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    Quantum Bouncing Ball PDF

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    billytho1991
    This document discusses the quantum dynamics of a bouncing ball modeled by a quantum Hamiltonian. It introduces: 1) Scaling position and energy to put the eigenvalue equation in a dimensionless form. 2) Using the WKB approximation to estimate eigenvalues. 3) The exact solutions being Airy functions with discrete real eigenvalues given by the zeroes of the Airy function. 4) Looking at the time evolution of an initial quasi-classical state and comparing it to the classical trajectory.

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    Quantum Bouncing Ball PDF

    Uploaded by

    billytho1991
    113 views2 pages
    This document discusses the quantum dynamics of a bouncing ball modeled by a quantum Hamiltonian. It introduces: 1) Scaling position and energy to put the eigenvalue equation in a dimensionless form. 2) Using the WKB approximation to estimate eigenvalues. 3) The exact solutions being Airy functions with discrete real eigenvalues given by the zeroes of the Airy function. 4) Looking at the time evolution of an initial quasi-classical state and comparing it to the classical trajectory.

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    This document discusses the quantum dynamics of a bouncing ball modeled by a quantum Hamiltonian. It introduces: 1) Scaling position and energy to put the eigenvalue equation in a dimensionless form. 2) Using the WKB approximation to estimate eigenvalues. 3) The exact solutions being Airy functions with discrete real eigenvalues given by the zeroes of the Airy function. 4) Looking at the time evolution of an initial quasi-classical state and comparing it to the classical trajectory.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    113 views2 pages

    Quantum Bouncing Ball PDF

    Uploaded by

    billytho1991
    This document discusses the quantum dynamics of a bouncing ball modeled by a quantum Hamiltonian. It introduces: 1) Scaling position and energy to put the eigenvalue equation in a dimensionless form. 2) Using the WKB approximation to estimate eigenvalues. 3) The exact solutions being Airy functions with discrete real eigenvalues given by the zeroes of the Airy function. 4) Looking at the time evolution of an initial quasi-classical state and comparing it to the classical trajectory.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 2

    quantum mechanics approximation methods FFFF

    Quantum Bouncing Ball


    In this problem we consider the quantum dynamics of a bouncing ball, or a point mass of mass m with
    quantum Hamiltonian
    p2
    H= + mgz.
    2m
    Furthermore, we are restricted to the half-space z > 0 (i.e., the ball bounces off of the floor at z = 0).
    Now, this problem is going to get a bit involved, and so right away were going to want to work in
    dimensionless units.

    (a) Explain how to scale position and energy from z x and E , respectively, so that the eigenvalue
    equation becomes
    d2
    = (x ).
    dx2
    (b) Use the WKB approximation estimate the eigenvalues  for the above equation, with the appropriate
    boundary conditions.

    This is the classical example of a problem which can be solved very accurately by the WKB approximation.
    In fact, however, there are still some surprises to the quantum bouncing ball! To get further, well
    want to understand a bit more about the exact solutions. These are called Airy functions, and they are
    defined as the normalizable solution to the differential equation

    d2
    Ai(x) = x Ai(x).
    dx2
    It turns out one has the following integral representation:
    Z
    t3
     
    1
    Ai(x) = dt cos xt + .
    3
    0

    The zeroes of the Airy function can be denoted by n , where n > 0 are discrete real numbers.

    (c) What are the exact eigenvalues of the Hamiltonian? (You may still use dimensionless units.)

    Our goal is now to look at the time-evolution of a quasi-classical state:


    1/4
    1 2 2
    (x, 0) = 2
    e(xx0 ) /4 .
    2

    with  x0 . Define n0 min |n z0 | and T 2 x0 . Note that the classical trajectory of this particle
    n
    would be1

    2x0 X 4x0 2nt
    zcl (t) = + (1)n 2 2 cos .
    3 n T
    n=1
    1
    You do not need to find this explicitly. It is just an exercise in Fourier transforms.
    Finally, you may find the following list of identities useful:

    1 2/3
     
    3
    n n ,
    2 4
    Z

    Nn dx Ai(x)2 ,
    2
    n
    0
    Z
    0= dx Ai(x n )Ai(x m ) if m 6= n,
    0
    Z
    2Nn Nm (1)nm
    = dx xAi(x m )Ai(x n ) if m 6= n,
    (n m )2
    0
    Z
    2n Nn2
    dx xAi(x n )2 .
    3
    0

    (d) Show that2


    x0 n (x0 n )3
     
    Nn (n x0 )2 /4 2
    hn|(t = 0)i = e 1 + .
    (2 2 )1/4 4 4 24 6

    (e) Show that if n0  1 and |n n0 |  n0 :

    2
    n n0 + p (n n0 ) 2 (n n0 )2 .
    n0 4n0

    (f) Ignore the quadratic term in the approximation of part (e). Show that then hz(t)i = zcl (t) by using
    your previous results and the Airy function identities.

    (g) Now include the effects of the quadratic term and let t = N T . Show that if N T 3 /4 is close to an
    odd integer, then the quantum bouncing ball will be almost exactly out of phase with the bouncing
    oscillations of the classical ball.

    2
    Begin by using the integral representation of the Airy function. Perform the Gaussian integral over x. Then perform an
    approximate Gaussian integral over t, keeping only the lowest order term in t3 .

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