Lecture on

Quantum Algebra and Schrödinger Equation

 Observables and Operators
 Basic Quantum Mechanical Operators
 Properties of Operators
 Commutation Relations
 Commutator
 The Eigenvalue Equation
 The Schrödinger Equation

I thus arrived at the overall concept which guided my studies: for both
matter and radiations, light in particular, it is necessary to introduce the
corpuscle concept and the wave concept at the same time.

- Louis de Broglie, 1929

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Observables and Operators

 Any feature of a system which we may in principle be
able to measure is called OBSERVABLES. For
example
Electron Charge
Electron Position
Electron Momentum
Electron Energy

 However, in quantum mechanics each observable is

represented mathematically by OPERATOR.
 Operator means a quantity which operates on some
function to produce another function.

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 Differential Operators
f  
 f  Operator
x x x
Let  represents the operator of partial differentiation with respect to x then

f 
ˆ
Af   f  f
x x


Â  x  
x

Basic Quantum Mechanical Operators

 There are three basic types of operators: position, momentum and
energy.
 Position Operator: As in classical mechanics it is represented
just by x. The operator corresponding to position is ordinary
multiplication by x.
Aˆ  x
Aˆ f  x   x f  x 
 Momentum Operator: In classical mechanics the particle
momentum is p  mv , but in quantum mechanics this is
represented by the operator p̂ which has the following value

p̂   i
x

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 x,  x   x  x 

  x 
pˆ  x    i   i    x 
x
 Energy Operator: The motion of a particle involves the time
variable t as well as the position variable x. The quantum mechanical
operator corresponding to the total energy E is Ê which has the value

Ê  i
t
  t 
Eˆ  t   i
t

Properties of Operators
 Let us operate with the general operator  on two functions αu(x)
and βv(x) where α and β are constants and u(x) and v(x) are only
functions of x:

 This means that all quantum mechanical operators have to be

LINEAR. They also have the following properties:

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Commutation Relation

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Commutator
The commutator of two operators  and B̂ can be written as:

 Aˆ , Bˆ   AB
ˆ ˆ  BA
ˆˆ
 

 x, pˆ   xpˆ  px
ˆ  i
and
 pˆ , x   px
ˆ  xpˆ   i 
In general we find that two quantum mechanical operators do not
commute, so we have
 Aˆ , Bˆ   0
 
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The Eigenvalue Equation
 An Operator  is a mathematical entity which, for
example, acting on any wavefunction of x turns it
into another function of x.
A simple example is the operation of 
differentiation  being any function of
x
 In general we may write for our present purpose

  
Aˆ  Aˆ  x 
 x 

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Application of an Operator
  
 Operator: Aˆ  Aˆ  x 
 x 
     x 
Aˆ  x    x   x     x   x
 x  x
     
 x   x    1  x   x 
  x    x 
an
  
 If to each operators Aˆ  Aˆ   x x , there belongs a set
of numbers, an and a set of functions un  x 
  
Aˆ  x  un  x   an un  x 
 x 
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   
Aˆ  x  un  x   an un  x 
 x 

Eigenvalue of Â
Eigen Function of an Operator

Then an is called an eigenvalue of  and un  x  is called

an eigenfunction of  belonging to eigenvalue an.

The eigenfunctions of an operator are thus those special functions

which remain unchanged under the operation of the operator, a part
from a multiplication by the eigenvalue. Equation having such
operator & function is known as the Eigenvalue Equation.
Eigenvalue depend very much on the boundary condition imposed
on the solution to the eigenvalue equation.
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Schrödinger Equation

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