Harmonic Oscillator

Consider the one dimensional harmonic oscillator in quantum mechanics, i.e. a particle of
1
mass m moving in the potential V ( x)  m 2 x 2 .
2

1. For the ground state, compute the probability to find the particle in the classically
forbidden region. Compare the result with the probability to find the particle
outside the classical region for the next excited states.
Solution:
Consider the classical equation of motion x  A0 sin(t   0 ) associated to the ground
1 1 1
state energy E0   . Then m 2 A02   and the classical amplitude
2 2 2
 2En
is A0  . For the n-th excited state An  .
m m 2
The required probability, in agreement with the principles of quantum mechanics
(probabilistic interpretation) is:

 An  

 ( x) n ( x)dx   ( x) n ( x)dx  2  n ( x) n ( x)dx 

 
Pn  n n
 An An
 An An

 ( x) n ( x)dx 2  ( x) n ( x)dx  1  2  n ( x) n ( x)dx

 
n n
 0 0
1 x
1 1  ( )2 x
The wave function is given by:  n ( x) 
2 x0
e Hn ( ).
2n n !  x0 x0
 x
Ground state (notation: x0   A0 ;   ).
m x0
 (
x 2  1
1 ) 2 2
P0  2  dx  e
 2
d  1   e d  ...
2
x0
e
A0  x0  1  0

For the n-th excited state:

 ( )
x 2 
1 2 x 2
Pn  2  dx   H n2 ( )e  d 
2
x0
H ( ) e
 2 n! x0  2 n! An / x0
n n n
An
x0
An / x0
2
 H n ( )e d

 1
2
2

 2 n n! 0

1
 A1 / x0 3
2 1
 H12 ( )e d  1   4 e d  ... .
2 
For n=1: H1 ( )  2 and P1  1 
2 2

2 0  0

For n=2 H 2 ( )  4 2  2 and

A21 / x0 5
2 1
 H 22 ( )e d  1   4(4  4  1)e d  ...

P2  1 
2 2
4 2

 22 2 0 4  0

Physical interpretation of the inequalities: P0  P1  P2  ...

2. Taking into account the action of the position and momentum operators:
1 h
Qx  x0 (a  a  ) and Px  (a  a  ) (where a  n  (n  1) n  1 and
2 i 2 x0
a n  n n  1 ) determine:
Q  x nn  n Qx n  P x nn  n Px n 

Q  2
x
nn
 n Qx2 n  P  2
x
nn
 n Px2 n 
Discuss the Heisenberg uncertainty relation as a function of n.

3. Coherent states

The coherent states are defined as:

1

2
zn

z
z e 2
n , with z any complex number.
n! n

a) Show that they are eigenfunctions of the annihilation operator: a z  z z .

1 2
 zz'
b) Prove that z z '  e 2

Proof:
z ' n z m
1 1
 ( z  z ' ) z z '
2 2 2 2
 ( z  z' )
z z'  e 2
 n m n!m!
m n e 2

By taking the modulus of this scalar product results directly the above expression.

1

c) Prove that the coherent states form a complete set, i.e. z z d 2 z  I and the
integration is over the complex plane.
Proof:
Introduce z  x  iy  rei and d 2 z  dxdy  r dr d

2
  2
1 1 z n z m 2 1 r nm
 e  d z   re  r dr  n m e
2
z i ( n  m )
z z d 2z  d 
2
n m
  m n n !m !  0 m n n !m ! 0

2 r 2 n 1

n
n
n e r2

n!
dr   n n  I
n
0

d) Show that z  exp( za   z  a) 0

Proof: (Remember that if A, B  c , where A and B are linear operators and c  then
1
 c2
e  ( A B )  e
2
e A e B (Zassenhaus formula).)

Employing the above formula, since a, a   I we can write: 
1 1 2
exp( za   z a) 0  exp( za  ) exp( z*a) exp(  za  ,  z*a ) 0  exp( z ) exp( za  ) exp( z*a) 0 ,
2 2
1 1 1 1
where   za  ,  z*a    z ( z* )  a  , a    zz *   | z |2 .
2 2 2 2
( za  )n
With the ground state definition, by expanding the operator exp( za  )   and
n n!
 n
( z a) * n
(a )
exp( z*a)   , taking into account that n  0 and that a 0  0 , it
n n! n!
1 2
 z zn
results exp( za   z a) 0  e 2  |n .
n n!