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3 Quantum Physics

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27 views9 pages

3 Quantum Physics

Uploaded by

lawrenceamoah662
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Quantum Physics Key Formulae

Postulates - Coordinate Space


1. The quantum state for a system of N particles is given by a wavefunction, which determines
everything that can be known about the system. The wavefunction must be:
 A solution to the Schrodinger equation
 Normalizable
 Continuous in and have a continuous derivative

2. The time evolution of the wavefunction is given by the Schrodinger equation:

3. The wavefunction represents the probability amplitude for finding a particle at a given point
in space at a given time:

4. With every physical observable there is a Hermitian operator , of which the


wavefunctions are eigenfunctions and definite values are eigenvalues:

5. Thus the expected value of is given by:

6. The eigenfunctions of any Hermitian operator form a complete basis for the space of all
wavefunctions:

Postulates - State Vector


1. Each physical system is associated with a complex Hilbert space. States of that system are
represented by one-dimensional abstract vectors of length one:

2. The Schrödinger equation is now written:

3. Physical observables are represented by Hermitian matrices which act on these states:

4. The expectation value of the observable A is given by:

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Delta Function
Some important delta function relations:

Operators
 Hermitian property:
 Position:
 Momentum:
 Total energy:

 Hamiltonian:

 Kinetic energy:

 Time evolution:
 Angular momentum:

 Angular momentum:
 Angular momentum:

Basic Wavefunction Equations


Wavefunctions:

Normalisation:

Operators:

Bra-ket Notation
Basic properties:

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Eigenvalues:

Inserting a complete set of states:

Raising and lowering operators:

Commutators

Angular Momentum
Eigenvalues:

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Commutation relations:

Raising and lowering operators:

Spin
Eigenvalues:

Commutation relations:

Pauli Matrices:

Spin 1/2:

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Identical Particles
Given single particle wavefunctions , we consider the joint wavefunction.

For non-interacting bosons:

For non-interacting fermions:

A product state can be written:

Fock states:

Number operator:

Quantum Computing
Superposition of states:

Hadamaard gate:

Flip gate:

Phase gate:

Controlled not (flips target if control is 1):

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Perturbation Theory
Used when we have a potential of the form:

Write and as power series:

Sub this into the eigenvalue equation:

Taking first order and setting it equal to one:

Taking the inner product with :

Because is Hermitian we have:

Thus our equation becomes:

This yields the result:

To get the wavefunction:

For this simplifies by orthogonality to:

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Since eigenfunctions form a complete basis we have:

Variational Principle
An inequality which states:

Using:

We have:

Similarly:

Other Stuff
 Fourier transform of integral
o Substitute out wavefunctions for fourier transform (using x and x')
o Pull the conjugate wavefunction by itself out the front
o Apply the operator to the second wavefunction
o Rewrite the remaining integral as a plain wavefunction using formula
 Degeneracy of orbitals
o
 Product states are independent, not correlated/entangled. For a system :
o Entangled state:
o Product state:

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 Exchange force: exchange interaction is a quantum mechanical effect between identical
particles which alters the expectation value of the distance when the wave functions of two
or more indistinguishable particles overlap. It increases (for fermions) or decreases (for
bosons) the expectation value of the distance between identical particles (as compared to
distinguishable particles).
 is a projection of along
 Stern–Gerlach experiment
o The Stern–Gerlach experiment involves sending a beam of particles through an
inhomogeneous magnetic field and observing their deflection
o If it moves through a homogeneous magnetic field, the forces exerted on opposite ends
of the dipole cancel each other out and the trajectory of the particle is unaffected.
However, if the magnetic field is inhomogeneous then the force on one end of the dipole
will be slightly greater than the opposing force on the other end
o If the particles were classical spinning objects, one would expect the distribution of their
spin angular momentum vectors to be random and continuous. Instead, the particles
passing through the Stern–Gerlach apparatus are deflected either up or down by a
specific amount
o This shows that particles possess an intrinsic angular momentum that is closely
analogous to the angular momentum of a classically spinning object, but that takes only
certain quantized values
o Another important result is that only one component of a particle's spin can be
measured at one time, meaning that the measurement of the spin along the z-axis
destroys information about a particle's spin along the x and y axis.
 Orbital and extrinsic angular momentum
o Dd
 Spin probabilities: the ratio of spin probabilities is given by the ratio of the normalization
constants , not by the components of . These will only be the same
when you measure exactly along the z-axis.
 For taking expected values of multi-particle states, one must integrate over both variables
 Commutation relations: sub in more complex operator and expand out
 Raising operator: Use
 Integer eigenvalues: note that angular momentum eigenvalues must be integers while spin
eigenvalues can be half-integers. This asymmetry arises from the fact that the spherical
harmonics must remain constant when rotated about by 360 degrees (i.e.
). Spin is not described by spatial coordinates so does not have the same restriction
placed on it.
 Postulates: WaSP-HEB

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