TIc frcc ariiclc

As a sccond alicaiion of iIc ScIrdingcr cquaiion, wc invcsiigaic iIc ossi-

llc cncrgics of a frcc ariiclc; iIai is, a ariiclc suljcci io no forccs and com
lcicly unconfincd (siill in onc dimcnsion, of coursc}. TIc oicniial cncrgy of
a frcc ariiclc is consiani and can lc cIoscn io lc zcro. WiiI iIis cIoicc, wc
will sIow iIai iIc cncrgy of iIc ariiclc can Iavc any osiiivc valuc, .
TIai is, iIc cncrgy of a frcc ariiclc is noi quaniizcd, and iis allowcd valucs arc
iIc samc as iIosc of a classical frcc ariiclc.
To rovc iIcsc asscriions, wc musi wriic down iIc ScIrdingcr cquaiion
and find iIosc E for wIicI ii Ias accciallc soluiions. WiiI &, iIc
ScIrdingcr cquaiion is
() = -(
2mL

2
)() 7.71
TIis is iIc samc cquaiion iIai wc solvcd for a ariiclc in a rigid lo.
Howcvcr, iIcrc is an imoriani diffcrcncc sincc iIc frcc ariiclc can lc
anywIcrc in iIc rangc
- < <
TIus wc musi lool for soluiions of (7.71} for all raiIcr iIan jusi
iIosc lciwccn 0 and a
If wc considcr firsi iIc ossililiiy of siaics wiiI E 6 0, iIc cocfficicni
-
2
in froni of in (7.71} is osiiivc and wc can wriic (7.71} as
() = o
2
()
WIcrc o = -
2
Jusi as wiiI iIc rigid lo, iIis cquaiion Ias iIc solu iions
ux

and
-ux
or any comlinaiion of loiI.
() =
ux
+
-ux
7.72
But in the present case we can immediately see that none of these solutions can possibly be physically
acceptable.The point is that (7.72) is the solution in the whole range - < < Now, as - the
exponential
ux
grows without limit or "blows up and it is not physically reasonable to have a wave
function () that grows without limit as we move farther from the origin.