Quantum Mechanics - Homework Assignment 9

Alejandro Gomez Espinosa

December 3, 2012
1) Fill in the missing parts and keep for your future reference. (Derivations not needed! Use
ijk
notation
where appropiate.
[X
i
, X
j
] = 0
[X
i
, P
j
] = i
ij
; [P
i
, P
j
] = 0
[X
i
, P
2
] = 2i
ij
P
j
; [P
i
, P
2
] = 0; [P
2
, P
2
] = 0
[X
i
, L
j
] = i
jkl
X
k
; [P
i
, L
j
] = i
jil
P
l
; [P
2
, L
j
] = 0; [L
i
, L
j
] = i
ijk
L
k
[X
i
, L
2
] = 2i
jkl
X
k
L
j
; [P
i
, L
2
] = 2i
jil
P
l
L
j
; [P
2
, L
2
] = 0; [L
i
, L
2
] = 0; [L
2
, L
2
] = 0
Shankar 12.3.2 Let us try to deduce the restriction on l
z
from another angle. Consider a superposition
of two allowed l
z
eigenstates:
(, ) = A()e
ilz/
+B()e
il

z
/
(1)
By demanding that upon a 2 rotation we get the same physical state (not necessarily the same
state vector), show that l
z
l

z
= m, where m is an integer. By arguing on the grounds of sym-
metry that the allowed values of l
z
must be symmetric about zero, show that these values are either
..., 3/2, /2, /2, 3/2, ... or ..., 2, , 0, , 2, .... It is not possible to restrict l
z
any further
this way.
If we demand a 2 rotation to the state (1), we found that:
(, + 2) = A()e
i(+2)lz/
+B()e
i(+2)l

z
/
= e
i2lz/
_
A()e
ilz/
+B()e
i(+2)l

z
/
e
i2lz/
_
= e
i2lz/
_
A()e
ilz/
+B()e
il

z
/
e
i2(l

z
lz)/
_
(2)
that is the same state as (1) times a constant, if:
e
i2(l

z
lz)/
= 1
then,
e
i2(l

z
lz)/
= cos
_
2(l

z
l
z
)

_
= 1; (l

z l
z
) = m
for m = ..., 1, 0, 1, ..... Finally, if l
z
and l

z
are allow values, thus:
l

z
l
z
= 2l
z
= m l
z
=
m
2
for m = ..., 3, 1, 1, 3, ....

gomez@physics.rutgers.edu
1
3) Find the ground state energy of a particle of mass in 3D conned to the region r
0
< r < 2r
0
(that
is, V = 0 in this region and V = + both inside r
0
and outside 2r
0
).
This problem similar to nd the eigenstate of a particle in spherical coordinates, but with dierent
boundary conditions. Then, the wave function and the energy value is:
(r, , ) = (Aj
l
(kr) +Bn
l
(kr))Y
m
l
(, ), E =

2
k
2
2
but for the ground state:

0m
= Aj
0
(kr)Y
m
0
(, )
where
J
0
(kr) =
sin(kr)
kr
Applying boundary conditions, we found:
sin(kr
0
) = 0 n = kr
0
k =
n
r
0
for n = 1, 2, 3, .... Therefore, the energy of the ground state is given by:
E =

2
n
2

2
2r
2
0
4) Find the degeneracy and parity of all energy levels with E < 5 for the 3D simple harmonic oscillator
using the Y
lm
-based solution (p. 352), and check that it agrees with the results expected based on
separation of variables in Cartesian coordinates.
Using the results of page 352 for the simple harmonic oscillator, with energy
E =
_
n +
3
2
_
, n = k +l
Then, the energy levels with E < 5 are:
E
0
=
3
2
, E
1
=
5
2
, E
2
=
7
2
, E
3
=
9
2
,
where the allowed values of n are 0, 1, 2, 3. Then, Shankar found that the eigenstates have the values
of n, l and m:
n = 0 l = 0 m = 0
n = 1 l = 1 m = 0, 1
n = 2 l = 0, 2 m = 0; 0, 1, 2
n = 3 l = 1, 3 m = 0, 1; 0, 1, 2, 3
Here is easy to see that states with n = 1, 2, 3 have degeneracies. n = 1 has 3 degenerate states,
n = 2 has 6 degenerate states and, n = 3 has 10 degenerate states.
In the case of separation of variables, the energy is given by:
E =
_
n
x
+n
y
+n
z
+
3
2
_

2
where, looking for the diferent combinations of n
x
, n
y
, n
z
, we can verify the previous result:
n = 0 = (000)
n = 1 = (100, 010, 001)
n = 2 = (110, 101, 011, 200, 020, 002)
n = 3 = (111, 201, 210, 021, 102, 120, 012, 300, 030, 003)
For the parity, the radial wavefunction is not aected in the case of spherical harmonics, hence the
parity operator only acts on Y
lm
. Then, the spherical harmonic term Y
m
l
= P
m
l
(cos )e
im
under
parity transformation is:
(Y
m
l
(, )) = Y
m
l
( , +)
Let us split the harmonic term. For the exponential part:
e
im(+)
= e
im
e
im
= (1)
m
e
im
Then, for the associated Legendre polynomials:
P
m
l
(cos( )) = P
m
l
(cos )
Changing cos = x for simplicity:
P
m
l
(x) =
_
1 (x)
2
_
|m|/2
_
d
d(x)
_
l+|m|
_
1 (1)
2
_
l
=
_
1 x
2
_
|m|/2
_
dx
d(x)
_
l+|m|
_
d
dx
_
l+|m|
_
1 (1)
2
_
l
=
_
dx
d(x)
_
l+|m|
P
m
l
(x)
= (1)
l+|m|
P
m
l
(x)
Join the two results:
(Y
m
l
) = (1)
m
(1)
l+|m|
Y
m
l
= (1)
l
Y
m
l
Recalling that n = 2k +l, we can express the last term as (1)
n
Y
m
l
. Now, we see that states with
l odd are going to have parity 1 and, if l is even the parity is 1.
In addition, for the case of cartesian coordinates, the only term that aect the parity are the Hermite
polynomials, which parity is (1)
n
. Result that conrm the previous result.
3
Shankar Ex. 12.5.2 (3) Contruct the 44 matrices J
x
, J
y
, and J
z
for j = 3/2 and verify that [J
x
, J
y
] =
iJ
z
explicitly.
Let us write down the matrix elements of J
x
, J
y
and J
z
in the basis J

:
_
3
2
m

J
x

3
2
m
_
=
_
3
2
m

J
+
+J

3
2
m
_
=
1
2
__
3
2
m

J
+

3
2
m
_
+
_
3
2
m

3
2
m
__
=
1
2
_

__
3
2
m
__
3
2
+m+ 1
__
2
_
3
2
m

3
2
m+ 1
_
+
+
__
3
2
+m
__
3
2
m+ 1
__
2
_
3
2
m

3
2
m1
_
_
=

2
_
__
3
2
m
__
5
2
+m
__
2

,m+1
+
__
3
2
+m
__
5
2
m
__
2

,m1
_
_
3
2
m

J
y

3
2
m
_
=
_
3
2
m

J
+
J

2i

3
2
m
_
=
1
2i
__
3
2
m

J
+

3
2
m
_

_
3
2
m

3
2
m
__
=

2i
_
__
3
2
m
__
5
2
+m
__
2

,m+1

__
3
2
+m
__
5
2
m
__
2

,m1
_
_
3
2
m

J
z

3
2
m
_
=
_
3
2
m

3
2
m
_
= m
_
3
2
m

3
2
m
_
= m
m

,m
Now, we now that m = l, ..., l, then m =
3
2
,
1
2
,
1
2
,
3
2
, and the matrix representation can be
written as:
J
x
=

2
_
_
_
_
0

3 0 0

3 0 2 0
0 2 0

3
0 0

3 0
_
_
_
_
J
y
=
i
2
_
_
_
_
0

3 0 0

3 0 2 0
0 2 0

3
0 0

3 0
_
_
_
_
J
z
=

2
_
_
_
_
3 0 0 0
0 1 0 0
0 0 1 0
0 0 0 3
_
_
_
_
4
Finally, let us verify [J
x
, J
y
]:
[J
x
, J
y
] = J
x
J
y
J
y
J
x
=
i
2
4
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
0

3 0 0

3 2 0
0 2 0

3
0 0

3 0
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
0

3 0 0

3 0 2 0
0 2 0

3
0 0

3 0
_
_
_
_

_
_
_
_
0

3 0 0

3 0 2 0
0 2 0

3
0 0

3 0
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
0

3 0 0

3 2 0
0 2 0

3
0 0

3 0
_
_
_
_
=
i
2
4
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
3 0 2

3 0
0 1 0 2

3
2

3 0 1 0
0 2

3 0 3
_
_
_
_

_
_
_
_
3 0 2

3 0
0 1 0 2

3
2

3 0 1 0
0 2

3 0 3
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
=
i
2
4
_
_
_
_
6 0 0 0
0 2 0 0
0 0 2 0
0 0 0 6
_
_
_
_
=
i
2
2
_
_
_
_
3 0 0 0
0 1 0 0
0 0 1 0
0 0 0 3
_
_
_
_
= iJ
z
Shankar Ex. 12.5.3 (1) Show that J
x
= J
y
= 0 in a state |jm.
Expressing J
x
and J
y
in terms of J
+
and J

, and using Eq (12.5.21a):

jm|J
x
|jm =
1
2
jm|J
+
+J

|jm
=

2
_

jj

m,m+1
((j m)(j +m+ 1))
1/2
+
jj

m,m1
((j +m)(j m+ 1))
1/2
_
= 0
Same procedure for J
y
, but as J
y
=
J
+
J

2
is easy to see, from the previous derivation, that
J
y
= 0 too.
(2) Show that in these states J
2
x
= J
2
y
=
1
2

2
[j(j +1) m
2
] (use symmetry arguments to relate
J
2
x
to J
2
y
).
By convention, we develop all this relations to rotate about the z-axis, then it is clear that the
system is symmetric about the z-axis, then: J
2
x
= J
2
y
. Using the total angular momentum:
J
2
= J
2
x
+J
2
y
+J
2
z
2J
2
x
= J
2
J
z
Thus,
J
2
x
=
1
2
J
2
J
2
z

=
1
2
jm|J
2
J
2
z
|jm
=
1
2
_
jm|J
2
|jm jm|J
2
z
|jm
_
=
1
2
_

2
j(j + 1)
2
m
2
_
where I used the relations (12.5.17) from Shankar for the last steps.
5
(3) Check that J
x
J
y
from part (2) satises the inequality imposed by the uncertainty principle.
[Eq. (9.2.9)]
Let us calculate (J
x
)
2
:
(J
x
)
2
= J
2
x
J
x

2
= J
2
x

Therefore:
(J
x
)
2
(J
y
)
2
= J
2
x
J
2
y
=

4
4
_
j(j + 1) m
2
_
2
(3)
Now, let us calculate the LHS of the inequality imposed by the uncertainty principle:
jm|J
x
J
y
|jm =
1
4i
jm|(J
+
+J

)(J
+
J

)|jm
=
1
4i
jm|J
2
+
+J

J
+
J
+
J

J
2

|jm
=
1
4i
jm|J

J
+
J
+
J

|jm
=
1
4i
_
jm|J

_
((j m)(j +m+ 1))
1/2
|jm+ 1
_

= jm|J
+
_
((j +m)(j m+ 1))
1/2
|jm1
__
=

2
4i
((j m)(j +m+ 1)jm|jm (j +m)(j m+ 1)jm|jm)
=

2
4i
((j m)(j +m+ 1) (j +m)(j m+ 1))
=

2
m
2i
|jm|J
x
J
y
|jm| =
|m|
2
Then, by solving the Schrodinger equation, we know that j |m|, therefore:
j |m|
j(j + 1) |m|(|m| + 1) = m
2
+|m|
j(j + 1) m
2
|m|
Using this result, we can conclude that J
x
J
y
|J
x
J
y
|.
(4) Show that the uncertainty bound is saturated in the state |j, j. In the result of (3), we found
the condition for the inequality is j(j + 1) m
2
|m|, but in the case of m = j:
|m| j(j + 1) j
2
= j j m
Then, the uncertainty is saturated.
6
Shankar Ex. 13.1.3 Starting from the recursion relation, obtain
210
(normalized).
Let us start from eq. (13.1.10) for the recursion relation:
v
El
=
l+1

k=0
C
k

k
where k = n l 1. Then using
210
, i.e., n = 2, l = 1, we found:
v
21
=
2
C
0

0
=
2
C
0
then, the state can be written as:

210
=
e

2
C
0
Y
0
1
(, ) = C
0
e

Y
0
1
(, ) (4)
where =
r
2a
0
. Now, let us normalized the state:
1 =
_

210

210
r
2
dr d
= 8a
3
0
C
2
0
_

0

2
_
e
2

2
dY
0
1
Y
0
1
d
= 8a
3
0
C
2
0
_

0

4
_
e
2
d
= 8a
3
0
C
2
0
3
4
= 6a
3
0
C
2
0

1
6a
3
0
= C
0
Finally, the state (4) becomes:

210
=

1
6a
3
0
e

Y
0
1
(, ) (5)
Shankar Ex. 13.1.4 Recall from the last chapter [Eq. (12.6.19)] that as r , U
E
(r)
me
2
/k
2
e
kr
in a Coulomb potential V = e
2
/r [k = (2mW/
2
)
1/2
]. Show that this agrees with Eq. (13.1.26).
Equation (12.6.19) from Shankar recalls:
U
E
r
me
2
k
2
e
rk
, k =
_
2mW

2
(6)
but, W from eq (13.1.23) is given by:
W =
me
4
2n
2
then:
k =
_
2m

2
me
4
2n
2
=
_
m
2
e
4

4
n
2
=
me
2

2
n
=
1
na
0
where a
0
is the Bohr radius. Then, the relation for the radial part becomes:
R
n
=
U
E
r

r
n
e
r/na
0
r
= r
n1
e
r/na
0
that is the same as equation (13.1.26).
7