Position Space and Momentum Space

http://quantummechanics.ucsd.edu/ph130a/130_notes/node82.html

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Position Space and Momentum Space

We can represent a state with either the other. We have the symmetric Fourier Transform. or with . We can (Fourier) transform from one to

When we change variable from

to

, we get the Fourier Transforms in terms of

and

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Position Space and Momentum Space

http://quantummechanics.ucsd.edu/ph130a/130_notes/node82.html

These formulas are worth a little study. If we define

to be the state with definite momentum

, (in position space) our formula for it is

Similarly, the state (in momentum space) with definite position

is

These states cannot be normalized to 1 but they do have a normalization convention which is satisfied due to the constant shown. Our Fourier Transform can now be read to say that we add up states of definite momentum to get

and we add up states of definite position to get

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Position Space and Momentum Space

http://quantummechanics.ucsd.edu/ph130a/130_notes/node82.html

There is a more abstract way to write these states. Using the notation of Dirac, the state with definite momentum , might be written as

and the state with definite position

might be written

The arbitrary state represented by either

or

, might be written simple as

The actual wave function

would be written as

This gives us the amplitude to be at

for any value of

We will find that there are other ways to represent Quantum states. This was a preview. We will spend more time on Dirac Bra-ket notation later.

Next: Time Development of a Up: Wave Packets Previous: The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle Contents Jim Branson 2012-04-09

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