Physics 137A: Quantum Mechanics I, Spring 2006

Midterm I solutions prepared by JEM

Directions: The allotted time is 80 minutes. The 4 problems count equally. Two sides of
your own notes are allowed. No books or calculators are allowed, and please ask for help only if a
questions meaning is unclear.
mx
1. Consider the harmonic oscillator
q ground state wavefunction (x) = Ae

malization integral gives 1 if

|A|2

h
m ,

Rb
a

|(x)|2 dx =

Rb
a

. The nor-

which is satisfied by taking

A=

(a)

2 /2
h

m
h

1/4

(1)

m 1/2 mx2 /
h dx.
e

(b) This wavefunction is not an eigenfunction of kinetic energy, since

function does not give multiplication by a constant.

p2
2m

acting on the wave-

(c)

p2
h2 d2
h
i=
(x)
(x) dx =
.
(2)
2
2m
2m dx
4

(Note: from this you can show that a particle in the harmonic oscillator ground state divides its
energy evenly between potential energy and kinetic energy.)

2. (a) For the wavefunction

1
1
(x, t = 0) = 1 (x) + 2 (x),
2
2

(3)

a plot can be used to show that hxi must be negative. Since 1 is always positive, and 2 is positive
on the left half and negative on the right, |1 + 2 |2 is larger at every point on the left side than
at its mirror image on the right, which implies that the average position must lie to the left of the
center. Computing the integral is not difficult and verifies this result.
(b) The particle will have moved to the other side when there is a relative phase of between
the two components, which first happens when (E2 E1 )T = h. Using the energies of the above
eigenfunctions (which are just h
2 k 2 /2m with the appropriate k), this gives
3 2 h2
T = h
2ma2

!1

(4)

3. (a) An energy eigenstate satisfies (x, t) = eiEt/h (x, 0), and writing out the integral for
the expectation value of momentum makes it clear that the phase factor, which depends only on t
and not on x, does not modify the average (it cancels between the and ).

(b) Since the function (x) (x) satisfies the same time-independent Schrodinger equation
as (x), it is an eigenstate at the same energy. If (x) is real then so is (x); by nondegeneracy (x)
is an overall phase factor times (x). But the only overall phase factors that will give a real (x)
are (x) = (x) or (x) = (x): these are the conditions for to be even or odd, respectively.
(c) One way to prove this is as follows: expand =
hEi =

|cn |2 En

n=1

n=1 n

by completeness. Then

|cn |2 E0 = E0 ,

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n=1

where in the inequality we used that E0 is the lowest energy and |cn |2 > 0, and in the third equality
P
we used the normalization condition |cn |2 = 1.
4. (a) There are no bound states with E > 0 since then E > V (x = ), which violates one
of the conditions for a bound state. There are also no bound states with E < 0: to prove this note
that in an eigenstate of energy E0 , hEi = E0 . For this potential the expected potential energy
is always nonnegative since V > 0 everywhere, as is the expected kinetic energy, so their sum is
nonnegative.
(b) Consider the potential V (x) = ax4 + bx2 + c, with a > 0 and b < 0. Sketch this potential.
Estimate the ground state energy by expanding the potential to quadratic order around one of its
lowest points. It may help to recall that the harmonic oscillator ground state energy is E = h
/2,
when the potential is V = m 2 x2 /2.
q

This potential has three points where V 0 (x) = 0, of which two are minima at x = b
2a . The
00
2
second derivative at either of the minima is V = 2b + 12ax = 4b, so near the positive minimum
x0 , for example, we can expand
V (x) V (x0 ) +

(x x0 )2 00
V (x0 ) + . . . .
2

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This is like a harmonic oscillator but with an offset V (x0 ) = c b2 /(2a) + b2 /(4a) = c b2 /(4a).
and m 2 = (4b). The resulting energy estimate is
h 4b/m
b2
+
,
E =c
4a
2
p

which has the form of the classical minimum energy plus a quantum correction.

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