
a
|V (x)|e
ax
2
dx E
0
from (a)
where here the rst term corresponds to the kinetic energy and the second to
the potential energy. In addition, we can see that when a 0 the kinetic term
decrease faster than the second term due to the exponent of a in each term.
The theorem can be prove using part (a), where we can see that the expression
for E(a) is greater or equal than the lowest-energy eigenvalue. Therefore, in a
one dimensional problem there is at least one bound state.
3
Shankar Ex. 5.2.3 Consider V (x) = aV
0
(x). Show that it admits a bound state of en-
ergy E = ma
2
V
2
0
/2
2
. Are there any other bound state?. Hint: Solve Schrodingers
equation outside the potential E < 0, and keep only the solution that has the right
behavior at innity and is continuous at x = 0. Draw the wave function and see how
there is a cusp, or a discontinuous change of slope at x = 0. Calculate the change in
slope and equate it to
_
+
_
d
2
dx
2
_
dx
(where is innitesimal) determined from Schr odingers equation.
Lets calculate the Schrodinger equation with the potential V (x):
2
2m
d
2
dx
2
+aV
0
(x) = E
d
2
dx
2
+
2m
2
(E aV
0
(x)) = 0
Now, lets integrate this relation between an innitesimal change:
_
+
_
d
2
dx
2
_
dx =
_
+
_
2m
2
(E aV
0
(x))
_
dx
_
+
d
dx
_
d
dx
_
dx =
_
+
2mE
2
dx +
_
+
2m
2
aV
0
(x))dx
d
dx
= 0 +
2maV
0
2
(0)
d()
dx
d()
dx
=
2maV
0
2
(0)
Figure 1: Diagram of a particle moving in a delta function potential, according to Shankar,
Exercise 5.2.3.
On the other hand, the equation of motion of a particle moving in a V = 0 potential
is:
2
2m
d
2
dx
2
= E
4
where if we separate the cases for in this exercise, shown in Figure 1, the wavefunctions
of a particle are:
I
(x) = Ae
kx
+Be
kx
= Ae
kx
II
(x) = Ce
kx
+De
kx
= De
kx
where k
2
= 2mE/ and, B and C vanish due to boundary conditions at both
innities. Applying the boundary conditions when x = 0:
I
(0) =
II
A = D
Finally, lets calculate the discontinuous change of slope at x = 0 using the previous
results:
d
II
(0)
dx
d
I
(0)
dx
=
2maV
0
2
(0)
kD kA =
2maV
0
2
(0)
2kD =
2maV
0
2
D taking (0) =
II
(0)
k =
2maV
0
2
k
2
=
4m
2
a
2
V
2
0
2mE
2
=
4m
2
a
2
V
2
0
4
E =
ma
2
V
2
0
2
2
In this case, there is no other bound state because E and the wavefunction do not
depend on any integer.
5) In class we derived Shankar (5.2.23)
k tan ka =
for the even solutions in a nite well of depth V
0
. Repeat for the odd solutions and
show that satisfy:
k cot ka =
We can separate this problem in three parts, described in Figure 2, according to the
value of the potential. In the case when V = V
0
:
2
2m
d
2
dx
2
+V
0
= E
(x) = k
2
where
=
2
/x
2
, and k
2
=
2m
2
(V
0
E). When V = 0:
2
2m
d
2
dx
2
= E
(x) =
2
5
Figure 2: Sketch of the square well potential.
where =
2mE
2
. Therefore, following the notation
I
as the wavefunction of the part
(I) in Figure 2, we found:
I
(x) = Ae
kx
+Be
kx
= Ae
kx
II
(x) = C cos(x) +Dsin(x)
III
(x) = Ee
kx
+Fe
kx
= Fe
kx
Here, we can quickly said that B and E must vanish due to conditions in very large
and small values of x. Next, we need to satisfy boundary conditions:
I
(a) =
II
(a)
Ae
ka
= C cos(x) +Dsin(a)
Ae
ka
= C cos(x) Dsin(a) (1)
II
(a) =
III
(a)
Fe
ka
= C cos(x) +Dsin(a) (2)
I
(a) =
II
(a)
Ake
ka
= Csin(x) +Dcos(a)
Ake
ika
= Csin(x) +Dcos(a) (3)
II
(a) =
III
(a)
Fke
ka
= Csin(x) +Dcos(a) (4)
Solving this equations:
(1) (2) (AF)e
ka
= 2Dsin(a) (5)
(3) + (4) (AF)e
ka
= 2Dcos(a) (6)
(5)/(6)
1
k
=
tan(a)
k = cot(a)
6
6) a) Show that
j =
2mi
(
)
for the current density can be rewritten
j =
m
where (r) and (r) are the magnitude and phase of (r), respectively, i.e.,
= e
i
with and real.
Dening = e
i
, then
= e
i
, and the expression inside the brakets is:
= e
i
_
e
i
_
e
i
_
e
i
_
=
2
e
i
ie
i
r
+
2
e
i
ie
i
r
= 2
2
i
Replacing in the expression above:
j =
2mi
_
2
2
i
_
=
m
b) Use the result of (a) to do Shankar Ex. 5.3.2.: Convince yourself that if = c
,
where c is constant (real or complex) and
is real, the corresponding j vanishes.
Using the result of (a):
j =
2mi
(
)
=
2mi
(c
_
c
_
c
_
c
_
)
=
2mi
(c
cc
)
=
2mi
|c|
2
(
)
= 0 if
R
c) Use the result of (a) to show that the probability current density of a plane wave
(r) =
0
e
ikr
is what you would expect, based on its probability density and the
momentum (and thus velocity) of the particles.
Using the result of (a) with (r) =
0
e
ikr
:
j =
m
2
0
(k r) =
m
2
0
k =
p
m
2
0
7