Homework 10 Solutions

AS.171.303: Quantum Mechanics I

Due: Monday, December 9
1. (a) Taking the Hermitian conjugate of our original expression, we nd

|n

|n

= n| a =

c
+
|n + 1

= n + 1|c

+
(b) We know that
n|

H|n = n|

a +
1
2

|n =

n +
1
2

We can use the commutator of a and

a

to rewrite this expression as

n|

a a

[ a, a

]+
1
2

|n = n|

a a

1+
1
2

|n =

|c
+
|
2

1
2

n+
1
2

We can then solve this expression to nd

|c
+
|
2
= n + 1
There is an arbitrary overall phase in c
+
, but we can choose the phase such that
c
+
is real and positive, giving us
c
+
=

n + 1
(c) Our approach is basically the same as part (b), except we dont need to use the
commutator. Based on our previous work, we have
n| a

a|n = |c

|
2
= n
Again, we can choose the arbitrary phase such that c

is real and positive, giving

us
c

n
1
2. (a) This will be easier if we express x and p in terms of the raising/lowering operators,
x =

2m
( a + a

)
p = i

m
2
( a a

)
We can then nd the expectation values
x =

2m
n|( a + a

)|n = 0
p = i

m
2
n|( a a

)|n = 0
(b) First we can nd the expectation values
x
2
=

2m
n|( a + a

)
2
|n =

2m
n|( a
2
+ a
2
+ a a

+ a

a)|n =

2m
(2n + 1)
p
2
=
m
2
n|( a a

)
2
|n =
m
2
n|( a
2
+ a
2
a a

a)|n =
m
2
(2n + 1)
We can then nd the uncertainties
x =

x
2
x
2
=

x
2
=

n +
1
2

p =

p
2
p
2
=

p
2
=

n +
1
2

3. (a) Using our results from Homework 7, we know the momentum-space representa-
tions of x and p,
x i

p
p p
We can then nd the momentum-space representation of the Hamiltonian,

H
p
2
2m

1
2
m
2

2

2
p
2
2
(b) Since the lowering operator annihilates the ground state, we have
p| a|0 = 0
We can then express a in terms of x and p,
p|

m
2

x +
i
m
p

|0 = 0
Rearranging this expression, we nd
p| x|0 = i

p
p|0 =
i
m
p| p|0 =
ip
m
p|0
This is just a rst order dierential equation,

p
p|0 =
p
m
p|0
which has the solution
p|0 = Ae
p
2
/2m
We can easily normalize this Gaussian wavefunction, giving us

0
(p) = p|0 =

1
m

1/4
e
p
2
/2m
Applying our Hamiltonian from part (a) to this state, we nd
p|

H|0 =

1
m

1/4

p
2
2m

1
2
m
2

2

2
p
2

e
p
2
/2m
=
1
2

1
m

1/4
e
p
2
/2m
=
1
2
p|0
So the energy of the ground state is E
0
=
1
2
, just as it should be.
4. (a) We can check the normalization of this state by calculating
| = e

m=0

n=0

m+n
n!
m|n = e

m=0

n=0

m+n
n!

mn
= e

n=0

2
n!
= e

2
e

2
= 1
So our state is properly normalized. Now we can act with a on this coherent state,
3
a| = e

2
/2

n=0

n!
a|n = e

2
/2

n=1

n!

n|n 1
= e

2
/2

n=1

n1

(n 1)!
|n 1 = e

2
/2

=0

!
|n

= |
So the coherent state is an eigenstate of the lowering operator a, with eigenvalue
.
(b) Using the raising/lowering expressions for our operators, we have
x =

2m
|( a + a

)| =

2
2
m
p = i

m
2
|( a a

)| = 0
where we used the relationship
| a| = | a

| =
For the energy expectation value, we have
E = |

a +
1
2

| =

2
+
1
2

(c) First, we can nd the expectation values

x
2
=

2m
|( a
2
+ a
2
+ a a

+ a

a)| =

2m
(4
2
+ 1)
p
2
=
m
2
|( a
2
+ a
2
a a

a)| =
m
2
We can then use these to nd the uncertainties
x =

x
2
x
2
=

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

2m
p =

p
2
p
2
=

m
2
(d) We can nd |(t) simply by acting with the time-evolution operator

U,
4
|(t) =

U| = e

2
/2

n=0

n!
e
i

Ht/
|n = e

2
/2

n=0

n!
e
it(n+1/2)
|n
= e
it/2
e

2
/2

n=0
(e
it
)
n

n!
|n = e
it/2
e
|(t)|
2
/2

n=0
(t)
n

n!
|n
= e
it/2
|(t)
So we see that |(t) is a coherent state, along with an irrelevant phase e
it/2
,
with a time-dependent a eigenvalue (t) e
it
.
5. (a) We can rewrite the Hamiltonian by completing the square, nding

=
p
2
2m
+
1
2
m
2

x
2

2q
m
2
x +

2
q
2

2
m
2

2
q
2

2
2m
2
=
p
2
2m
+
1
2
m
2

x
q
m
2

2
q
2

2
2m
2
=
p
2
2m
+
1
2
m
2
(x x
0
)
2
E
This Hamiltonian then looks like a harmonic oscillator centered about x
0

q
m
2
,
along with the irrelevant downward shift in energy E.
(b) The energy of a harmonic oscillator doesnt depend on its location, so the ground
state energy would still be E

0
=
1
2
. However, we also have the E term to
take into account. This constant term simply shifts all energy levels downward
by a set amount, so the resulting ground state energy is
E

0
=
1
2


2
q
2

2
2m
2
= E
0
E
where E
0
is the ground state energy of a harmonic oscillator without the electric
eld. The ground state energy of this perturbed harmonic oscillator is therefore
less than that of an isolated harmonic oscillator.
(c) The eigenstates of the Hamiltonian dont care about the extra constant term, so
we only need to nd the eigenstates of the reduced Hamiltonian

red
=
p
2
2m
+
1
2
m
2
(x x
0
)
2
These eigenstates should look the same as those of a normal harmonic oscillator,
just shifted to the right by a constant amount x
0
. We can then just apply the
translation operator

T(x
0
) to our original ground state |0 to nd the new ground
state |0

,
|0

=

T(x
0
)|0 = e
i px
0
/
|0
5
where the value of x
0
just comes from the Hamiltonian,
x
0
=
q
m
2
The full form of the ground state is therefore
|0

= e
i pq/m
2

|0
(d) The only piece that depends on is the exponential out front, so we can expand
that out
e
i pq/m
2

I
iq
m
2

p =

I
q

2m
3

( a a

)
Acting with this operator on the original ground state, we nd
|0

I
q

2m
3

( a a

|0 = |0 +
q

2m
3

|1
So we see that our new ground state can be approximated as a linear combination
of the original ground and rst excited states.
Turning to the expectation values, we have
x = 0|e
i px
0
/
xe
i px
0
/
|0 0|(

I +
ix
0

p) x(

I
ix
0

p)|0
0|

x +
iq
m
2

( p x x p)

|0 =
q
m
2
= x
0
p = 0|e
i px
0
/
pe
i px
0
/
|0 0|(

I +
ix
0

p) p(

I
ix
0

p)|0
0|

p +
iq
m
2

( p
2
p
2
)

|0 = 0
Next we can consider
x
2
= 0|e
i px
0
/
x
2
e
i px
0
/
|0 0|(

I +
ix
0

p) x
2
(

I
ix
0

p)|0
0|

x
2
+
iq
m
2

( p x
2
x
2
p)

|0 =

2m
p
2
= 0|e
i px
0
/
p
2
e
i px
0
/
|0 0|(

I +
ix
0

p) p
2
(

I
ix
0

p)|0
0|

p
2
+
iq
m
2

( p
3
p
3
)

|0 =
m
2
We can then nd the uncertainties,
6
x

2m
p

m
2
So we see that, to rst order in , this system just seems like a harmonic oscillator
which has moved to the right by x
0
.
7