INDIAN INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE EDUCATION AND RESEARCH (IISER), PUNE

(An Autonomous Institution, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Govt. of India)

Dr Homi Bhabha Road, Pune 411 008

FALL 2015
Assignment 2: Free particle and wave packets

Course name: Quantum Mechanics 1(PHY321)

Date of submission: 17/08/2015

For a free particle, energy and momentum are precisely defined. The corresponding dispersion relation is
Ek = h
2 k 2 /2m, where m is the mass of the particle. The wave functions for a free particle are plane wave
solutions with wavelength given by = h/p, so-called the de Broglie relation, with p being the momentum.
Free particle is completely delocalized in the position space. A particle prepared with imprecise momentum
is described by the superposition of plane waves with different wave numbers. Such a wave function is
called a wavepacket and it takes the form in one-dimension as
Z
1
(x, t = 0) =
dk g(k) exp(ikx),
(1)
2
where g(k) gives us the momentum distribution and is given by the Fourier transform of (x). Now assume
a 1D Gaussian wave packet:

 2

Z
a
a (k k0 )2 i(kxk t)
e
(2)
(x, t) =
dk
exp
4
(2)3/4
1. Identify g(k) from Eq. (2) and write down an expression for the time-dependence, i.e. for g(k, t).
(1 marks)
(1 12 marks)

2. Carry out the integration in Eq. (2) explicitly.

3. Plot |(x, t)|2 for t < 0, t = 0 and t > 0.

(1 12 marks)

4. Obtain x(t), and plot it as a function of t, for both positive and negative values of t. Interpret the
results in the asymptotic limits, i.e. in the limit t .
(2 marks)
5. At what value of time t, one obtain a minimum uncertainty state, i.e. x(t)p(t) = 1, in scaled
units.
(1 marks)
6. Take Eq. (1), assume that it is normalised to unity and further assume that g(k) vanishes as
k . Then, show that
Z
dk
dhxi
=
dk|g(k)|2
,
dt
dk

R
R ikx
1
e
dk. (2 marks)
where hxi = dx x |(x, t)|2 and one may need: (x) = 2

7. If we take
k ' k0 + (k k0 )
then show that

dhxi
d
=
|k .
dt
dk 0

d
|k ,
dk 0
(1 marks)