198 CHAPTER 7.

THE VARIATIONAL PRINCIPLE

Problem 7.4


(a) Follow the proof in 7.1: = cn n , where 1 is the ground state. Since
1 | = 0, we have:
n=1


cn
1 | = c1 = 0; the coecient of the ground state is zero. So
n=1




H = En |cn |2 Efe |cn |2 = Efe , since En Efe for all n except 1.
n=2 n=2

(b)

 
2 2bx2 1 2b
1 = |A| 2
x e dx = |A| 2 2
= |A|2 = 4b .
8b 2b


2
d2  bx2 
xebx
2

T  = |A|2 xe dx
2m dx2

d2  
d  bx2 
xebx 2bx2 ebx = 2bxebx 4bxebx + 4b2 x3 ebx
2 2 2 2 2
e=
dx2 dx
     

2 2b
2bx2 2
2 b 2b 1 2 3

T  = 4b 2 6bx + 4b x e
2 2 4
dx = 2 6b + 4b 2
2m 0 m 8b 2b 32b 2b
 
4
2 b 3 3 3
2 b
= + = .
m 4 8 2m
  
1 2 2bx2 2 1 2b 3 3m 2

V  = m |A|
2 2
x e x dx = m 4b 2
2 2
= .
2 2 32b 2b 8b

3
2 b 3m
H 3
2 3m 2 m2 2 m

H = + ; = 2
= 0 = b 2
= 2
= b = .
2m 8b b 2m 8b 4
2

 
3
2 m 3m 2 2
3 3 3

Hmin = + =
+ =
.
2m 2
8 m 4 4 2
This is exact, since the trial wave function is in the form of the true rst excited state.

Problem 7.5
0
(a) Use the unperturbed ground state (gs ) as the trial wave function. The variational principle says

gs |H|gs  Egs . But H = H 0 + H , so
gs
0 0 0 0
|H|gs
0
 =
gs
0
|H 0 |gs
0
 +
gs
0
|H |gs
0
. But
gs
0
|H 0 |gs
0
=
0
Egs (the unperturbed ground state energy), and
gs |H |gs  is precisely the rst order correction to the
0 0
0
ground state energy (Eq. 6.9), so Egs + Egs 1
Egs . QED
 |
0 |H |gs |2
2 2 m
(b) The second order correction (Egs ) is Egs = 0 E0
. But the numerator is clearly positive,
Egs m
m=gs
0 0 2
and the denominator is always negative (since Egs < Em for all m), so Egs is negative.

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