PHYS 532 HW 4 Spring 2013

Problem 1 Find the action of a classical trajectory of a harmonic oscillator

between the initial position qi and the final position qf .
Problem 2 Discuss the path integral derivation of the propagator of the 1D
time dependent Hamiltonian
H=

p2
1
+ m 2 (t)x2 .
2m 2

(1)

Derive the Gelfand-Yaglom equation and show that in the case (t) = const.
you get back the result derived in class.
Problem 3 Derive the path integral representation of the quantum partition
function starting directly from the Feynman-Trotter formula.