Final

171.303 Fall 2010

(open book and notes)
1. (20 points) Three spin-1/2 particles are released in a pure quantum state of total
spin quantum number of s = 3/2 and total z-component of angular momentum
m = +1/2, labeled |3/2, +1/2.
(a) Write this state as a linear combination of states labeled by the z-components
of the individual particle spins, of the form | z
1
| z
2
| z
3
. The subscripts
label particles 1, 2, and 3.
(b) If particle 1 is measured to be in the | +x state, what is the probability that
particles 2 and 3 are together in a zero total angular momentum state?
(c) If particle 1 is measured to be in the | +x state, and particle 2 is also measured
to be in the | +x state, what is the probability that particle 3 will be found
in the | +z state?
(d) If particle 1 is measured to be in the | +x state, and particle 2 is measured to
be in the | x state, what is the probability that particle 3 will be found in
the | +z state?
2. (35 points) A particle of mass m is in the ground state | of a harmonic oscillator
potential. The potential suddenly increases its natural frequency by a factor 4.
Thus, while the new potential is V (x) =
1
2
m
2
x
2
, the initial wave function of the
particle is that of the ground state of a harmonic oscillator with frequency /4. In
terms of raising and lowering operators, the new Hamiltonian is

H = h( a

a+1/2).
(a) What is the old ground state wave function x| in terms of and m.
(b) Find the probability that a measurement will nd the particle in the ground
state of the new harmonic oscillator.
(c) What linear combination of the operators x and p annihilates the state |?
Call that linear combination

b. Thus,

b| = 0. Hint, what is the lowering
operator of the old oscillator?
(d) Write

b in terms of raising and lowering operators a

and a.
(e) Label the states of the new oscillator as |n, and its energies as E
n
. What
is the probability that the particle will be measured to have energy E
1
? E
2
?
To compute these, use 0|

b| = 0 and 1|

b| = 0 to relate them to the

probability of being in the ground state (n = 0) .
(f) Bonus: write a recursion relation to calculate all probability amplitudes n|.
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3. (15 points) A particle with mass m moves in the following potential:
V (x) =

x < 0
0 0 < x < a
V
0
(x/a 1) x > a
(a) Sketch an estimate of the solution to the Schr odinger equation based solely on
the qualitative features of the potential.
(b) Use the WKB approximation to obtain an approximate expression for bound
state energies.
(c) Check your result by comparing the appropriate limit of it to the bound state
energies for the innite square well potential.
4. (30 points) A particle of mass m is in the ground state | of a one-dimensional
harmonic oscillator potential when the potential suddenly shifts its position by an
amount . The result is a harmonic oscillator,

H = h( a

a + 1/2), whose particle

is in an initial state x| = (x) =
0
(x ), shifted from the ground state wave
function
0
(x).
(a) Compute the probability of nding the particle in the ground state, |0||
2
.
(b) | can be written as the ground state shifted by the translation operator,

T()|0, with

T() = e
i p/h
. Write the translation operator in terms of
raising and lowering operators.
(c) Find

a,

T()

and

,

T()

(remember the tricks we used for coherent states

in class).
(d) Find the expectation value of the energy in this state, |

H| and see that it is
equivalent to the classical energy of a particle in a harmonic oscillator shifted a
distance from the center plus the zero point energy of the harmonic oscillator.
(e) Compute the probability of nding the particle in any excited state, |n||
2
,
and then write | as a linear combination of energy eigenstates.
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