Course: Physics I Code: PHIR11

# Lecture: 10

Topic: Quantum Mechanics

by

Dr. Joy Prakash Das

Department of Physics
NIT Tiruchirappalli
Date: 20/09/2023 (Wed)
Obtaining the wavefunction

 The wavefunction for a given physical system contains the

measureable information about the system.

 To obtain specific values of physical parameters, for example

energy, we need to operate on the wavefunction with the
quantum mechanical operator associated with that parameter.

 To obtain the wavefunction we need to solve the Schrodinger

equation.

 We consider the case where V is independent of time. In that

case the equation can be solved by the method of separation of
variables.
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Obtaining the wavefunction

 We look for solutions that are products of two functions, which

are exclusive functions of space and time respectively.

 Taking derivatives

 Note the presence of ordinary derivatives now. The Schrodinger

equation now reads as

 Dividing by

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Obtaining the wavefunction

 The LHS is a function of t alone and the RHS is a function of x

alone (since V is a function of x alone). The only way this can be
possibly true is if both sides are individually constant (lets say E).

 Solving for the temporal part

 And for the time independent part takes the following form

 This can be solved once we know the explicit expression of V. The

above is called the time independent Schrodinger equation. 4
Obtaining the wavefunction

 The total energy (kinetic and potential) is called the Hamiltonian.

The corresponding Hamiltonian operator is

 Thus the time independent Schrodinger equation can be written

as

 The total wave function can be written as (absorbing the

constant C into

 In the above the probability density does not depend upon time.
Hence they are also called stationary states.

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Postulates of Quantum Mechanics - I

 The state of a quantum mechanical system is completely

specified by the wavefunction ψ(x,t) that depends on the
coordinates of the particle x and the time t. |ψ(x,t)|2 represents
the probability density of the particle at (x,t) and as such

 This is because the probability of finding the particle somewhere

in space is unity.

 The wavefunction must be single valued, continuous and finite.

Why?

 We normally write wave functions with a normalization constant

included. 6
Thank You