Lecture 24

Quantum Mechanics IV
30.10.2015
Initial conditions in classical physics
Initial and boundary conditions in quantum physics
contd
contd
 Particle in a box (infinite square well)

V = 0 (particle is completely free)

Particle doesnt exist at all in the region

x > a and x < 0

So, the time independent Schrdinger equation is

 contd
The equation is similar to simple harmonic oscillator. The solution is thus
of the form

where A and B are arbitrary constants fixed by the boundary conditions of

the problem.

Boundary conditions is that the wave function is continuous, i.e.,

(A = 0 trivial solution)
(k = 0 trivial solution)
 contd

So, the energy of such a particle in the box is given by

Inside the well, the solutions are (the phase of A carries no physical
significance, hence is taken as positive)

The time-independent Schrodinger equation has an infinite set of

solutions (one for each positive integer n).
 contd
Plot the ground state, first and second excited states

Important properties of the wave function:

1. They are alternately even and odd, with respect to the center of the well:
1 is even, 2 is odd, 3 is even, and so on.
2. As you go up in energy, each successive state has one more node (zero-
crossing): 1 has none (the end points don't count), 2 has one, 3 has two,
and so on.
3. They are mutually orthogonal, in the sense that
 contd

We can combine orthogonality and normalization into a single statement:

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4. They are complete, in the sense that any other function, f(x), can be
expressed as a linear combination of them:

This represents Fourier series for f(x), and the fact that "any" function can
be expanded in this way is sometimes called Dirichlet's theorem.
The coefficients cn can be evaluated by Fourier's trick, which exploits the
orthonormality of : Multiply both sides of the above equation by ,
and integrate.
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Thus, the stationary states are given by

and the most general solution is

Above equation gives

And using the Fourier's trick, we get

Given the initial wave function (x, 0), we first compute the expansion
coefficients cn, and then obtain (x, t).
Example: A particle in the infinite square well has the initial wave function

for some constant A . Outside the well, of course, = 0. Plot (x, 0). Find (x, t).

Normalize the wave function,

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so that,