Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Trivandrum

PHY-413

Quantum Mechanics-2
Assignment 1

10.08.2016

Notes:
1. Deadline: 26 August 2016
2. You are encouraged to discuss with your assigned group members, however,
each of you should submit the Assignment separately.

1. Conserved quantities
What components of momentum (P ) and angular momentum (L) are conserved in the following fields?
(a) field of an infinite homogeneous plane
(b) field of an infinite homogeneous cylinder
(c) field of an infinite homogeneous prism
(d) field of an infinite homogeneous semiplane
(e) field of a homogeneous cone
(f) field of a homogeneous circular ring
(g) field of an infinite homogeneous helix
2. Gauge Transformation and Schrodinger equation
In Electrodynamics you have learnt of Gauge transformations
A A +

(1)

In quantum mechanics one can look at similar transformations. The aim of

this question is to take you through the transformations.
We all know that the phase of the wavefunction satisfying the free particle
Schrodinger equation
(x, t))
h
2 2
ih
=
(x, t)
(2)
t
2m
can not be determined. In other words, the phase of the wavefunction
can be determined without altering the outcome of the experiments.
In the language of transformations, this would mean that all physical results
will produce if we perform the following transformation:
(x, t) 0 (x, t) = (x, t) exp (ip(x, t))
where p(x, t) is an arbitrary function.
1

(3)

(a) Does 0 (x, t) satisfy the free particle Schrodinger equation (2)?
(b) Repeat the transformation (3) for the following Schrodinger equation
i
h
2 h
(x, t)
=
ih
( + iA)2 + V (x) (x, t)
t
2m

(4)

Under what transformations of A and V , 0 (x, t) satisfy the above

Schrodinger equation.
(c) Can you identify the transformations of A and V ? Are they similar to
Eq. (1)?
3. Derive the conservation law corresponding to translational symmetry for a
charged particle in
(a) a homogeneous electric field E
(b) a homogeneous magnetic field B

4. For any differential operator B(x),

prove the following relations
(a)


n

i
p
h

B(x)
=

j B
j
j=0 x
n
X

nj

i
p
h

(5)

(b) Use the above relation and show that

U = A(x
+ )
U A(x)
where

(6)

i
U = exp x
h

5. Invariance of the kinetic energy operator under a transformation

An important symmetry property of any quantum mechanical system is
that the kinetic-energy operator T is invariant under any symmetry transformation U . In terms of the corresponding transformation operator U ,
we can write this property as [T, U ] = 0
(a) Use the chain rule to prove, by algebraic demonstration, that the
kinetic-energy operator T of a particle in one dimension is invariant
under an inversion.
(b) Use reasoning by analogy to construct an argument that T(x, y) of a
particle in two dimensions (cartesian coordinates) is invariant under
inversion.
y) is invariant under inver(c) Now use the chain rule to prove that T (x,
sion.
2

(d) Show that T(, ), the two-dimensional kinetic-energy operator in polar coordinates, is invariant under inversion.
(e) Show that T(, ) is invariant under an arbitrary translation and under
an arbitrary rotation Rz ().
(f) Generalize the above resullt to T for a particle in three dimensions
expressed in Cartesian, spherical, or cylindrical coordinates.
6. Prove the following:
(a) If P is the Parity operator and |ki are the momentum state ket vectors,
show that P |ki = | ki.
(b) Show that [P ,
] 6== 0 and [P ,
2 ] = 0.
7. In the class, particle in 2-dimensional box was discussed in two different
coordinate systems Cartesian and Polar. Obtain the first 30 lowest
energy eigen values for the both these physical situations and plot one top
of the other.
8. One of the motivation of the particle in a disk is to model the STM image
of Coral atoms. To convince yourself that this simple model indeed predicts
the expertimental data, plot the probability density |n,j (r, )|2 for following
values of n and j:
(a) n = 0 and j = 4
(b) n = 10 and j = 0
(c) n = 4 and j = 2
(Note: See the class notes for n and j.)
9. Coral in Momentum space
Plot the momentum space wave function (p corresponding to the above
values of n and j.
10. Particle in 3-dimensional box
In the class, we discussed particle in 2-dimensional infinite potential. Let
us extend it to 3-dimensional box of equal sides L:
(a) Write down the Schrodinger equation for this system.
(b) Write down the wavefunction for the ground and first 3 excited states.
(c) Give an expression for the number of states N having energy less
than some energy E. Assume N  1. (Does this answer resemble
something to something you have calculated in Statistical Mechanics.)
3

11. (a) A non-relativistic particle of mass m moves in the potential



V (x, y, z) = A x2 + y 2 + 2 x y + B z 2 + 2z

(7)

where A > 0, B > 0, < 1 and is arbitrary. Find the energy

eigenvalues.
(b) Now consider the following modified problem with a new potential
Vnew
for z > and for any x and y, Vnew = V (x, y, z) given above
for z < and for any x and y, Vnew =
Find the ground state energy.
12. Flux quantization
The semi-classical Bohr-Sommerfeld relation is given by
I

1
p . dr = n +
h

2


(8)

where the integral is along a closed orbit, p is the canonically conjugate

momenta.
As discussed in the class, to describe the motion of particles (, say, electrons) in the presence of electromagnetic field, we can define two momentas
(canonical (p) and Kinetic ), i. e.,
e
=p A
c

(9)

(a) For the particle in electromagnetic field replace p with Kinetic momenta in Eq. (8) and the equation of motion for the canonical momentum p to derive the quantization condition on the magnetic flux of
a semi-classical electron which is in a magnetic field B in an arbitrary
orbit.
(b) For the electrons in solids this condition can be restated in terms of
the size S of the orbit in the k-space.
(c) Obtain the quantization condition on S in terms of B
13. A particle of charge q and mass m is subject to a time independent, uniform
electromagnetic field E:
(a) For an arbitrary quantum state show that the position operator obeys
Newtons second law of motion.
(b) Show that the above result is also valid for uniform Magnetic field B.

(c) Do these results have any practical applications to the design of instruments such as mass spectrometers, particle accelerators etc? Explain.
14. Landau leves in other gauges
In the class, we obtained Landau levels in one gauge A = (By, 0, 0). In
this problem, you are expected to repeat the same analysis in Coloumb
gauge


By Bx
A=
,
,0
(10)
2 2
(a) Write down the Hamiltonian of charged particle in Uniform magnetic
field in above gauge.
(b) For the above gauge, it is faster to obtain the energy eigen values if
we write in the complex coordinates, i .e.
z x + iy

z x iy

(11)

Show the following relations:

[z, z ] = [
z , z] = 1

[z, z] = [
z , z ] = 0

(12)

Can you make some physical guess about the variable z, z, z , z?

(c) Construct creation and anhilation operators from the above variables
and write down the Hamiltonian interms of these operators.
(d) Obtain the ground state solutions for the above Hamiltonian.
(e) Show that these states are distinguished by the angular momentum
operator
= i (xy yx )
L
(13)