2Basicpostulatesand

mathematicaltools
Basicscientifictheoriesusuallystartwithasetofhypothesesorpostulates.Thereisgenerallynological
reason,apartfrominternalconsistency,thatcanbegiventojustifysuchpostulatesabsolutely.Theycomefrom
revelations in the minds of geniuses, most likely with hints from Nature based on extensive careful
observations.Theirgeneral validitycanonlybeestablishedthroughexperimentalverification.Ifnumerous
rigorously derived logical consequences of a very small set of postulates all agree with experimental
observationswithoutexception,oneisinclinedtoacceptthesepostulatesascorrectdescriptionsofthelawsof
Natureandusethemconfidentlytoexplainandpredictothernaturalphenomena.Quantummechanicsisno
exception.Itisbasedonafewpostulates.Forthepurposeofthepresentdiscussion,webeginwiththreebasic
postulatesinvolving:thestatefunctions,operators,andequationsofmotion.
Inthischapter,thissetofbasicpostulatesandsomeofthecorollariesandrelateddefinitionsoftermsare
introduced and discussed. We will first simply state these postulates and introduce some of the related
mathematicaltoolsandconceptsthatareneededtoarriveattheirlogicalconsequenceslater.Tothosewhohave
notbeenexposedtothesubjectofquantummechanicsbefore,eachofthesepostulatestakenbyitselfmay
appearpuzzlingandmeaninglessatfirst.Itshouldbeborneinmind,however,thatitisthecollectionofthese
postulatesasawholethatformsthefoundationsofquantummechanics.Thefullinterpretation,andthepower
andglory,ofthesepostulateswillonlyberevealedgraduallyastheyaresuccessfullyappliedtomorerealistic
andincreasinglycomplicatedphysicalproblemsinlaterchapters.
2.1Statefunctions(Postulate1)
Thefirstpostulatestatesthatthestateofadynamicsystemiscompletelyspecifiedbyastatefunction.
Evenwithoutacleardefinitionofwhatastatefunctionis,thissimplepostulatealreadymakesaspecificclaim:
thereexistsanabstractstatefunctionthatcontainsalltheinformationaboutthestateofthedynamicsystem.For
thisstatementtohavemeaning,wemustobviouslyprovideaclearphysicalinterpretationofthestatefunction,
andspecifyitsmathematicalproperties.Wemustalsogiveaprescriptionofhowquantitativeinformationisto
beextractedfromthestatefunctionandcomparedwithexperimentalresults.

2.1Statefunctions(Postulate1)9

Thestatefunction,whichisoftendesignatedbyasymbol suchasC,isingeneral acomplexfunction

(meaningaphasor,jjei,withanamplitudeandaphase).Intermsofthemotionofasingleparticleinalinear
space(coordinatex),forexample, jjand intheSchro dingerrepresentationarefunctionsofthecanonical
variablex.

A fundamental distinction between classical mechanics and quantum mechanics is that, in classical
mechanics, the state of the dynamic system is completely specified by the position and velocity of each
constituentpart(orparticle)ofthesystem.Thispresumesthatthepositionandvelocityofaparticlecan,atleast
inprinciple,bemeasuredandspecifiedpreciselyateachinstantoftime.Thepositionandvelocityoftheparticle
atoneinstantoftimearecompletelydeterminedbythepositionandvelocityoftheparticleatapreviousinstant.
Itisdeterministic.Thatonecanspecifythestateofaparticleinthemacroscopicworldinthiswayisintuitively
obvious,becauseonecanseeandtouchsuchaparticle.Itisintuitivelyobviousthatitispossibletomeasureits
positionandvelocitysimultaneously.And,iftwoparticlesarenotatthesameplaceornotmovingwiththe
samevelocity,theyareobviouslynotinthesamestate.

Whataboutintheworldontheatomicandsubatomicscalewherewecannotseeortouchanyparticle
directly?Thereisnoassurancethatourintuitiononhowthingsworkinourworldcanbeextrapolatedtoamuch
smallerworldinwhichwehavenodirectsensorialexperience.Indeed,inquantummechanics,noapriori
assumptionismadeaboutthepossibilityofmeasuringorspecifyingpreciselythepositionandthevelocityof
theparticleatthesametime.Infact,aswillbediscussedinmoredetaillater,accordingtoHeisenbergs
uncertaintyprinciple,itisdecidedlynotpossibletohavecompletesimultaneousknowledgeofthetwo;a
complete formulationof thisprinciple will be given in connection withPostulate 2in Section2.2 below.
Furthermore, quantum mechanics does not presume that measurement of the position of a particle will
necessarilyyieldaparticularvalueofxpredictably.KnowingtheparticleisinthestateC,themostspecific
informationonthepositionoftheparticlethatonecanhopetogetbyanypossiblemeansofmeasurementisthat
theprobabilityofgettingthevaluex

:x

. In other words, the

physicalinterpretationoftheamplitudeofthestatefunctionisthatxjj

relativetothatofgettingthevaluex

isjx

jj

dxis,inthelanguageofprobabilitytheory,proportionaltotheprobabilityoffindingtheparticle
intherangefromxtox+dxinanymeasurementofthepositionoftheparticle.Ifitisknownforcertainthat
thereisoneparticleinthespatialrangefromx=0tox=L,thentheprobabilitydistributionfunction xjj

integratedoverthisrangemustbeequalto1andthewavefunctionissaidtobenormalized:

114

xdx14

xjj

dx:(2:1)0

Ifthewavefunctionisnormalized,theabsolutevalueoftheprobabilityoffindingtheparticleintherangefrom
xtox+dxisxjj

dx.Accordingly,thereisalsoan

102Basicpostulatesandmathematicaltools

,averagevalue,hxi

ofthepositionoftheparticleinthestateC,whichiscalledtheexpectationvalueofthe
positionoftheparticle.Itisanordinarynumbergivenby:

hxi

Z14

xxxdx14

xxjj

dx:(2:2)0

0
 Ameansquaredeviation,x2,fromtheaverageoftheprobablepositionoftheparticlecanalsobe
defined:

x214

xhxi

xdx14

xhxi

xjj

dx;(2:3)

whichgivesameasureofthespreadoftheprobabilitydistributionfunction,xjj

,ofthex
positionpffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffix2

asarounddefinedthein(2.3)averageiscalledvalue.theuncertaintyInthelanguageintheofposition
quantumxofmechanics,theparticlewhenitisinthestateC(x).Thedefinitionsoftheaveragevalueandthe
meansquaredeviation,oruncertainty,canalsobegeneralizedtoanyfunctionofx,suchasanyoperator
intheSchro dingerrepresentation,aswillbediscussedinSection2.3.

Amoredetailedexplanationoftheaboveprobabilisticinterpretationoftheamplitudeofthestatefunction
isinorderatthispoint.xjj

is the probability distribu tion function of the

positionoftheparticleimpliesthefollowing.IftherearealargenumberofparticlesallinthesamestateCin
astatisticalensembleandsimilarmeasurementofthepositionoftheparticlesismadeoneachoftheparticlesin
theensemble,theresultofthemeasurementsisthattheratioofthenumberoftimesaparticleisfoundinthe
rangefromments,N,isequaltoxjj

dx.xtox+dx,N

,tothetotalnumberofmeasureStatingitinanotherway,thenumberoftimesaparticleisfoundinthe
differentialrangex

tox

+dxisintheratioofN

:N

14fromjx

1x

1j
2to:jx

+dx2

tothatintherangefromj

.Theexpectationvalueofthepositionofthe
particle,hxi

,istheaverageofthemeasuredpositionsoftheparticles:

hxi

Z14x

1N

2N

x
 3N

14

xxjj

dx;0

asgivenbyEq.(2.2).Theuncertainty,x,isthespreadofthemeasuredpositionsaroundtheaveragevalue:

x214x

hxi

Nx

hxi

Nx

x
3

3N

14

hxi

ZL

xhxi

xjj

dx;

asgivenbyEq.(2.3).

2.1Statefunctions(Postulate1)11

Theessenceofthediscussionsofaristhattherelationshipbetweenthephysicallymeasurablepropertiesofa
dynamicsystemandthestatefunctionofthesysteminquantummechanicsisprobabilistictobeginwith.The
implicationisthatthepredictionofthefuturecourseofthedynamicsofthesystemintermsofphysically
measurablepropertiesis,accordingtoquantummechanics,necessarilyprobabilistic,notdeterministic,even
thoughthetimeevolutionofthestatefunctionitselfisdetermineduniquelybyitsinitialconditionaccordingto
Schro dingersequation,asweshallsee.

ItisalsoassumedasapartofPostulate1thatthestatefunctionsatisfiestheprincipleofsuperposition,
meaningthelinearcombinationoftwostatefunctionsisalsoapossiblestatefunction:
14a

;(2:4)

wherea

anda

are,ingeneral,complexnumbers(withrealandimaginaryparts).Thissimplepropertyhas
profoundmathematicalandphysicalimplications,aswillbeseenlater.

Thephysicalsignificanceofthephase,,ofastatefunction,C,isindirectandmoresubtle.Inadditiontoits
xdependence,thephasefactoralsogivestheexplicittimedependenceofthewavefunction,aswillbeshown
laterinconnectionwiththesolutionofSchro dingersequation.Itis,therefore,offundamentalimportanceto
theunderstandingofthedynamicsofatomicandsubatomicparticles.

The following example making use of the superposition principle may help to illustrate the physical
significanceofthisphasefactor.SupposeeachparticleinthestateCinthestatisticalensemblecanevolvefrom
twodifferentpossiblepathswiththerelativeprobabilityofja

:ja

2
 .Theatomsinthefinalensembleare,however,indistinguishablefromone
anotherandeachisinamixedstatethatisasuperpositionoftwostatesC

andC

,intheformofEq.(2.4).Theprobabilitydistributionfunctionoftheparticles
inthefinalstateintheensembleis,however,proportionaltojj

.Itcontainsnotonlythetermsa

butalsothecrossterms,ortheinterference
terms(a1

jj

jj

jj

jja

2
j

jj

jei

a2

jj

jei

).Thus,jj

dependson,amongotherthings,therelativephase(

)andtherelativephasesofa
1

anda

.Inshort,sincetheprobabilitydistributionfunctionisproportionaltothesquareofthestatefunction,
wheneverthefinalstatefunctionisasuperpositionoftwoormorestatefunctions,theprobabilitydistribution
functioncorrespondingtothefinalstatedependsontherelativephasesoftheconstituentstatefunctions.Itcan
lead tointerference effects,muchas inthe familiar constructive anddestructiveinterfer encephenomena
involvingelectromagneticwaves.Thisisoneofthemanifestationsofthewaveparticledualitypredictedby
quantummechanicsandhasbeenobservedinnumerousexperiments.Ithasledtoagreatvarietyofimportant
practicalapplicationsandisoneofthemajortriumphsofquantummechanics.

Thesuperpositionofstatesoftwoormorequantumsystemsthatleadstocorrelatedoutcomesinthe
measurementsofthesesystemsisoftendescribedasentanglementinquantuminformationsciencein
recentliterature.

2.2Operators(Postulate2)

Thesecondpostulatestatesthatallphysicallyobservablepropertiesofadynamicsystemarerepresentedby
dynamicvariablesthatarelinearoperators.Tounderstandwhatanoperatoris,letuslookatwhatitdoesand
whatitsmathematicalpropertiesandthecorrespondingphysicalinterpretationare.

First,itsconnectiontoexperimentalresultsisthefollowing.Consider,forexample,anoperator

correspondingtothedynamicvariablerepresentingthepropertyQofthesystem.According
toquantummechanics,knowingthesystemisinthestateCdoesnotmeanthatmeasurementofthepropertyQ
willnecessarilyyieldacertainparticularvalue.Itwillonlytellusthatrepeatedmeasurementsofthesame
propertyQofsimilarsystems,ormeasurementsofalargenumberofsimilarsystems,allinthesamestateC,
willgiveastatisticaldistributionofvalueswithanaveragevalueequalto:

ZQi

14

Qd~r;

(2:5a)

whichistheexpectationvalueofthepropertyQ,andanuncertainty:

Q214
Z

~r

Qi

~rd~r;(2:5b)

ingeneralthethreedimensionalafunctionofthecanonicalSchro dingervariables

representation.~rand

~p

andBecausecanbeatheoperator

isindifferentialoperator,onecannotarbitrarilyreversetheorderofmultiplicationofC*and

Q.

Eqs.(2.5a&b)aregeneralizationsof
Eqs.(2.2)and(2.3)thatintroducedtheconceptsofexpectationvaluesanduncertainties.

Second,mathematically,anoperatoronlyhasmeaningwhenitoperatesonastatefunction.Ingeneral,an
operatorchangesonestatefunctiontoanother.Forexample,theoperator

appliedtoanarbitrarystatefunctionCgenerallychangesitintoanotherstate:

14:(2:6)
 Thetruemeaningofthissimpleabstractequationwillnotbeclearuntilweknowexactlyhowtofindthe
operatorexpressionrepresentingeachphysicalproperty.AscorollariesofPostulate2,thereisasetofruleson
howtodosoforeverydynamicpropertyofthesystem.

Corollary1

Allthedynamicvariablesand,hence,allthecorrespondingoperatorsrepresentinganypropertyofthesystem
havethesamefunctionaldependenceonthecanonicalvariables

representingtheposition,

~p, as in classical mechanics. For example, the

operatorsrepresentingthekineticenergy,theangularmomentum,thepotentialenergy,andtheHamiltonian
(totalenergy),etc.are,respectively,

Two very important consequences follow from this

consideration:

1.thenotionofcommutationrelationshipandtheuncertaintyprinciple;and2.theconceptofeigen
valuesandeigenfunctions.

Commutationrelationsandtheuncertaintyprinciple

Aninterestingquestionthatcannowbeaddressedisthis.Howdoesoneknowwhetheritispossibletohave
completesimultaneousknowledgeoftwospecificpropertiesofasystem,sayAandB?

Physically,fortwopropertiestobespecifiedsimultaneously,itmustbepossibletomeasureoneofthetwo
propertieswithoutinfluencingtheoutcomeofthemeasurement

2.2Operators(Postulate2)13

~r,andthelinearmomentum,

142Basicpostulatesandmathematicaltools

oftheotherproperty,andviceversa.Inshort,theorderofmeasurementsofthetwopropertiesshouldnot
matter,nomatterwhatstatethesystemisin.Thismeansthatapplicationoftheoperator

ofthepositionandmomentumoftheparticlesintheensemblemustbegreaterthanorequalto h/2.Equation
(2.12) shows that this uncertainty principle (2.13) is at the same time a consequence of the commutation
relationships(2.11a)and(2.11b),whichsaysthat measurementsofthepositionandthemomentum ofthe
particlearenotindependentofeachother.

Onemightquestionwhetherthekeyresult(2.13)oftheuncertaintyprincipleisphysicallyreasonable.Inthe
macroscopicworld,if,forexample,thereisabilliardballsittingthereandnotmoving,onewillcertainlyknow
itbysimplylookingattheball.Ifitisinpitchdarkness,onewillnotknoweitheritspositionoritsvelocity.To
knowitspositionbylooking,photonsfromsomelightsourcemustbescatteredfromthebilliardballintothe
eyeballsofthepersondoingthelooking.Scatteringphotonsfromthebilliardballisnotgoingtochangeits
velocity.Becauseeventhoughthephotonshavemomentum,themassofamacroscopicbilliardballisalways
toolargeforittobemovedanymeasurableamountbythemomentumimpartedtoitbythephotons.Thus,one
canknowitspositionandvelocitysimultaneously.Whyisitthenonecannotspecifythepositionandvelocityof
anatomicorsubatomicparticlesimultaneously?

Aqualitativeappreciationoftheuncertaintyprinciplemightbegainedonthebasisofitsinterpretationbased
on the commutation relationships (2.11a) and (2.11b) of the corresponding measurement processes. Thus,
consider,forexample,insteadofabilliardball,atinyatomicorsubatomicparticle.Intheprocessofscattering
atleastonephotonfromtheparticletoaphotodetectorinordertomeasureitsposition,momentumwillbe
transferredfromthephotontotheparticle,theamountofwhichisnotnegligibleforatomicorsubatomic
particlesbutisuncertainanddependsupontheaccuracyofthepositionmeasurement.(Foramoreindepth
discussionofthisissue,see,forexample,Bohm(1951).Section5.11.)Subsequentmeasurementofthevelocity
oftheparticlewillthengivearesultthatisnotthesameasthatwhenthepositionoftheparticleisdetermined.
Thus, the position and the velocity of the atomic or subatomic particle cannot be specified precisely
simultaneously.Thisexamplegivesanintuitivebasisforunderstandingtheuncertaintyprincipleasembodiedin
Eq.(2.13)onthebasisofitssubtleconnection,throughEq.(2.12),withthecommutationpropertiesofthe
operatorsrepresentingthecorrespondingmeasurementprocesses.

Thebasiccommutationrelationships,(2.11a&b),betweenthecanonicalvariables,xandp

, and Heisenbergs uncertainty principle, (2.13), are both necessary conse quences of the basic
postulatethat,intheSchro dingerrepresentation,theoperatorsxandp

2.2Operators(Postulate2)17

Postulate2ineitherform,itispossibletodeterminewhatphysicalpropertiescanalwaysbemeasuredin
arbitraryorderandpossiblybespecifiedpreciselysimultaneouslyandwhichonescannot.

Eigenvaluesandeigenfunctions

WithPostulates1and2,anothersetofquestionswithgreat physical significancecanbeaddressed.What

propertiesofasystemarequantized,whatarenot,andwhy?Ifapropertyisquantized,whatpossibleresults
willmeasurementsofsuchapropertyyield?Thesequestionscannowbeansweredpreciselymathematically.
Theallowedvaluesofanyproperty(ortheresultofanymeasurementoftheproperty)arelimitedtotheeigen
valuesoftheoperatorrepresentingthisproperty.Ifthecorrespondingeigenvaluesarediscrete,thispropertyis
quantized;otherwise,itisnot.What,then,aretheeigenvaluesandeigenfunctionsofanoperator?
(EigencamefromtheGermanwordEigentumthatdoesnotseemtohaveapreciseEnglishtranslation.It
meanssomethinglikecharacteristicordistinct,ormorepreciselytheidiopartofidiosyncrasyin
Greek,butitspreciseinterpretationisprobablybestinferredfromhowitisusedincontext.)

Asstatedearlier,ingeneralanoperatoroperatingonanarbitrarystatefunctionwillchangeittoanotherstate
function.Itcanbeshownthat,associatedwitheachoperatorrepresentingaphysicallyobservableproperty,
thereisauniquesetofcharacteristicstatefunctionsthatwillnotchangewhenoperateduponbytheoperator.
Thesestatefunctionsarecalledtheeigenfunctionsofthisoperator.Applicationofsuchanoperatoroneach
ofitseigenfunctionsleadstoacharacteristicnumber,whichisarealnumber(noimaginarypart),multiplying
thiseigenfunction.Thecharacteristicnumbercorrespondingtoeacheigenfunctionoftheoperatoriscalledthe
eigenvaluecorrespondingtothiseigenfunction.Forexample,theeigenvalueequationwithdiscreteeigen
values: