Homework Solutions.

Homework set 9
Problem 1. Imagine a particle of mass m confined to a ring of the radius R, where
it can move freely. Construct the expression for the PI and find the corresponding
energy levels. In the case, when the path integral acquires the phase each time
particle completes the full circle in the counterclockwise direction modify the result
accordingly. This formal construction has some physical applications. One of these
is the so-called Aharonov-Bohm (AB)
 effect. Using already obtained results relate
the phase to a physical quantity A d, where A is a vector potential.
Solution.

We will break the discussion into several parts. Each part will serve its particular
purpose, which will be underlined each time. In the end the very interesting AB
effect will be easily understood in terms of the path integral approach.
Part I. In this part we will warm up and compute the energy levels by
the means of the Schroedinger equation of the system sketched on Fig. 1.
The purpose is to obtain the results which later will be compared to those
obtained via PI method.
First let us assume that = 0, i.e. no mysterious phases appear while the particle
goes around the ring. From the point of view of the regular quantum mechanical
approach this system is very easy to solve. The Lagrangian of the particle on the
ring is given by
I
L = 2 .
(1)
2
The motion around the ring is periodic and we should impose periodic boundary

condition. Also note that there additional mirror symmetry . Solving the
Schroedinger equation with periodic b.c.

~2 2
=i
,
2
2I
t

(2)

one easily obtains1 the solution for the wave functions2

1
n () = eiEn t+in ,
2

(3)

and for the energy levels

~2 2
n.
(4)
2I
The energy levels except that of the ground state (n = 0) are doubly degenerate as
a consequence of the mirror symmetry. So far, keep in mind (3,4) and the fact
the Kaluza-Klein index index n Z. In the next part we will obtain reproduce the
same results by PI methods.
Part II. As we are getting better with PI methods in this part we will
rederive the results of Part I. First we will need to obtain the expression
for the propagator.
Now let us derive the expression for the propagator. The following analogy is obvious
En =

Lfree =

p2
1
L = p2 ,
2m
2I

(5)

where

p = i~ , m I = mR2 .
(6)
x

Recalling the expression for the free particle propagator the above analogy let us
construct PI for the particle on a ring:
 21
+ 
 m  12 im(xf xi )2
X
iI(2m)2
I
e 2~T ,
e 2~T
K =
(7)
Kfree =
2i~T
2i~T
m=
p = i~

where = i f , where the integer m is a so-called winding number. The above

result needs probably some little explanation (although for someone this is obvious
already).
1

Remember your previous QM courses.

This is not the only choice, one could equally choose w.f. in term of cos and sin functions with
definite parity.
2

 + 2

10
10
1010
101R
0

10
1010
01
0000000
1111111
0000000
1111111
0000000
1111111
0000000
011111111
0000000
1111111
i

Figure 1: Moving along the ring a particle can arrive from point i to f by an
infinite number of paths. Two of them are shown on the plot. One is represented
by the thin line. The other by a thick line. They differ by the distance 2R.

The particle on the ring has the Lagrangian of a free particle but with the constraint.
Namely, after any integer number of full rotations the particle returns to the same
point on the ring. Therefore, there is an infinite number of paths following which
the particle can go from the point i to f which label the points on the ring, i.e.
i,f [0, 2]. Therefore, for a given difference f i we have to sum over
all paths which differ by their winding number m Z.3 At this point the result in
Eq. (7) leaves no doubts. Using method developed in the solution of P. 6.5 we can
also obtain the fixed energy propagator can be written immediately:
r

X
I i|2m|2IE
~
K(E; ) =
e
.
(8)
2E
m=

Furthermore, it will not hurt to notice that the propagator we have obtained is
periodic. This is easy to verify:
a) make the shift + 2
b) introduce the summation index l = m 1
c) besides, the propagator, in addition has the property of being symmetric under
; this will help a few times later on

As you remember from the course there are several methods which would
allow to deduce what the energy levels and the wave functions are. You
can trace them throughout the homework solutions. But let us to list
them altogether in one place below:
Given that one knows K(qf , qi ; T ), by setting qf = qi = q and integrating over
q in the limits imposed on it (q is a generalized space coordinate,e.g. q = x or
q = , etc.) one obtains the partition function

qmax

z(T ) =

dqK(q, q; T ).

(9)

qmin

In the result one obtains some expression, which one has to try to cast into
X iEn T
(10)
z(T ) =
e ~ .
n

If one succeeds En s are found. After that, using

X
iEn T
K(qf , qi ; T ) =
n (xi )n (xf )e ~

(11)

We use m instead of n now, because winding number and Kaluza-Klein index n have different
physical meaning.

 Another approach is to compute the Greens function or in other words the

fixed energy retarded propagator as

K(E; xf , xi ) =

iET
~

dT.

(12)

i~
n (qi )n (qf ).
E En

(13)

K(xf , xi ; T )e

Using (11) one obtains

K(E; qf , qi ) =

X
n

First one finds energy levels using fact that wave functions are normalized to
one

X i~
.
(14)
dqK(E; q, q) =
E

E
n
n
After that the wave functions can be determined.

If both of the above meet the difficulty of encountering rare and scary special
functions4 , one can try to use the semiclassical method instead, where the
things get a lot easier. The result one obtains semiclassically is strictly speaking valid only for a very excited energy levels. However, in the large number
of examples the method turns out to be amazingly accurate in finding energy
spectrum down to the ground state! Wave functions for the levels, close to the
ground state usually differ substantially from the exact ones.
Let us proceed to the computation of the energy levels.
From the (8) one can see that after setting = 0 the sum can be done easily:

!
r
r
2i 2IE

X
2e ~
I i|2m| 2IE
I
~

K(E; 0) =
1+
e
.
(15)
=
2i 2IE
2E
2E
~
1

e
m=
In fact, before finding the poles etc. let us point out that if we would use semiclassical
approach we would end up with (15)!
Just as an illustration: Choose [0, 2] and introduce the propagator for the simple

path from i to f as F (E; ). The path is shown on Fig. 1 by a thin line and the
propagator is given by
F (E, ) =
4

I ~i f p d
I ip
e i
e ~ ,
=
p
p

One of them will struggle its way up soon.

(16)


where p = 2IE > 0. In the semiclassical limit the propagator can be constructed
following the same logic, which we have already used to derive (7).5 Summing over all
possible windings one obtains
K(E; ) = F (E; )(1 +

m=
X

im
~

p d

p d =

i|m|
~

p d

(17)

m=

m=1

In the second sum |m| appears because

ordered. Namely,



m=1
X

pq dq is constructed such that it is direction



p d =

p d = 2p .

(18)

At this point comparison with (15) is straightforward This is just to remind

you that for a free particle semiclassical approach is exact.
Let us continue analyzing (15). The residues of the poles of (15) where the poles are
located at6
~2 2
En =
n
(19)
2I
can be obtained by expanding


p

E En
+ O[(E En )2 ].
(20)
2IE = 2IEn 1 +
2En
Inserting this into (15) and using (19) one quickly obtains
K(E; 0) =

X
1
i~
i~

|n (i )|2 ,
2
E

E
E

E
n
n
n=
n=

(21)

since = f i = 0. From here the wave functions can be deduced as follows. Normalization is a constant 12 , i.e. |n (i )|2 = |n (0)|2 is independent from i . In addition,
from (8) it follows that the wave functions have to be periodic. Since (8) is symmetric
under , the wave functions satisfy () = (). Finally, we consider the case
of a constrained but free particle. Free particle w.f. have the form eip . In our case the
momentum is quantized as p (n) = n~.7 . There are already enough hints to avoid more
accurate but more involved procedure via resummation of (8) at finite . An educated
guess is that the wave functions are
1
n () = ein .
2
5

Also recall Homework 7.

Simply set the denominator to zero.
7
Follows from (19)
6

(22)

For those, who are not convinced yet I propose to break the sum in (8) into two pieces:
> 2m and < 2m , where m is some fixed integer. Do separately the summation of
both, identify the poles, trade winding number index for Kaluza-Klein index n in a smart
way. The result should be identical to what we have already gotten.
The goal of this part is achieved: using PI methods in semiclassical approximation we have been able to reproduce exactly the results of Part I!
Part III will be un upgrade of the previous result in the following sense. We will
assume now that after each time the particle does m windings on the the circle,
the propagator acquires the phase m. This problem certainly reminded you
P.7.3 where particle after each reflection at the turning points would acquire
the phase /2. Another relevant example would be a particle in the box.8
The particle on the ring does not bounce from any potential walls, so that the
problem introduced here is somewhat artificial as it will be pointed out. In the
end of this part we will apply a little modification and after that in Part IV
the discussion of the famous Aharonov-Bohm effect will be complete in just a
few lines.

The propagator (8) is trivially modified

K(E; ) =

m=

I i|2m|
~
e
2E

2IE

+im

(23)

Note, that the periodicity property and the reflection are broken by introducing
. Following (15) one obtains

!
r
r
2i 2IE
2i 2IE

X
e ~ i
e ~ +i
I i|2m| 2IE +im
I
~

.
+
1+
e
K(E; 0) =
=
2i 2IE
2i 2IE
2E
2E
+i
~
1e
1 e ~ i
m=
(24)
After simple algebra one obtains the following expression


r
2 2IE
i
sin
~
I
 .
(25)
K(E; 0) =
2E cos cos 2 2IE
~

The poles of (25) are located at

~2
En =
2I
8

n
2

2

In that case the phase shift it twice larger after each reflection.

(26)

where n Z and are still doubly degenerate except the ground state. This fact is reflected
in that the poles of (25) can be equally found at


2
~2
,
(27)
n+
En =
2I
2
since cosine is a symmetric function. But these are the same as (26) under n n!
Let us finally finish this problem making use of (7) and employing somewhat involved
mathematical fact, which we will not prove here. Introducing the phase Eq. (7) is
modified
1
+ 
X
2
iI(2m)2
I
e 2~T +im .
K(; T ) =
(28)
2i~T
m=

Next step is to observe that it has the form of the so-called Jacobi theta function, which
is often denoted as 3 and is defined by the sum
3 (z, )

2 +2imz

ei m

(29)

m=

This function turns out to possess certain properties under the so called modular group
transformations from which we will need a single property


z2
1
1
z
,
.
(30)
3 (z, ) = (i ) 2 e i 3

Let us rewrite (7) identifying and z as

=

I
2I
, z=
.
~T
2
~T

(31)

The propagator (7) with this notations takes the form9

1   12 iI2
e 2~T 3 (z, ).
K(z, ) =
2 i

(32)

Applying (30) to (32) one obtains

1 iI2 z2
K(z, ) =
e 2~T 3
2

1
z
,

First, going back to the old notations let us rewrite 3 z , 1 as



X
i~T
2 m
z
1
3
,
eim e 2I (m ) .
=

m=
9

iI2

(33)

(34)

The prefactor e 2~T is not expressed in the new variables z and because in the end we will
need to transfer it back anyway to what it is now.

The prefactor in front of 3

1
z
,

in old notations takes the form

1 i i ~T ( )2
e 2 2I 2 .
2

(35)

Finally we obtain the following result

K(; T ) =

1 X i(m ) i~T (m )2
2 e
2I
2
e
.
2 m=

(36)

The winding number m can be traded for Kaluza-Klein number n which labels the energy
levels in the obvious way. We will make a choice m n.
Let us now compare this result with the general expression (11). Since we have already
found the energy levels before one can see that (36) implies
n (i )n (f ) =

1 i(n )(f i )
2
e
.
2

(37)

Previously in the case = 0 we have easily guessed (and having (36) with = 0) now
confirmed the result (22). If 6= 0 the wave functions turn out to be

1
() = ei(n 2 ) .
2

(38)

The wave functions as they appear are not single valued. As we mentioned before with
such modification we have abandoned periodicity property of the wave functions and of
the propagator:
K( + 2; T ) = ei K( + 2; T ).
(39)
The above situation can be cured if one assumes that the phase continuously grows (or
decreases) as particle rotates around the circle. The following modification of the phase
of the propagator

(40)
im im
2
leads to

1 X in i~T (n )2
2
K(; T ) =
e
e 2I
,
(41)
2 n=

leaving the energy levels unchanged, the wave functions fixed to be periodic and the
eigenvalues of (angular) momentum p = ~(/) set to being integers (in ~ = 1 units).

Part IV: Aharonov Bohm effect.

In this section we will consider the simplest exactly solvable version of the
Aharonov-Bohm effect which is absent in classical theory but appears in quantum mechanics. In the previous parts we have done all formal preparations to
do that. First we will solve AB effect without PI methods and secondly we will
use the result of Part III to obtain the solution immediately by observing, that
both problems are identical. The physical meaning of the phase introduced
earlier will be established.
Consider the charged particle, which is again constrained to move around the circle of the
radius R (e.g. put an electron into a tiny box and rotate it in the horizontal plane or
confine it to a wire which forms the loop). In the center we will place a perfect solenoid,
such that the magnetic field is confined inside of it. The position of the solenoid for
simplicity will be such that its central axes passes through the center of the circle, along
which the charged particle is moving and perpendicular to the plane of the circle. The
radius of solenoid r is assumed to be less then R.
The Coulomb force outside of the solenoid is zero and classically the rotations of a charged
particles around the solenoid will not lead to any changes of its state. Quantum effects,
however, will induce the shift to the energy spectrum of the electron comparing to the
case when no solenoid is present! Lets see how it works.
During the last two lectures you have learned that i the presence of electromagnetic field
the Hamiltonian of the free particle moving charged particle can be written
H=

P2
,
2m

(42)

where P is a generalized momentum

e~
P = p~ A,
c

(43)

~ is the electromagnetic vector potential. In our case the the

where p = i~ and A
~
~ vanishes in the interior. the Hamiltonian in the gauge A = 0
magnetic field B = A
takes simple form (please compare with last section of the lecture notes)
H=

(p

eR
2
c A )

2I

(44)

where I = mR2 . p is defined as before and A is the azimuthal (and the only nonzero in
this gauge) part of the vector potential. The value of A is a constant. Which is related
via Stockes theorem

 
dSB = m ,
(45)
R A d =
to the total magnetic flux through the solenoid (more generally, contour of integration).
Since the flux through the solenoid is m = Br 2 the value of A is
A =

m
.
2R

10

(46)

Therefore, the Hamiltonian can be written as





2
2
~ 2

1
=

,
p
i
H=
2I
2
2I
2

(47)

where we introduced as

em
,
(48)
c
and where in the second equality we used the coordinate space representation of p . The
energy levels are then automatically found by finding the eigenstates of over the space
of periodic functions. These are just:
1
nZ
(49)
n = ein
2
so that by eq. (47) the energy eigenvalues are simply


~2
2
.
(50)
En =
n
2I
2
=

Notice also that the kinetic momentum P corresponds to the angular momentum L3 :


~
.
(51)
L3 = RP = p
2

Indeed P corresponds to the physical angular velocity. The eigenvalues of L3 are therefore


(n)

L3 = n 2
. They are not integer units of (!), but their separation is integer.
The PI can be constructed following the end of Part III. The Lagrangian which corresponds to the Hamiltonian is given by
~
e ~ dx
.
(52)
L = Lfree + A
c dt
On the circle the last part contributes to the action

~
ie
~ dx dt = eR A .
(53)
A
c
dt
c
As one full circle is completed this gives precisely the phase i according to our definition
of (48). After the particle makes rotation on the angle 2m , where [0, 2] the

propagator acquires the phase im 2

. Therefore, the propagator has exactly the same
form as encountered in the very end of Part III:
1


X
2
iI(2m)2

I
+im 2

.
(54)
e 2~T
K(; T ) =
2i~T
m=
All the conclusions from Part III can be directly applied to AB effect.

This is the end of a long but entertaining problem.

11