Day: August 31, 2015

Quantum Virial Theorem

August 31, 2015 phy1520 , , , , ,

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Question: Quantum Virial Theorem ([1] pr. 2.7)

Consider a particle with Hamiltonian

\begin{equation}\label{eqn:qmVirialTheorem:20}
H = \frac{\Bp^2}{2 m} + V(\Bx),
\end{equation}

By calculating the time evolution of \( \antisymmetric{\Bx \cdot \Bp}{H} \), identify the quantum virial theorem and show the conditions where it is satisfied.

Answer

\begin{equation}\label{eqn:qmVirialTheorem:40}
\begin{aligned}
\antisymmetric{\Bx \cdot \Bp}{H}
&=
\inv{2 m} \antisymmetric{\Bx \cdot \Bp}{\Bp^2} + \antisymmetric{\Bx \cdot \Bp}{V(\Bx)} \\
&=
\inv{2 m} \lr{ x_r p_r \Bp^2 – \Bp^2 x_r p_r}
+
\lr{ x_r p_r V(\Bx) – V(\Bx) x_r p_r } \\
&=
\inv{2 m} \antisymmetric{ x_r }{\Bp^2} p_r
+
x_r \antisymmetric{ p_r}{ V(\Bx)},
\end{aligned}
\end{equation}

Evaluating those commutators separately, gives

\begin{equation}\label{eqn:qmVirialTheorem:60}
\begin{aligned}
\antisymmetric{ x_r }{\Bp^2}
&=
\antisymmetric{ x_r }{p_r^2}\qquad \text{no sum} \\
&=
2 i \Hbar p_r,
\end{aligned}
\end{equation}

and

\begin{equation}\label{eqn:qmVirialTheorem:80}
\antisymmetric{ p_r}{ V(\Bx)}
= -i \Hbar \PD{x_r}{V(\Bx)},
\end{equation}

so
\begin{equation}\label{eqn:qmVirialTheorem:100}
\begin{aligned}
\ddt{}\lr{\Bx \cdot \Bp}
&=
\inv{i \Hbar}
\antisymmetric{\Bx \cdot \Bp}{H} \\
&=
\inv{2 m} 2 p_r p_r – x_r \PD{x_r}{V(\Bx)} \\
&=
\frac{\Bp^2}{m} – \Bx \cdot \spacegrad V(\Bx).
\end{aligned}
\end{equation}

Taking expectation values, assuming that the states are independent of time, we have

\begin{equation}\label{eqn:qmVirialTheorem:120}
\begin{aligned}
0
&= \ddt{} \expectation{ \Bx \cdot \Bp } \\
&= \expectation{\frac{\Bp^2}{m}} – \expectation{\Bx \cdot \spacegrad V(\Bx)}.
\end{aligned}
\end{equation}

Note that taking the expectation with respect to stationary states was required to reverse the order of the time derivative with the expectation operation.

The right hand side is the quantum equivalent of the virial theorem, relating the average kinetic energy to the potential

\begin{equation}\label{eqn:qmVirialTheorem:140}
2 \expectation{T} = \expectation{\Bx \cdot \spacegrad V(\Bx)}
\end{equation}

References

[1] Jun John Sakurai and Jim J Napolitano. Modern quantum mechanics. Pearson Higher Ed, 2014.

A symmetric real Hamiltonian

August 31, 2015 phy1520 , ,

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Question: A symmetric real Hamiltonian ([1] pr. 2.9)

Find the time evolution for the state \( \ket{a’} \) for a Hamiltian of the form

\begin{equation}\label{eqn:symmetricHamiltonianEvolution:20}
H = \delta \lr{ \ket{a’}\bra{a’} + \ket{a”}\bra{a”} }
\end{equation}

Answer

This Hamiltonian has the matrix representation

\begin{equation}\label{eqn:symmetricHamiltonianEvolution:40}
H =
\begin{bmatrix}
0 & \delta \\
\delta & 0
\end{bmatrix},
\end{equation}

which has a characteristic equation of

\begin{equation}\label{eqn:symmetricHamiltonianEvolution:60}
\lambda^2 -\delta^2 = 0,
\end{equation}

so the energy eigenvalues are \( \pm \delta \).

The diagonal basis states are respectively

\begin{equation}\label{eqn:symmetricHamiltonianEvolution:80}
\ket{\pm\delta} =
\inv{\sqrt{2}}
\begin{bmatrix}
\pm 1 \\
1
\end{bmatrix}.
\end{equation}

The time evolution operator is

\begin{equation}\label{eqn:symmetricHamiltonianEvolution:100}
\begin{aligned}
U
&= e^{-i H t/\Hbar} \\
&=
e^{-i \delta t/\Hbar} \ket{+\delta}\bra{+\delta}
+ e^{i \delta t/\Hbar} \ket{-\delta}\bra{-\delta} \\
&=
\frac{e^{-i \delta t/\Hbar} }{2}
\begin{bmatrix}
1 & 1
\end{bmatrix}
\begin{bmatrix}
1 \\
1
\end{bmatrix}
+ \frac{e^{i \delta t/\Hbar} }{2}
\begin{bmatrix}
-1 & 1
\end{bmatrix}
\begin{bmatrix}
-1 \\
1
\end{bmatrix} \\
&=
\frac{e^{-i \delta t/\Hbar} }{2}
\begin{bmatrix}
1 & 1 \\
1 & 1
\end{bmatrix}
+\frac{e^{i \delta t/\Hbar} }{2}
\begin{bmatrix}
1 & -1 \\
-1 & 1
\end{bmatrix} \\
&=
\begin{bmatrix}
\cos(\delta t/\Hbar) & -i\sin(\delta t/\Hbar) \\
-i \sin(\delta t/\Hbar) & \cos(\delta t/\Hbar) \\
\end{bmatrix}.
\end{aligned}
\end{equation}

The desired time evolution in the original basis is

\begin{equation}\label{eqn:symmetricHamiltonianEvolution:140}
\begin{aligned}
\ket{a’, t}
&=
e^{-i H t/\Hbar}
\ket{a’, 0} \\
&=
\begin{bmatrix}
\cos(\delta t/\Hbar) & -i\sin(\delta t/\Hbar) \\
-i \sin(\delta t/\Hbar) & \cos(\delta t/\Hbar) \\
\end{bmatrix}
\begin{bmatrix}
1 \\
0
\end{bmatrix} \\
&=
\begin{bmatrix}
\cos(\delta t/\Hbar) \\
-i \sin(\delta t/\Hbar)
\end{bmatrix} \\
&=
\cos(\delta t/\Hbar) \ket{a’,0} -i \sin(\delta t/\Hbar) \ket{a”,0}.
\end{aligned}
\end{equation}

This evolution has the same structure as left circularly polarized light.

The probability of finding the system in state \( \ket{a”} \) given an initial state of \( \ket{a’,0} \) is

\begin{equation}\label{eqn:symmetricHamiltonianEvolution:160}
P
=
\Abs{\braket{a”}{a’,t}}^2
=
\sin^2 \lr{ \delta t/\Hbar }.
\end{equation}

References

[1] Jun John Sakurai and Jim J Napolitano. Modern quantum mechanics. Pearson Higher Ed, 2014.