Submitted by : Suman Shrestha

TO CONSTRUCT GENERATOR OF DIRAC DELTA

FUNCTION FROM THE DISCRETE ORTHONORMAL
BASIS OF THE FUNCTION SPACE AND STUDY VAR-
IOUS PROPERTIES OF THE DIRAC DELTA FUNC-
TION.(DESIGNED BY DR.HARI PD LAMICHANNE)

Aim of the Experiment

1. meaning and properties of the orthonormal basis,
2. properties of Dirac delta function,
3. how to construct a generator of Dirac delta function by
using closure relation of orthonormal basis and
4. various properties of the generator of Dirac delta function

THEORY:
State of a quantum particle id described using a wavefunction
of a particle can be expanded in terms of the complete set of
orthonormal basis of the function space satisfies the following
properties.
The scalar product of two basis functions is equal to Kro-
necker delta function.
The set of basis functions should be complete. In other
words, any function of the wave function space can uniquely
be expanded in terms of the orthonormal basis. This prop-
erty can be tested by the studying closure property of the
basis functions. Closure property is very important because
it can be used to construct a Dirac delta function.

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 h

Among various options of observables we can consider Hamilto-

nian operator of a particle bounded in one dimensional potential
well defined as:

h2 d2
H= . + V (x) (1)
2m dx2
whereV (x) = 0f or0 x L;
= otherwise
Graphical representation of the potential energy V(x)is shown
in figure Time independent energy eigen functions of the Hamil-
tonian operator can be obtained by solving Schrodinger wave
equation:
Hu(x) = Eu(x) (2)
where E is the energy eigenvalue and u(x) is the energy eigen
function.

The normalized wavefunctions of the Schrodinger wave equa-

tion (2) for a particle whose Hamiltonian operator is given by
equation 1 are
v
u2 nx
u
un (x) = t
sin( ) (3)f or0 x L
L L
2
Otherwise equal to 0. Values of n are positive integers 1,2,3,.....The
energy eigen values are
h2 2
En =
2mL2
The scalar product of two eigenfunctons is defined as
Z L
(un (x), um (x)) = un (x)um (x)dx = nm (3)
0

The closure relation is

un (x)un (x0 ) = (x x0 ) (4)
X

where the (x x0 )is the Dirac delta function and the sum runs
upto n equals to infinity. Basic properties of Dirac Delta func-
tion are as follows:
1. (x x0 ) = when x=x;
2. (x x0 ) = 0when x 6= x0 ;
R
3. dx =1
Third property of Dirac delta function can be simplified as
Z
0
Z 4 (2n 1)x0
un (x)un (x0 )dx
X X
1= (xx )dx = L = sin
0 n n (2n 1) L
where u can take positive integer values 1,2,3,.... The sum on
the left hand side term of equation(4) for finite n can be defined
as a generator of Dirac Delta function as
F (x, x0 , n) = un (x)un (x) (6)
X

OBSERVATION:
We observed the properties of Dirac Delta function and learned
how to construct a generator delta function by using closure

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Figure 1: Generator of Dirac delta function as a function of n for x=x=0.13
and L=1.un (x) is given by equation3

relation of orthonormal basis and various properties of the gen-

erator of Dirac delta function by using the software (Microsoft
office 2007 excel).
We read and understand the desire equations and relation(theory)for
that Dirac delta function practical at first and then we have seen
the various graph(plot)on the basis that of properties of Dirac
delta function. The whole practical taught us(M.sc. physics
first semester students)by Dr.Hari Pd Lamichanne who built
this practical first time in Nepal for Master level physics.
Some explanation with graphs which has observed by me(Roll
no.=113)have represented below:

Graphs Explanation by observation

Explanation of figure 1 :

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when the value of x and x is same i.e. x=x=0.13
For the same value of the x and x, we have from the equa-
tion (6) we can calculate the generator F for different values of
n(i.e n=1 to n=100).That formula is , F1 (x, x0 , n) = n un (x =
P

0.13)un (x0 = 0.13) By using this relation, we can see from the
graph that with increase in the value of n the value for genera-
tor F1 (x, x0 , n) is also increasing. It seems that there is directly
proportional proportional relation between generator and the
values of n. I took the value n upto 100 . But for the more
precise and accurate values the larger value of n is better than
lower one. This has done by taking the value of L is 1.
So, we can conclude that the variation on generator F is pro-
portional with the variation of value on n. The graph for this
condition is showing above.

Explanation of figure 2:
when the value of x and x is different i.e x from 0.01 to
1 and x=0.13
In this case, I took the values for the x and x were different.I
did this by taking the value of x is fixed (x=0.13) and taking
value for the values for x is from 0.01 to 1. At this case I mark
the x-axis as the value n and Generator F along y-axis.When
value n is gradually increasing from 0 the generator is slowly
increase. And around 0.4 the value of generator slightly being
greater than former one ie. it seems around 14, the value for gen-
erator.Hence, for n=1 to n=14 the generator doesnt increase to
higher value. For the other case when we take the n=1 to n=94
the value generator reach around 100 suddenly hence there is
different between them with value taking by us. The number of
terms in the generator function affects the height and width of
the generator of Dirac delta function can be studied by calcu-
lating values of the generator function at fixed x and varied x
in the interval on 0.01 from 0 to 1 and the sum is rum up to

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Figure 2: Generator of Dirac delta function as a function of x for
x=0.13,L=1,n=14 and 94

given value of n. The values of the generator plotted against x

at x equal to 0.13 and n equals to 14 and 94 is shown in figure
2. As can be seen in figure 2, the function F2 is oscillating more
rapidly at n=94 as compared to at n=14. The function F2 is also
larger and narrower at n=94 than at n=14. We can concluded
from this result that the generator of Dirac delta function will
be much larger as well as much narrower at x=x. The generator
of Dirac delta function will oscillate at very high frequency with
mean value 0 in the region where x is not equal to x. Generally,
an ordinary function ( a sufficiently regular function) does not
rapidly vary in any short interval of x and hence can be taken
as constant in that interval of x but over the same region of x
the Dirac Delta function oscillate many times. That is why one
should take an average value of Dirac delta function in an in-
finitesimal interval of x in order to expand an ordinary function.

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Figure 3: Generator of Dirac delta function as a function of a for x=0.1,x=0.2
and L=1(for above)/ x=0.1,x=0.8 and L=1(for below).un (x) is given by
equation 3

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Figure 4: Integration in the interval x=0 to x=1 of the generator of Dirac
delta function as a function of n for x=0.13

Explanation of figure 3:
when x and x are different i.e i) x=0.1,x=0.2
ii) x=0.1,x=0.8
The nature of generator function can also be studied for different
values of x and x.The generator functions F3 and F4 as defined
in figure 3 but show periodic nature on n. The amplitude and the
period of the generator function depend on the values of x and x.
Figure 3(above) shows that the generator F3 has amplitude 4.14
and period 20 for x=0.1 and x=0.2. On the other hand figure
3(below) shows that the generator function F4 has amplitude
0.78 and many oscillations within the period 20. However, the
average values of the both functions are equal to zero.

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 Explanation of figure 4:
We can also study the how the interration of Dirac delta function
converges to unity by using generator of the Dirac delta function.
When generator integrate the generator functions with respect
to x in the given interval and do the summation. The integral of
the generator of Dirac s function as a function of n for x=0.13
in the interval x=0 to x=1 is shown in figure (4).
In this case when the value of n is little increase from the zero
value then the generator is increase just from the value 0.5 and
suddenly increase to 1.2 within the value n around 2 or 3. Then
the amplitude of generator is slowly decrease to the value around
0.90 at n is around 11 or 12. After that, with increase in value
of n from 20 to upto 100 is small oscillation and the amplitude
of generator is almost same for all.

Innovation
In the innovation part, teacher(Dr. HPL) gave us task that
everyone should include their roll number in the function of
generator for two case 1. include the roll number in the given
range 2. exclude that roll number in the given range. So, I do
here for my roll number 113 as following:

x0 = 0.01 113 1
= 0.13
1.[a,b] does not include x
2. [a,b] includes x.
0 a, b 1 for L=1
For [a,b] does not include x, there is two possible value for
exclude the x.My roll number and is 113 and from above I
have to calculate for the value x=0.13. I can take a=0 and
b=0.12 to exclude 0.13 and also by taking a=0.14 and b=1. I

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Figure 5: Generator of Dirac delta function for excluding x=0.13 in a=0 to
b=0.12 i.ex0
/ [a = 0, b = 0.12]

observed graph for both case but here I represent only for a=0
and b=0.12.

Explanation of figure 5:
In figure 5, I observe the graph between generator F and n in
which the value of x(0.13) doesnt include in the given range
a=0 and b=0.12. At first, for n=0,the generator F6 has the
value around 0.65. The when n is increasing around 90 or 100
the value of generator is drastically decreased around 0.1. After
that,at n=200 the value of generator becomes around 0.05. And
then for n=400 the value ofF6 becomes lower around 0.25. With
increase of value of n upto 1000 i.e n=1000 the value of generator
(F6 )converges to 0. In this way, for excluding of value x the

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Figure 6: Generator of Dirac delta function for including x=0.13 in a=0.12
and b=0.14 i.e.x0 [a = 0.12, b = 0.14]

generator converges to F6 =0.

Explanation of figure 6:
For the case of including, I choose the value of a and b in
such a way that the value of x=0.13 lies inside that range i.e
[a=0.12,b=0.14]. In this case, happens just opposite of exclud-
ing case that here is function generator F7 is conversing towards
to the value of 1.Here, from n=0 to n=1000 the value generator
is gradually increasing as 0.2, 0.4, 0.6,.... and finally for n=1000
the generator is conversing towards 1.
In this way I choose the required value to exclude and include
the desire value.For the case of excluding generator is converg-
ing towards to zero and for the case of including generator is
converging towards to 1. .

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RESULT:
For the same value of x and x, the generator function is
almost proportional with the value of n i.e the generator
function almost linearly increases on increasing n with a
average slope 1 and period n=10
For the different value of x and x, the amplitude and the
period of the generator depend on the value on x and x i.e.
they show periodic nature with average value of function
with zero.
I have seen that the number of terms of generator function
affects the height and width of the generator of Dirac delta
function by calculating values of the generator function at
fixed x=0.13 and varied x from 0 to 1.
In innovation part I calculate integration of the genera-
tor with respect to x in the range a)which contains x and
b) which excludes x and observed that for include x the
generator converges to 1 and for exclude x the generator
converges to 0.

DISCUSSION
There are some different between the theoretical and experimen-
tal part. In theoretical part, the delta function is zero every-
where except fixed value of x. But in the practical observation,
there is some value of generator except fixed value.

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