FEYNMAN-HELLMANN THEOREM AND THE HARMONIC

OSCILLATOR

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References: Griffiths, David J. (2005), Introduction to Quantum Mechan-
ics, 2nd Edition; Pearson Education - Problem 6.32.
Post date: 30 Aug 2013.
A useful theorem known as the Feynman-Hellmann theorem can be de-
rived as follows. Suppose that the hamiltonian of a quantum system is a
function of some parameter λ. Then we can write a Taylor series:

∂H
H (λ + ∆λ) = H (λ) + ∆λ + . . . (1)
∂λ
If the second term is small, we can treat it as a perturbation on H (λ) so
if the wave function is non-degenerate, or a ’good’ linear combination of
degenerate states, we have

En1 = En0 + ∆E (2)

 
 ∂H 
= hψn  ∆λ ψn i (3)
∂λ 
 
En0 + ∆E  ∂H 
= hψn   ψn i (4)
∆λ ∂λ 
Taking the limit as ∆λ → 0 we get
 
∂E  ∂H 
= hψn 
  ψn i (5)
∂λ ∂λ 
The parameter λ can be any quantity that appears in the hamiltonian, even
physical constants such as h̄. As an example, we can look again at the 1-d
harmonic oscillator:

h̄2 d2 mω 2 2
H =− 2
+ x (6)
 2m dx 2
1
En = n + h̄ω (7)
2
First, we take λ = ω:
1
 FEYNMAN-HELLMANN THEOREM AND THE HARMONIC OSCILLATOR 2

 
∂En  ∂H 
= hψn   ψn i (8)
∂ω ∂ω 
= hψn mωx2  ψn i
 
(9)
2
= hV i (10)
ω
From the energy expression, we have
 
∂En 1
= n+ h̄ (11)
∂ω 2
Putting them together we get
 
1 1 En
hV i = n+ h̄ω = (12)
2 2 2
This agrees with the virial theorem result hT i = hV i = En /2.
Second, we’ll try λ = h̄:

 
∂En  ∂H 
= hψn   ψn i (13)
∂ h̄ ∂ h̄ 
 h̄ d2 
 
= − hψn    ψn i (14)
m dx2 
2
= hT i (15)
h̄
From the energy expression, we have
 
∂En 1
= n+ ω (16)
∂ h̄ 2
Putting them together we get
 
1 1 En
hT i = n+ h̄ω = (17)
2 2 2

which again agrees with the virial theorem.

Finally, we’ll try λ = m:
 FEYNMAN-HELLMANN THEOREM AND THE HARMONIC OSCILLATOR 3

 
∂En  ∂H 
= hψn   ψn i (18)
∂ h̄ ∂ h̄ 
h̄2
 2 
d  ω2  2
= hψ n
  ψ n i + hψ n
x  ψn i (19)
2m2  dx2  2
1 1
=− hT i + hV i (20)
m m
From the energy expression, we have
∂En
=0 (21)
∂m
which leads to hT i = hV i, again in agreement with the virial theorem.
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