Quantum Theory I (8.

321) Fall 2019

Assignment 1
Sept. 4, 2019 Due Friday, Sept. 13, 2019

• Please remember to put your name at the top of your paper.

Readings:

• Sakurai Chap. 1

Note

• This problem set is intended to help you review undergraduate level quantum
mechanics.
• In all psets, when encountering integrals you do not need to give intermediate
steps of performing the integrations. It is enough to quote the results. But
please quote the results clearly, so the grader can understand your work.

Problem Set 1

1. Estimating Energies (15 points)

A particle of mass m moves in the one dimensional potential

V (x) = −V0 sech2 (x/a) . (1)

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(a) Use the Bohr-Sommerfeld quantization condition, pdx = nh to estimate
the energy of the nth excited state in this potential.
(b) Again, use the B-S condition to estimate the total number of bound states
in this potential.
(c) Use the variational principle to find an upper bound on the energy of the
ground state in this potential. Please use at most a one-parameter ansatz,
so you don’t work too hard.

2. Scattering in One-Dimension (20 points)

Consider the Schrödinger equation on the half-line, x ≥ 0, with the boundary
condition, ψ(0) = 0, with a potential V (x) = vδ(x − a), a > 0, where δ(x) is
Dirac’s δ-function.

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 (a) What are the conditions on the Schrödinger wave function and its deriva-
tive at x = a?
(b) Find the solution to the Schrödinger equation with energy E = ~2 k 2 /2m
for all x ≥ 0.
(c) Interpret your solution as the superposition of an incoming wave, e−ikx ,
and a phase-shifted outgoing wave, eikx+iδ(k) . What is δ(k)? Why is the
amplitude of the outgoing wave the same as the incoming wave?
(d) Consider E < 0, which means k-imaginary (you can take k = iκ). Under
what conditions is there a bound state in this potential? What is its
binding energy, Eb ? Although there is no scattering for negative E, the
function δ(k) that you computed in part (c) is still defined. What happens
to eiδ(k) when E approaches Eb ?

3. Bosons and Fermions in a Cavity (20 points)

A particle moves freely inside a hard-walled circular cavity of radius R in two
dimensions.

(a) What are the energies and angular momenta of the first three single particle
levels? (Yes, you need to use Bessel functions to solve this problem.)
(b) Two fermions (e.g. electrons) are put into the cavity. What are the energies
and degeneracies of the first three energy levels? You’ll need to remember
the exclusion principle and compare energies carefully.

4. A Strange Wavefunction (15 points)

Someone hands you a wavefunction describing a particle in one dimension, on
the half line x ≥ 0:
−x
ψ(x) = Cxe−e
The particle’s mass such that ~2 /2m = 1.

(a) Of what Hamiltonian is this an eigenstate. In particular, what is the

potential? And what is the energy?
(b) Is this state normalizable? Comment.
(c) Suppose that this wavefunction were generalized to the whole line, −∞ <
x < ∞ as
−|x|
ψ(x) = |x|e−e
What, now, is the Hamiltonian? the energy?

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5. Pauli Matrices (30 points)
We’ll use the conventional definition of the Pauli matrices in 8.321:
     
0 1 0 −i 1 0
σ1 = , σ2 = , σ3 = (2)
1 0 i 0 0 −1

(a) Show that the {σn } satisfy [σk , σl ] = 2iklm σm , where klm is the totally
antisymmetric Levi-Civita symbol.
(b) Show Tr(σi σj ) = 2δij
(c) Show σi σj = δij + iijk σk , and use it to prove

~a · ~σ ~b · ~σ = ~a · ~b + i~σ · ~a × ~b.

where ~a · ~σ is a shorthand for 3n=1 an σn

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(d) Prove that the most general Hermitian 2 × 2 matrix can be written

M = a0 I + ~a · ~σ (3)

What is the condition on the {an }?

(e) Prove that the most general unitary 2 × 2 matrix, U , can also be written
in the form of eq. (3),
U = b0 I + ~b · ~σ (4)
with a condition on the {bn }. What is it?
(f) The exponential of i times a Hermitian matrix is unitary. Consider U =
eiM , where M is defined in eq. (3) then what are the coefficients, {bn } in
U?
[By the way,
P∞a function of a matrix can be defined by the power series,
thus e ≡ k=0 M k /k!]
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