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The Physics of Quantum Mechanics

James Binney, David Skinner

Chapter 10

Perturbation theory - all with Video Answers

Educators


Chapter Questions

09:46

Problem 1

A harmonic oscillator with mass $m$ and angular frequency $\omega$ is perturbed by $\delta H=\epsilon x^{2}$. (a) What is the exact change in the ground-state energy? Expand this change in powers of $\epsilon$ up to order $\epsilon^{2}$. (b) Show that the change given by first-order perturbation theory agrees with the exact result to $\mathrm{O}(\epsilon)$ (c) Show that the first-order change in the ground state is $|b\rangle=-\left(\epsilon \ell^{2} / \sqrt{2} \hbar \omega\right)\left|E_{2}\right\rangle$. (d) Show that second-order perturbation theory yields an energy change $E_{c}=-\epsilon^{2} \hbar / 4 m^{2} \omega^{3}$ in agreement with the exact result,

CG
Coleman Green
Numerade Educator
09:46

Problem 2

The harmonic oscillator of Problem $10.1$ is perturbed by $\delta H=\epsilon x$. Show that the perturbed Hamiltonian can be written
$$
H=\frac{1}{2 m}\left(p^{2}+m^{2} \omega^{2} X^{2}-\frac{\epsilon^{2}}{\omega^{2}}\right)
$$
where $X=x+\epsilon / m \omega^{2}$ and hence deduce the exact change in the groundstate energy. Interpret these results physically.
What value does first-order perturbation theory give? From perturbation theory determine the coefficient $b_{1}$ of the unperturbed first-excited state in the perturbed ground state. Discuss your result in relation to the exact ground state of the perturbed oscillator.

CG
Coleman Green
Numerade Educator
09:25

Problem 3

The harmonic oscillator of Problem $10.1$ is perturbed by $\delta H=\epsilon x^{4}$. Show that the first-order change in the energy of the $n^{\text {th }}$ excited state is
$$
\delta E=3\left(2 n^{2}+2 n+1\right) \epsilon\left(\frac{\hbar}{2 m \omega}\right)^{2}
$$
Hint: express $x$ in terms of $A+A^{\dagger}$.

Ozenc Gungor
Ozenc Gungor
Numerade Educator
View

Problem 4

The infinite square-well potential $V(x)=0$ for $|x|<a$ and $\infty$ for $|x|>a$ is perturbed by the potential $\delta V=\epsilon x / a$. Show that to first order in $\epsilon$ the energy levels of a particle of mass $m$ are unchanged. Show that even to this order the ground-state wavefunction $i s$ changed to
$$
\psi_{1}(x)=\frac{1}{\sqrt{a}} \cos (\pi x / 2 a)+\frac{16 \epsilon}{\pi^{2} E_{1} \sqrt{a}} \sum_{n=2,4,}(-1)^{n / 2} \frac{n}{\left(n^{2}-1\right)^{3}} \sin (n \pi x / 2 a)
$$
where $E_{1}$ is the ground-state energy. Explain physically why this wavefunction does not have well-defined parity but predicts that the particle is more likely to be found on one side of the origin than the other. State with reasons but without further calculation whether the second-order change in the ground-state energy will be positive or negative.

Sikandar Baig
Sikandar Baig
Numerade Educator
06:09

Problem 5

An atomic nucleus has a finite size, and inside it the electrostatic potential $\Phi(r)$ deviates from $Z e /(4 \pi \epsilon r)$. Take the proton's radius to be $a_{\mathrm{p}} \simeq 10^{-15} \mathrm{~m}$ and its charge density to be uniform. Then treating the difference between $\Phi$ and $Z e /\left(4 \pi \epsilon_{0} r\right)$ to be a perturbation on the Hamiltonian of hydrogen, calculate the first-order change in the ground-state energy of hydrogen. Why is the change in the energy of any P state extremely small? Comment on how the magnitude of this energy shift varies with $Z$ in hydrogenic ions of charge $Z$. Hint: exploit the large difference between $a_{\mathrm{p}}$ and $a_{0}$ to approximate the integral you formally require.

Hafiz Shahzaib
Hafiz Shahzaib
Numerade Educator
01:03

Problem 6

Evaluate the Landé $\mathrm{g}$ factor for the case $l=1, s=\frac{1}{2}$ and relate your result to Figure $10.2$.

Tyler Moulton
Tyler Moulton
Numerade Educator
05:33

Problem 7

A particle of mass $m$ moves in the potential $V(x, y)=\frac{1}{2} m \omega^{2}\left(x^{2}+\right.$ $\left.y^{2}\right)$, where $\omega$ is a constant. Show that the Hamiltonian can be written as the sum $H_{x}+H_{y}$ of the Hamiltonians of two identical one-dimensional harmonic oscillators. Write down the particle's energy spectrum. Write down kets for two stationary states in the first-excited level in terms of the stationary states $\left|n_{x}\right\rangle$ of $H_{x}$ and $\left|n_{y}\right\rangle$ of $H_{y} .$ Show that the $n^{\text {th }}$ excited level is $n+1$ fold degenerate.

The oscillator is disturbed by a small potential $H_{1}=\lambda x y .$ Show that this perturbation lifts the degeneracy of the first excited level, producing states with energies $2 \hbar \omega \pm \lambda \hbar / 2 m \omega$. Give expressions for the corresponding kets.
The mirror operator $M$ is defined such that $\langle x, y|M| \psi\rangle=\langle y, x \mid \psi\rangle$ for any state $|\psi\rangle$. Explain physically the relationship between the states $|\psi\rangle$ and $M|\psi\rangle .$ Show that $\left[M, H_{1}\right]=0 .$ Show that $M H_{x}=H_{y} M$ and thus that $[M, H]=0 .$ What do you infer from these commutation relations?

Khaled Yasein
Khaled Yasein
Numerade Educator
09:59

Problem 8

The Hamiltonian of a two-state system can be written
$$
H=\left(\begin{array}{cc}
A_{1}+B_{1} \epsilon & B_{2} \epsilon \\
B_{2} \epsilon & A_{2}
\end{array}\right)
$$
where all quantities are real and $\epsilon$ is a small parameter. To first order in $\epsilon$, what are the allowed energies in the cases (a) $A_{1} \neq A_{2}$, and (b) $A_{1}=A_{2} ?$
Obtain the exact eigenvalues and recover the results of perturbation theory by expanding in powers of $\epsilon$.

Isaac Huidobro
Isaac Huidobro
Numerade Educator
01:13

Problem 9

For the P states of hydrogen, obtain the shift in energy caused by a weak magnetic field (a) by evaluating the Landé g factor, and (b) by use equation (10.28) and the Clebsch-Gordan coefficients calculated in $\S 7.6 .2 .$

Chai Santi
Chai Santi
Numerade Educator
07:51

Problem 10

The $2 \times 2$ Hermitian matrix $\mathbf{H}$ has positive eigenvalues $\lambda_{1}>\lambda_{2}$. The vectors $(X, Y)$ and $(x, y)$ are related by
$$
\mathbf{H} \cdot\left(\begin{array}{l}
X \\
Y
\end{array}\right)=\left(\begin{array}{l}
x \\
y
\end{array}\right)
$$
Show that the points $\left(\lambda_{1} X, \lambda_{2} Y\right)$ and $(x, y)$ are related as shown in Figure 10.3. How does this result generalise to $3 \times 3$ matrices? Explain the relation of Rayleigh's theorem to this result.

Chris Trentman
Chris Trentman
Numerade Educator
27:28

Problem 11

We find an upper limit on the ground-state energy of the harmonic oscillator from the trial wavefunction $\psi(x)=\left(a^{2}+x^{2}\right)^{-\alpha}$. Using the substitution $x=a \tan \theta$, or otherwise, show that when $\alpha=1$
$$
\int_{0}^{\infty} \mathrm{d} x|\psi|^{2}=\frac{1}{4} \pi a^{-3} \int_{0}^{\infty} \mathrm{d} x x^{2}|\psi|^{2}=\frac{1}{4} \pi a^{-1} \int_{0}^{\infty} \mathrm{d} x|p \psi|^{2}=\frac{1}{8} \pi \hbar^{2} a^{-5}
$$
Hence show that $\langle\psi|H| \psi\rangle /\langle\psi \mid \psi\rangle$ is minimised by setting $a=2^{l / 4} \ell$, where $\ell$ is the characteristic length of the oscillator. Show that our upper limit on $E_{0}$ is $\hbar \omega / \sqrt{2} .$ Plot the final trial wavefunction and the actual groundstate wavefunction and infer how $\alpha$ should be changed to obtain a better trial wavefunction.

Sheh Lit Chang
Sheh Lit Chang
University of Washington
02:29

Problem 12

Show that with the trial wavefunction $\psi(x)=\left(a^{2}+x^{2}\right)^{-2}$ the variational principle yields an upper limit $E_{0}<(\sqrt{7} / 5) \hbar \omega \simeq 0.529 \hbar \omega$ on the ground-state energy of the harmonic oscillator.

Lottie Adams
Lottie Adams
Numerade Educator
09:37

Problem 13

Show that for the unnormalised spherically symmetric wavefunction $\psi(r)$ the expectation value of the gross-structure Hamiltonian of hydrogen is
$$
\langle H\rangle=\left(\frac{\hbar^{2}}{2 m_{\mathrm{e}}} \int \mathrm{d} r r^{2}\left|\frac{\mathrm{d} \psi}{\mathrm{d} r}\right|^{2}-\frac{e^{2}}{4 \pi \epsilon_{0}} \int \mathrm{d} r r|\psi|^{2}\right) / \int \mathrm{d} r r^{2}|\psi|^{2}
$$
For the trial wavefunction $\psi_{b}=\mathrm{e}^{-b r}$ show that
$$
\langle H\rangle=\frac{\hbar^{2} b^{2}}{2 m_{\mathrm{e}}}-\frac{e^{2} b}{4 \pi \epsilon_{0}}
$$
and hence recover the definitions of the Bohr radius and the Rydberg constant.

Sheh Lit Chang
Sheh Lit Chang
University of Washington
01:49

Problem 14

Using the result proved in Problem $10.13$, show that the trial wavefunction $\psi_{b}=\mathrm{e}^{-b^{2} r^{2} / 2}$ yields $-8 /(3 \pi) \mathcal{R}$ as an estimate of hydrogen's ground-state energy, where $\mathcal{R}$ is the Rydberg constant.

Narayan Hari
Narayan Hari
Numerade Educator
02:07

Problem 15

Show that the stationary point of $\langle\psi|H| \psi\rangle$ associated with an excited state of $H$ is a saddle point. Hint: consider the state $|\psi\rangle=$ $\cos \theta|k\rangle+\sin \theta|l\rangle$, where $\theta$ is a parameter.

Carson Merrill
Carson Merrill
Numerade Educator
04:22

Problem 16

At early times $(t \sim-\infty)$ a harmonic oscillator of mass $m$ and natural angular frequency $\omega$ is in its ground state. A perturbation $\delta H=$ $\mathcal{E} x \mathrm{e}^{-t^{2} / \tau^{2}}$ is then applied, where $\mathcal{E}$ and $\tau$ are constants.
a. What is the probability according to first-order theory that by late times the oscillator transitions to its second excited state, $|2\rangle$ ?
b. Show that to first order in $\delta H$ the probability that the oscillator transitions to the first excited state, $|1\rangle$, is
$$
P=\frac{\pi \mathcal{E}^{2} \tau^{2}}{2 m \hbar \omega} \mathrm{e}^{-\omega^{2} \tau^{2} / 2}
$$
c. Plot $P$ as a function of $\tau$ and comment on its behaviour as $\omega \tau \rightarrow 0$ and $\omega \tau \rightarrow \infty$.

Stanley Enemuo
Stanley Enemuo
Numerade Educator
05:33

Problem 17

A particle of mass $m$ executes simple harmonic motion at angular frequency $\omega$. Initially it is in its ground state but from $t=0$ its motion is disturbed by a steady force $F .$ Show that at time $t>0$ and to first order in $F$ the state is
$$
|\psi, t\rangle=\mathrm{e}^{-\mathrm{i} E_{0} t / \hbar}|0\rangle+a_{1} \mathrm{e}^{-\mathrm{i} E_{1} t / \hbar}|1\rangle
$$
where
$$
a_{1}=\frac{\mathrm{i}}{\sqrt{2 m \hbar \omega}} \int_{0}^{t} \mathrm{~d} t^{\prime} F\left(t^{\prime}\right) \mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i} \omega t^{\prime}}
$$
Calculate $\langle x\rangle(t)$ and show that your expression coincides with the classical solution
$$
x(t)=\int_{0}^{t} \mathrm{~d} t^{\prime} F\left(t^{\prime}\right) G\left(t-t^{\prime}\right)
$$
where the Green's function is $G\left(t-t^{\prime}\right)=\sin \left[\omega\left(t-t^{\prime}\right)\right] / m \omega .$ Show that a suitable displacement of the point to which the oscillator's spring is anchored could give rise to the perturbation.

Khaled Yasein
Khaled Yasein
Numerade Educator
11:38

Problem 18

A particle of mass $m$ is initially trapped by the well with potential $V(x)=-V_{\delta} \delta(x)$, where $V_{\delta}>0$. From $t=0$ it is disturbed by the time-dependent potential $v(x, t)=-F x \mathrm{e}^{-\mathrm{i} \omega t} .$ Its subsequent wavefunction can be written
$$
|\psi\rangle=a(t) \mathrm{e}^{-\mathrm{i} E_{0} t / \hbar}|0\rangle+\int \mathrm{d} k\left\{b_{k}(t)|k, \mathrm{e}\rangle+c_{k}(t)|k, \mathrm{o}\rangle\right\} \mathrm{e}^{-\mathrm{i} E_{k} t / \hbar}
$$
where $E_{0}$ is the energy of the bound state $|0\rangle$ and $E_{k} \equiv \hbar^{2} k^{2} / 2 m$ and $|k, \mathrm{e}\rangle$ and $|k, \mathrm{o}\rangle$ are, respectively the even- and odd-parity states of energy $E_{k}$ (see Problem 5.17). Obtain the equations of motion
$$
\begin{aligned}
\mathrm{i} \hbar\left\{\dot{a}|0\rangle \mathrm{e}^{-\mathrm{i} E_{0} t / \hbar}+\int \mathrm{d} k\left(\dot{b}_{k}|k, \mathrm{e}\rangle+\dot{c}_{k}|k, \mathrm{o}\rangle\right) \mathrm{e}^{-\mathrm{i} E_{k} t / \hbar}\right\} \\
&=v\left\{a|0\rangle \mathrm{e}^{-\mathrm{i} E_{0} t / \hbar}+\int \mathrm{d} k\left(b_{k}|k, \mathrm{e}\rangle+c_{k}|k, \mathrm{o}\rangle\right) \mathrm{e}^{-\mathrm{i} E_{k} t / \hbar}\right\}
\end{aligned}
$$
Given that the free states are normalised such that $\left\langle k^{\prime}, \mathrm{o} \mid k, \mathrm{o}\right\rangle=\delta\left(k-k^{\prime}\right)$, show that to first order in $v, b_{k}=0$ for all $t$, and that
$$
c_{k}(t)=\frac{\mathrm{i} F}{\hbar}\langle k, \mathrm{o}|x| 0\rangle \mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i} \Omega_{k} t / 2} \frac{\sin \left(\Omega_{k} t / 2\right)}{\Omega_{k} / 2}, \quad \text { where } \quad \Omega_{k} \equiv \frac{E_{k}-E_{0}}{\hbar}-\omega
$$
Hence show that at late times the probability that the particle has become free is
$$
P_{\mathrm{fr}}(t)=\left.\frac{2 \pi m F^{2} t}{\hbar^{3}} \frac{|\langle k, \mathrm{o}|x| 0\rangle|^{2}}{k}\right|_{\Omega_{k}=0}
$$
Given that from Problem $5.17$ we have
$$
\langle x \mid 0\rangle=\sqrt{K e}^{-K|x|} \quad \text { where } \quad K=\frac{m V_{\delta}}{\hbar^{2}} \quad \text { and } \quad\langle x \mid k, o\rangle=\frac{1}{\sqrt{\pi}} \sin (k x)
$$ show that
$$
\langle k, \mathrm{o}|x| 0\rangle=\sqrt{\frac{K}{\pi}} \frac{4 k K}{\left(k^{2}+K^{2}\right)^{2}}
$$
Hence show that the probability of becoming free is
$$
P_{\mathrm{fr}}(t)=\frac{8 \hbar F^{2} t}{m E_{0}^{2}} \frac{\sqrt{E_{\mathrm{f}} /\left|E_{0}\right|}}{\left(1+E_{\mathrm{f}} /\left|E_{0}\right|\right)^{4}}
$$
where $E_{\mathrm{f}}>0$ is the final energy. Check that this expression for $P_{\mathrm{fr}}$ is dimensionless and give a physical explanation of the general form of the energy-dependence of $P_{\mathrm{fr}}(t)$

Ameer Said
Ameer Said
Numerade Educator
17:47

Problem 19

A particle travelling with momentum $p=\hbar k>0$ from $-\infty$ encounters the steep-sided potential well $V(x)=-V_{0}<0$ for $|x|<a$. Use the Fermi golden rule to show that the probability that a particle will be reflected by the well is
$$
P_{\text {reflect }} \simeq \frac{V_{0}^{2}}{4 E^{2}} \sin ^{2}(2 k a)
$$
where $E=p^{2} / 2 m$. Show that in the limit $E \gg V_{0}$ this result is consistent with the exact reflection probability derived in Problem 5.10. Hint: adopt periodic boundary conditions so the wavefunctions of the in and out states can be normalised.

Ren Jie Tuieng
Ren Jie Tuieng
Numerade Educator
02:44

Problem 20

Show that the number of states $g(E) \mathrm{d} E \mathrm{~d}^{2} \Omega$ with energy in $(E, E+\mathrm{d} E)$ and momentum in the solid angle $\mathrm{d}^{2} \Omega$ around $\mathbf{p}=\hbar \mathbf{k}$ of a particle of mass $m$ that moves freely subject to periodic boundary conditions on the walls of a cubical box of side length $L$ is
$$
g(E) \mathrm{d} E \mathrm{~d}^{2} \Omega=\left(\frac{L}{2 \pi}\right)^{3} \frac{m^{3 / 2}}{\hbar^{3}} \sqrt{2 E} \mathrm{~d} E \mathrm{~d} \Omega^{2}
$$
Hence show from Fermi's golden rule that the cross-section for elastic scattering of such particles by a weak potential $V(\mathbf{x})$ from momentum $\hbar \mathbf{k}$ into the solid angle $\mathrm{d}^{2} \Omega$ around momentum $\hbar \mathbf{k}^{\prime}$ is
$$
\mathrm{d} \sigma=\frac{m^{2}}{(2 \pi)^{2} \hbar^{4}} \mathrm{~d}^{2} \Omega\left|\int \mathrm{d}^{3} \mathbf{x} \mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}\left(\mathbf{k}-\mathbf{k}^{\prime}\right) \cdot \mathbf{x}} V(\mathbf{x})\right|^{2}
$$
Explain in what sense the potential has to be 'weak' for this Born approximation to the scattering cross-section to be valid.

Stanley Enemuo
Stanley Enemuo
Numerade Educator
08:12

Problem 21

Given that $a_{0}=\hbar /\left(\alpha m_{\mathrm{e}} c\right)$ show that the product $a_{0} k$ of the Bohr radius and the wavenumber of a photon of energy $E$ satisfies
$$
a_{0} k=\frac{E}{\alpha m_{\mathrm{e}} c^{2}}
$$
Hence show that the wavenumber $k_{\alpha}$ of an $\mathrm{H} \alpha$ photon satisfies $a_{0} k_{\alpha}=\frac{5}{72} \alpha$ and determine $\lambda_{\alpha} / a_{0}$. What is the connection between this result and our estimate that $\sim 10^{7}$ oscillations are required to complete a radiative decay. Does it imply anything about the way the widths of spectral lines from allowed atomic transitions vary with frequency?

Eduard Sanchez
Eduard Sanchez
Numerade Educator
00:29

Problem 22

Equation $(10.75)$ implies that $x_{\pm}$act as ladder operators for $J_{z}$. Why did we not use these operators in $\S 7.1 ?$

Amy Jiang
Amy Jiang
Numerade Educator
20:49

Problem 23

Given that a system's Hamiltonian is of the form
$$
H=\frac{p^{2}}{2 m_{\mathrm{e}}}+V(\mathbf{x})
$$
show that $[x,[H, x]]=\hbar^{2} / m_{\mathrm{e}}$. By taking the expectation value of this expression in the state $|k\rangle$, show that
$$
\sum_{n \neq k}|\langle n|x| k\rangle|^{2}\left(E_{n}-E_{k}\right)=\frac{\hbar^{2}}{2 m_{\mathrm{e}}}
$$
where the sum runs over all the other stationary states.
The oscillator strength of a radiative transition $|k\rangle \rightarrow|n\rangle$ is defined to be
$$
f_{k n} \equiv \frac{2 m_{\mathrm{e}}}{\hbar^{2}}\left(E_{n}-E_{k}\right)|\langle n|x| k\rangle|^{2}
$$
Show that $\sum_{n} f_{k n}=1$. What is the significance of oscillator strengths for the allowed radiative transition rates of atoms?

Mahnoor Amin
Mahnoor Amin
Numerade Educator