DIRECT DERIVATION OF SCHRDINGER EQUATION FROM HAMILTON-

JACOBI EQUATION USING UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE

PRANAB RUDRA SARMA
Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre, Department of Atomic Energy
Block-AF, Bidhannagar, Kolkata-700064, India
E-mail: p.rudra.sarma@gmail.com
Received November 1, 2010
In deriving Schrdingers wave equation the momentum and energy of a particle
are taken to be operators acting on a wave function. Here we show that the wave
equation can be directly derived from the classical Hamilton-Jacobi equation, if a basic
uncertainty is assumed to be present in the momentum. In this derivation one does not
have to assume the momentum and energy to be operators.
PACS numbers: 03.65.-w
1. INTRODUCTION
The similarity between the Schrdinger equation and the Hamilton-Jacobi
(H-J) equation of classical mechanics is very apparent and well known [1-8]. The
Hamilton-Jacobi equation in one dimension for a particle of mass m and
momentum p can be written as

2
2
1
( , ) ( , )
2 2
p S S
V x t V x t
t m m x
| |
= + = +
|

\ .
(1)
where SS(x,t) is the generating function. Here the momentum p of the particle has
been, by definition, replaced by

S
p
x

(2)
One can attempt to derive Schrdinger equation from H-J equation by substituting

0
( , ) exp( / ) x t iS = or
( )
0
ln ln S i = (3)
where
0
is a constant. The substitution yields
Rom. Journ. Phys., Vol. 56, Nos. 910, P. 10531056, Bucharest, 2011
Pranab Rudra Sarma 2 1054

1 S
p i
x x

= =

(4)
and

1 S
i
t t

=

(5)
Substituting Eqs.(4) and (5) in equation (1) one gets

2
2
1
( , )
2
i V x t
t m x
| |
= +
|

\ .

(6)
This differs from the Schrdinger equation because of the presence of the
(/x)
2
/ term in place of the term
2
/x
2
. For obtaining a second order
equation instead of a second degree equation, one can proceed as follows. One can
write Eq.(4) in the form
p ih
x

(7)
and proclaim p as an operator
p i
x

(8)
Substitution of this in Eq.(1) gives the fundamental Schrdinger equation.
We wish to say that one feels uncomfortable with this declaration of p as an
operator. As one goes from the classical description to the quantum mechanical
description, one has to jump from momentum function to momentum operator. The
transition is abrupt. In this work we have made an attempt to derive Schrdinger
equation without invoking the concept of operators. Instead, we have used the
concept of uncertainty principle for deriving the equation.
2. H-J EQUATION MODIFIED BY UNCERTAINTY IN MOMENTUM
We assume that there is a basic uncertainty in the momentum in Eq.(1). If the
root-mean square (RMS) uncertainty in p is p, then the average value of
momentum-square is

2
2 2 2 2
( ) ( ) p p p p p = + = + (9)
Therefore, for a particle with average momentum p, the average kinetic energy is
not p
2
/2m but [p
2
+(p)
2
]/2m because of the uncertainty. The term (p)
2
is related to
the uncertainty (x)
2
in x by the uncertainty principle. (p)
2
can be written as
3 Direct derivation of Schrdinger equation 1055

2
( )
p
p p x
x

(10)
Now, we can estimate p/x from p/x and assume that (p/x)
2
can be replaced
by (p/x) (p/x)
*
. From Eq.(4) we have

2
2
2 2
1 1 1 p
i i
x x x x x
(
| | | |
= = (
| |

\ . \ . (

(11)
So we write

2
2
2 2
1 1 p
x x x
| |
=
|

\ .
(12)
We have to find an expression for p.x The minimum value of p.x is
considered to be /2. The average value of this should be higher. Considering a
Gaussian error function, the uncertainties can be shown to be related by [9]
. p x = (13)
Using Eqs.(10), (12) and (13), the expression for the average value of the square of
the momentum becomes

2 2
2 2
2 2 2 2
2 2 2 2
1 1 1 1
( ) p p
x x x x
| |
| | | |
+ = + = |
| |
|

\ . \ .
\ .
(14)
Replacing p
2
by
2
p i.e., by p
2
+(p)
2
in the H-J equation, and using Eq.(14) we
get the Schrdinger equation

2 2
2
( , )
2
i V x t
t m x

= +

(15)
3. DISCUSSIONS
In deriving the Schrdinger equation in the fashion described above, we did
not have to invoke the notion that the momentum p is an operator. The momentum
p is now simply a function of x and t as given by Eq.(4). The introduction of
uncertainty in the momentum has been of use in the derivation.
This derivation yields the same old Schrdinger equation, but it provides a
fresh insight into the way of obtaining the wave equation. The wave equation in
this derivation comes as a consequence of the existence of uncertainty in
momentum. The equivalence between the classical mechanics and quantum
Pranab Rudra Sarma 4 1056
mechanics can be easily visualized here. When the momentum is large, p is very
small compared to the average momentum, and so the wave equation falls back to
the classical H-J equation. This can also be seen more rigorously from the
following. Using Eq.(4) one gets

i S
x x
| |
=
|

\ .

(16)
So

2 2
2 2 2
2 2 2 2 2
1 1 S i S S S
i
x x x x x
(
| | | | | |
= + = (
| | |

\ . \ . \ . (

(17)
For 0, the second term of Eq.(16) becomes negligible compared to the first.
So we get

2 2 2
2
2 2
1 1 1 S i S
x x x x
| | | | | |
= =
| | |

\ . \ . \ .

(18)
Therefore we get back H-J equation (6) from Schrdinger equation (15) for 0.
The classical H-J route to arrive at the Schrdinger equation has been
attempted by others also [10].

However, in this derivation one needs to use the
continuity equation also in addition to the H-J equation. Further, a quantum
mechanical potential term also crops in there. In the present formulation this
problem is not encountered.
Acknowledgement. The author acknowledges the inspirations from Dr. A.K. Chaudhuri. He is
grateful to Dr. Santanu Pal for his encouragement to teach classical mechanics to Ph.D. students of
Homi Bhabha National Institute.
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