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Lecture 11
11.1
Boundary Conditions
In electricity and magnetism, you have differential equations that come with
particular boundary conditions. For example, the electrostatic potential
satisfies 2 V = 0 in regions of space with charge density, and has an
implicit boundary condition at spatial infinity (depending on gauge choice).
It is often useful to cook up charge distributions that are not physically
realizable in the interest of exactness. So, for example, sheets of charge
have = (z) (for a sheet of charge lying in the z = 0 plane), and these
idealized sources introduce discontinuities in the potential. In this case, we
have
V
V
= ,
(11.1)
n above n below
0
while the potential itself is continuous (the above is, of course, a manifestation of the discontinuity in the electric field). The issue never really comes up
in real life since you cannot make an infinitesimally thin sheet of charge,
so its a moot point. But still, good to know, and computationally useful.
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Lecture 11
In general, a mathematical problem, or mathematization of a physical problem, requires governing PDE structure, relating changes in time and space
to sources (for example) and boundary conditions. For the wavefunction
we have been discussing, there are some obvious and derivable boundary
conditions that come up, again in the context of idealized potentials.
First, we require that the wavefunction be continuous thats reasonable if
we are to interpret |(x, t)|2 as a probability density wed like it if it didnt
matter if we approached an interval from the left or right. Continuity
of the wavefunction and the potential directly implies continuity of the first
derivative of (x, t). But we want to use a discontinuous potential (a delta
function, or a step function, or what have you). So what is the discontinuity
in the first derivative given a discontinuous potential?
We can integrate over the discontinuity suppose we have a potential that
is discontinuous at the point x0 , then if we integrate from x0 to x0 + ,
we have, from Schr
odingers equation
Z x0 + 2
Z x0 +
Z x0 +
~2
d
dx
=
E
(x)
dx
Because the derivative of (x) is the delta function, and because the delta function
is symmetric, when we need an expression for (0), we take (0) = 12 .
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Lecture 11
so we find the discontinuity in the derivative (using the identifiers left for
x < x0 and right for x > x0 )
dright dlef t
2m
=
(x0 )
(11.6)
dx
dx
~2
x=x0
For the step function, the integral on the right is easy very close to x0 , we
have
Z x0 +
(x x0 ) (x) dx (x0 ),
(11.7)
x0
11.2
Delta Potential
11.2.1
Bound State
Lets consider the bound state first: To the left and right of the origin, we
are solving
~2 00
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Lecture 11
+ (x) = A e
2 m |E|
~2
+B e
2 m |E|
~2
q
2 m |E|
x
2
(x) = C e
2 m |E|
~2
+D e
q
2 m |E|
x
2
,
(11.9)
with + (x) on the right, (x) on the left. Now we can impose boundary
conditions based solely on integrability we cannot normalize exponentially
growing solutions, so on the right, where x > 0, we set A = 0, and on the
left, where x < 0, we set D = 0. This leaves us with
+ (x) = Be
(x) = C e
2 m |E|
~2
(11.10)
2 m
,
2 ~2
2 m
.
(11.12)
2 ~2
What we have, then, is a single valid bound state. Going back to the wave
function, we can normalize it easily:
Z
Z 0
Z
2
2
(x) dx =
(x) dx +
+ (x)2 dx
0
s
!
(11.13)
2
1
~
2
= 2B
2 2 m |E|
E=
so that
B=
m
.
~
(11.14)
m m2|x| +i 2 m3 t
2~
(x, t) =
e ~
.
(11.15)
~
The fact that we have only one bound state is an artifact of our potential.
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11.2.2
Lecture 11
Scattering States
(x) = A e
2mE
~2
+B e
2mE
~2
+ (x) = C e
2mE
~2
+D e
2mE
~2
(11.16)
Using our boundary conditions, we require that:
(x = 0) = + (x = 0) A + B = C + D
and
(11.17)
d+ d
2m
= 2 (x = 0)
dx
dx
~
x=0
(11.18)
2mE
2m
i
(C + D + A B) =
(A + B).
~2
~2
Here, we appeal to your experience with monochromatic plane waves we
think of an incident, reflected, and transmitted wave, and these would correspond to the various terms in (x, t) written out, we have
q
q
t
i 2 m2E xi E
t
i 2 m2E xi E
~
~
~
+Be q ~
x<0
Ae q
(x, t) =
(11.19)
2mE
E
i 2 m2E xi E
xi
t
i
t
~
~
~
~2
Ce
+De
x>0
r
i
A
1 i
2mE
,
~
C=
m
k ~2
then
1
A
1 i k ~m2
(11.21)
, so we have
C=
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1
A.
1 i
(11.22)
Lecture 11
In electricity and magnetism, we talk about the reflection and transmission coefficients associated with monochromatic plane waves impinging on
a surface. We can do the same thing here, define:
R
|B|2
2
=
|A|2
1 + 2
|C|2
1
=
.
|A|2
1 + 2
(11.23)
11.3
(x)
=e
x
ik
2a
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1/4
ea x ,
(11.24)
we have:
1=
Lecture 11
dx = 1
x dx = 0
Z
~ d
hpi =
dx = ~ k,
i
dx
hxi =
(11.25)
where the last relation is the usual de Broglie one. Now if we construct (k)
for this initial waveform, and then (x, t), we get
(k) =
2
(kk)
1
4a
e
(2 a)1/4
and
2
(x, t) =
a
1/4
2 t2 m x (k+i
~k
a x)
4 a ~ t2 i m
1
a
(11.26)
(11.27)
2i~t
m
hxi =
hHi =
(11.28)
~2 (a + k2 )
.
2m
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Lecture 11
Homework
Reading: Griffiths, pp. 6876.
Problem 11.1
Show that the general solution
Z
(x, t) =
(k) k (x) e
i Ek
~
dk
(11.29)
satisfies i ~
t = H (x, t) provided k (x) satisfies H k (x) = Ek k (x).
(This is just the continuum form of superposition we use the function
Problem 11.2
For the traveling Gaussian solution in (11.27), we have (setting k = k to
make the expressions cleaner):
1
a ~2 t2 ~2 k 2 t2
+
+
(11.30)
4a
m2
m2
use this, and any other expectation values (hint) you find useful, to compute
x2 , p2 and the product x2 p2 .
hx2 i =
Problem 11.3
The delta well V (x) = (x) has a bound state and a continuum of
scattering states. We expect the totality of the stationary states to be
mutually orthogonal show that the bound state is orthogonal, in the usual
function sense, to all of the scattering states, i.e. b k = 0 with:
m m 2|x|
m 2
e ~
Eb =
b (x) =
2
2 ~
(~
(11.31)
i
A ei k x + 1i ei k x
x0
~2 k 2
E
=
k (x) =
,
k
A
2m
ei k x
x0
1i
and
m
.
~2 k
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