INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY MADRAS

DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS
PH352 Quantum Physics Quiz I 20.2.2008
Solutions

1. True or false:

(a) The position and momentum operators of a particle moving in one di-
mension satisfy the commutation relation [x , p] = i~ I, where I is the
unit operator.
“It is possible to represent the operators x and p by hermitian (n × n)
matrices where n is any positive integer.”
False. For all finite dimensional square matrices, the trace of the product
of two matrices is independent of the order in which the matrices occur.
Taking traces on both sides of the commutator equation leads to a con-
tradiction, if x and p are representable by finite-dimensional matrices.
The conclusion is that these operators cannot be so represented.
(b) A particle moves in one dimension in the potential V (x). The energy
spectrum of the particle is discrete. The potential is symmetric about
the origin, i. e., V (−x) = V (x).
“It follows that the position-space wave function corresponding to any
stationary state of the particle is an even function of x.”
False. A symmetric potential implies that the parity operator commutes
with the Hamiltonian operator. This, in turn, implies that the eigenstates
of the Hamiltonian (i. e., the stationary states) be parity eigenstates as
well. That is, the wave function corresponding to each stationary state
must be either even or odd in x in such cases.
(c) A particle moves in space under the influence of a potential V (r).
“The particle can never be in a state in which its kinetic energy and
potential energy can simultaneously have precise values.”
True, because these two quantities do not commute with each other—
ultimately, because the position and linear momentum operators do not
commute with each other. Further, it is easy to check that the expecta-
tion value of the commutator is never zero in any state.
(d) Let A be the operator corresponding to a physical observable of a system
with Hamiltonian H, and let [A , H] 6= 0. Then:
“No eigenstate of A can be a stationary state of the system.”
False. There could be one or more common eigenstates of A and H (but
not a complete set of such eigenstates).
(e) Let A , B and C be operators corresponding to physical observables of a
system, such that [A , B] = 0 and [A , C] = 0.
“It follows that [B , C] = 0.”
False. It is easy to construct counter-examples to this proposition. A
simple physical example is that of the angular momentum operators
L2 , Lx and Ly , for instance.
(f) “The energy spectrum of a quantum mechanical particle moving under
the influence of an arbitrary potential must necessarily be either discrete,
or continuous, but not both.”
False. Example: the Coulomb potential exerted by a proton on an
electron in a hydrogen atom. The spectrum of the Hamiltonian has a

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 discrete part (comprising energy levels En that are negative), as well as
a continuous part (E ≥ 0). The discrete part of the spectrum pertains
to bound states of the electron, with normalizable wave functions. In
contrast, the continuum corresponds to scattering states in which the
electron is just scattered by the Coulomb potential: the initial and final
states of the electron are non-normalizable free-particle states.
(g) “The existence of operators that commute with the Hamiltonian of a
system generally implies that the energy spectrum of the system is de-
generate.”
True, in general. In one dimension, though, there may be discrete sym-
metries such as parity that do not lead to any degeneracy. The statement
as made above really applies to continuous symmetries, and in dimensions
higher than 1 (the most common example being rotational invariance).
(h) “The expectation value of the kinetic energy of a quantum mechanical
particle can never be negative.”
True, because the expectation value of the kinetic energy in any state
of the system can be written as the square of the norm of a vector in
the Hilbert space (using the hermiticity of the momentum operator), and
this quantity can never be negative.
(i) Let A and B be the operators corresponding to two physical observables
of a system.
“If A and B do not commute with each other, then the product of un-
certainties in these two quantities can never be zero in any state of the
system.”
False. Recall that ∆A ∆B ≥ 21 |h[A, B]i|. It may so happen that the ex-
pectation value on the right-hand side vanishes in some particular state
even though [A, B] is not identically equal to zero.
(j) “The eigenvalues of the operator corresponding to a physical observable
of a system are the only possible results of a measurement of that ob-
servable.”
True. This is one of the postulates of quantum mechanics.

2. Fill in the blanks:

(a) The Hamiltonian of a particle moving in one dimension is given byH =

p2 /(2m) + V (x) where x and p denote the position and momentum op-
erators. Then the double commutator [x , [x , H]] = −(~2 /m) I.
(b) A system can have two possible states, denoted by |1i and |2i, respec-
tively. These states are normalized, and mutually orthogonal. The
Hamiltonian of the system is given by
 
H = a |1ih1| − |2ih2| + |1ih2| + |2ih1| ,

where a is a real constant. In the basisformed by the states |1i and |2i,
a a
H has the matrix representation H = .
a −a
(c) A particle moving in one dimension is in a state |Ψi. Its position-
space wave function is given by hx|Ψi ≡ ψ(x). Consider the state

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 |Φi = ei a p |Ψi where a is a real constant and p is the momentum oper-
ator of the particle. The position-space wave function in the state |Φi is
then given by
φ(x) = hx|Φi = hx|ei a p |Ψi = ea~ d/dx hx|Ψi = ea~ d/dx ψ(x) = ψ(x + a~) .
Thus, when acting on position-space wave functions, the operator eiap
acts like a translation operator : it shifts the argument of the wave func-
tion by a constant amount a~.
(d) Let |αi be a normalized coherent state of the linear harmonic oscillator,
so that a |αi = α |αi. The expectation value of the number operator in
this state is
∞ X ∞
2 X (α∗ )l αn
hα|a† a|αi = e−|α| √ √ hl|ni = |α|2 .
l=0 n=0
l! n!

(e) The energy levels of an isotropic two-dimensional harmonic oscillator are

given by
E(n1 , n2 ) = ~ω (n1 + n2 + 1),
where n1 and n2 are non-negative integers. The degeneracy of the energy
level 6 ~ω is 6. (This is just the number of ways in which the integer 5
can be written as a sum n1 + n2 , where 0 ≤ n1 ≤ 5 and 0 ≤ n2 ≤ 5.)
(f) The expectation value of the kinetic energy of a linear harmonic oscillator
of mass m and frequency ω in the energy eigenstate |ni is 21 ~ω(n + 21 ).
(This is also the expectation value of the potential energy in the state
|ni.)
(g) The dependence of the energy En on the quantum number n for a particle
moving in the potential kx6 (where k is a positive constant) is En ∼ n3/2 .
(h) ThePcondition that an infinite sequence (x1 , x2 , . . .) be square-summable
∞
is n=1 |xn |2 < ∞. (A necessary condition for this to be satisfied is that
|xn | → 0 faster than n−1/2 as n → ∞.)
(i) In the linear vector space `2 , we require the norm of an operator A whose
action is given by
A (x1 , x2 , x3 , . . .) = (1 , x1 , x2 , . . .).
If we use the definition of the norm of a linear operator, kAk is the
square root of the supremum, or least upper bound, of the ratio (1 +
|x1 |2 + |x2 |2 + . . .)/(|x1 |2 + |x2 |2 + . . .), taken over all sequences such
that (|x1 |2 + |x2 |2 + . . .) is finite. It is evident that the denominator
in this ratio could become as small in magnitude as one wishes, while
the numerator cannot become smaller than unity. Hence the norm is
formally infinite, i.e., A is an unbounded operator by the definition given
above.
Unfortunately, though, this question as stated was not the one I intended
to pose. Notice that the operator A is not a linear operator! In particular,
when it acts on the null vector, it produces a non-null vector. (In this
instance, this is why the operator becomes an unbounded operator.) A
cannot be represented as an (infinite-dimensional) matrix in the vector
space.
1 mark will be given to all those who attempted this question.
(j) If [x , p] = i~ I, then [x , f (p)] = i~f 0 (p), where the prime denotes the
derivative of the function.