ALL INDIA PHYSICS FORUM S.

ALL INDIA PHYSICS FORUM

Practice Set - Quantum Mechanics
Code: Batch-2021-QSTN-7
Batch:IIT JAM, JEST-2021
-by S.S

"I’m not good at math, but I do know that the universe is formed with mathematical principles whether I

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understand them or not, and I am going to let that guide me" -B. DYLAN

1. Linear Independance Now apply h j j from left of the above equa-

Suppose you have a set of n vectors (or in con- tion to calculate the inner product h j j i.
text of Quantum Mechanics abstract state vec- Use the orthonormality condition and show
tor or abstract wavefunctions) designated by that the coefficients are given by
j 1 i ; j 2 i ; j 3 i ; :::::; j n i. Now we say that these
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vectors are linearly independent iff i=1 ai j i i =
n
aj = h j i
j (3)
0
0 only for the all values of ai s are zero.
IP (a) You have calculated the wave functions for
"particle in a box" and "particle in har-
monic oscillator potential". Can you say
that the wave functions were linearly inde-
pendent or not?
(b) Suppose we have the dual elements of the
2. Cauchy-Schwarz Inequality
Before going into the inequality, let me define
the "norm" of a state vector j ias jj jj = h j i.
Now let and  be two state vectors. Then CS
inequality is given by

jj jj jjjj  j h ji j
p

(4)
given set as h 1 j ; h 2 j ; h 3 j ; :::::; h n j. Then, p
we say that the states are normalized if the
or; h j i hji  j hj i j (5)

inner product is 1 i.e h i j i i = 1 for any ar- or; h j i hji  j hj i j2 (6)
bitrary state j i i. Similarly if any if inner
product of two different states is zero i.e
h i j j i = 0 if i 6= j , then we say that they are (a) You have already encountered this inequal-
mutually orthogonal states. Keeping these ity in your higher secondary classes. If ~a
in minds we can give the condition of or- and ~b be two usual three-dimensional vector
thonormality as then we know j~ajj~bj  j~a:~bj. This is the CS
h j i=
i j ij (1) inequality in terms of usual vectors. Prove
this inequality using usual vector technique
A
Show that for the wavefunctions of "parti- as you did in higher secondary.
cle in a box" the orthonormality condition
(b) Now let us prove the inequality for abstract
holds.
vectors. To prove this we have to construct
(c) Completeness relation a new vector in terms of the given two vec-
If any arbitrary state or the wave function tors as
can be expressed with the help of the set of
given states along with appropriate choice j i  j i hhjjii ji = j i hjjjjj2i ji (7)
of the coefficients, we say that the set is a
complete set.
Now, using the fact hj i = h ji show that
Suppose an arbitrary state is j i and the
the dual vector will be
given set of state vectors is a complete set,
then we can write
h j = h j hjjjjj2i hj (8)
X
n

j i= ai j i i (2)
i=1 (c) Now, calculate the inner product h j i and

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S.S ALL INDIA PHYSICS FORUM

show that (b) For "particle in a box" and "particle in a

jj jj2 = h j i (9)
harmonic oscillator" can you have scatter-
ing states?
=h j i
h ji hj i hj i h ji
jjjj2 jjjj2 (c) Consider a particle in a potential given by
j hj i j hji
2 (
+
jjjj4 (10)
V (x) =
V0 for a=2  x  a=2 (12)
Now, using the fact that hj i is in general
0 otherwise
a complex number, check that the above re-
Suppose the energy of the particle is E . En-
lation reduced to

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ergy satisfies the relation 0 > E > V0 . Cer-
jj jj2 = jj jj2 j hjjj jji2 j
2
(11) tainly energy is negative here. So assume
the form of the energy E = jE j. Which
(d) Let us have the axiom h j i  0. Can kind of state is possible here? Calculate the
you guess the motivation behind the axiom? wavefunction of the particle and draw the
(you can think it of in terms of usual three- wavefunction.
dimensional vector.) Using this axiom prove
(d) Now consider the potential
the CS inequality.
(
(e) Consider a special case where the two state 0 for a=2  x  a=2
vectors satisfy the relation j i = c ji, where V (x) = (13)
V0 otherwise
c is a complex number. For this special
IP case what can you conclude about the CS
inequality? (Is this still an inequality?)
3. Bound State and Scattering state
(a) In context of Quantum Mechanics, how do
you define "Bound state" and "Scattering
For this potential what should be the energy
of the particle to get the bound state. For
bound state calculate the wave function and
draw it.
(e) Is there any difference in the two solutions
state"? as achieved above?
A