Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Chapter 8
By | z i we denote a normalized eigenstate of the operator N̂ = ↠â. We assume that such states
are orthogonal, since operator N̂ is hermitian. So we have
So we see that z is equal to a norm of a certain vector, and as such is real and nonnegative.
Lemma 8.3 The ket â | z i is an eigenstate of the operator N̂ = ↠â, and it belongs to an
eigenvalue (z − 1), that is
N̂ â | z i = (z − 1) â | z i. (8.6)
N̂ â | z i = ↠â â | z i. (8.7)
Due to commutation relation (8.4a) we can write â † â â = â ↠â − â, and hence
N̂ â | z i = â (↠â − 1) | z i = â z | z i − â | z i = (z − 1) â | z i. (8.8)
Lemma 8.4 The ket ↠| z i is an eigenstate of the operator N̂ = ↠â, and it belongs to an
eigenvalue (z + 1), that is
N̂ ↠| z i = (z + 1) â | z i. (8.9)
Proof. The proof is analogous to that of the previous lemma, only we use commutation relation
(8.4b) instead of (8.4a).
Proof. The first norm follows automatically from the proof of the first lemma, see relation
(8.3). The second relation is proved similarly. We have
†
||↠| z i||2 = ↠| z i ↠| z i = h z | â ↠| z i. (8.11)
Proof. The proof follows by mathematical induction. The case n = 1 was already shown in
(8.6). In the proof essential role is played by the relation N̂ â = N̂ â − â, which follows from
(8.4a). We easily have
Proof. From the previous lemma it follows that â n | z i is an eigenvector of the operator N̂ and
it belongs to the eigenvalue (z − n). Lemma (8.1) states that eigenvalues of N̂ are nonnegative.
For n sufficiently large we would have (z − n) < 0. This contradicts lemma (8.1). Hence, there
must exist an integer n such that relations (8.16) are satisfied. This completes the proof.
Theorem 8.1 The eigenvalues z of the operator N̂ defined in Eq.(8.2) are nonnegative integers.
Moreover, there exists such a normalized eigenvector | 0 i of N̂ that
â | 0 i = 0 (8.17)
â | z − n i = 0, (8.19)
|| â | z − n i || = 0. (8.20)
This implies that z = n. Hence the eigenvalues z of the operator N̂ = ↠â are nonnegative
integers. We also conclude that there exists a normalized vector | 0 i for which eq.(8.16) is
satisfied for n = 0.
Theorem 8.2 According to the previous theorem, we denote by | n i the normalized eigenstate
of the operator N̂ belonging to the eigenvalue n – nonnegative integer. Then, the vectors
â | n i ↠| n i
|n − 1i = √ , and |n + 1i = √ , (8.22)
n n+1
are the eigenstates of N̂ . These relations enable us to construct all the eigenstates of operator
N̂ , provided one of the states | n i is given.
Proof. In lemma (8.3) we have shown that the vector â | n i is an eigenstate of N̂ belonging
to the eigenvalue (n − 1). This means (according to the introduced notation), that â | n i is
proportional to the vector | n − 1 i. It remains to find the coefficient of proportionality. From
√
lemma (8.5) we have the norm || â | n i || = n . Thus the vector
â | n i â | n i
= √ , (8.23)
|| â | n i || n
is a normalized eigenvector of N̂ with eigenvalue (n − 1). Hence it is equal to | n − 1 i. So the
first part of the theorem is proved. The second part can be shown in the same manner.
Let us note that relations (8.22) can be rewritten as
√
â | n i = n |n − 1i (8.24a)
†
√
â | n i = n + 1 |n + 1i (8.24b)
The number states | n i are the eigenstates of the number operator N̂ = ↠â, that is
â | 0 i = 0. (8.36)
h m | n i = δmn . (8.37)
Annihilation and creation are sometimes called ladder operators. This follows from the properties
of lowering and raising the number of the state
√
â | n i = n | n − 1 i, (8.38a)
†
√
â | n i = n + 1 | n + 1 i. (8.38b)
Let us note that these relations are fully consistent with the previous ones. Relation (8.38a)
agrees with the definition (8.36) of the vacuum state. Moreover, we have
√ √
↠â | n i = ↠n | n − 1 i = n ↠| n − 1 i
√ p
= n (n − 1) + 1 | n i = n | n i, (8.39)
as it should be, when compared to definition (8.35). Matrix elements of the annihilation and
creation operators follow immediately from Eqs.(8.38)and from orthonormality requirement. We
have
√ √
h m | â | n i = n h m | n − 1 i = n δm,n−1 , (8.40a)
†
√ √
h m | â | n i = n + 1 h m | n + 1 i = n + 1 δm,n+1 . (8.40b)
• Construct annihilation and creation operators â and â † , check their commutation relation
(to reproduce the canonical one (8.34)).
(↠)n
|ni = √ | 0 i. (8.41)
n!
p̂2 1
Ĥ = + mω 2 x̂2 , (8.42)
2m 2
and the momentum and position operators satisfy the canonical commutation relation
h i
x̂, p̂ = i~. (8.43)
Proof. The facts that these operators are nonhermitian and dimensionless are evident. We
show the commutation relation.
h i 1 h i
b̂, b̂† = mω x̂ + ip̂, mω x̂ − ip̂
2mω~
1 n h i h i h i h io
= m2 ω 2 x̂, x̂ − imω x̂, p̂ + imω p̂, x̂ + p̂, p̂
2mω~
imω n h i h io i
= − x̂, p̂ + p̂, x̂ = { − i~ + (−i~) } = 1. (8.47)
2mω~ 2~
Since operators b̂ and b̂† satisfy commutation relation typical for annihilation and creation
operators, they posses all the necessary properties and the identification made in the theorem
is fully justified and correct.
Relations (8.45) can easily be inverted, and we can express the position and momentum
operators via annihilation and creation ones
r
~
x̂ = b̂ + b̂† , (8.48a)
2mω
r
mω~
p̂ = −i b̂ − b̂† , (8.48b)
2
Having expressions (8.48) we can now express the Hamiltonian of the oscillator in terms of the
annihilation and creation operators. We obtain
2 2
" r # "r #
1 mω~ † 1 2 ~ †
Ĥ = −i b̂ − b̂ + mω b̂ + b̂
2m 2 2 2mω
~ω 2 ~ω 2
= − b̂ − b̂† + b̂ + b̂†
4 4
~ω ~ω
= − b̂b̂ − b̂b̂ − b̂ b̂ + b̂† b̂†
† †
+ b̂b̂ + b̂b̂† + b̂† b̂ + b̂† b̂†
4 4
~ω †
= b̂ b̂ + b̂† b̂ (8.49)
2
Using the commutation relation (8.46) we have b̂ b̂† = 1 + b̂† b̂, thus from the above we finally get
~ω † 1 1
Ĥ = 2 b̂ b̂ + 1 = ~ω b̂† b̂ + = ~ω N̂ + (8.50)
2 2 2
Theorem 8.4 Energy eigenstates of the quantum-mechanical harmonic oscillator are the num-
ber states | n i – the eigenstates of the number operator N̂ = b̂† b̂. The energy eigenvalues are
1
En = ~ω n + . (8.51)
2
Proof. The proof follows immediately from relation (8.50) and from the properties of the
number operator, as discussed in the previous section.
λx2
ϕ0 (x) = Ao exp − , (8.55)
2