p2

40.57: a) E  K  U ( x)   U ( x)  p  2m( E  U ( x)).

2m
h h
λ   λ( x)  .
p 2m( E  U ( x))
b) As U ( x) gets larger (i.e., U ( x) approaches E from below—
recall  k  0), E  U ( x) gets smaller, so λ ( x) gets larger.
c) When E  U ( x), E  U ( x)  0, so λ( x)  .
b dx b dx 1 b n
d)  a λ( x)  a h 2m( E  U ( x))  h a 2m( E  U ( x)) dx  2
b hn
 
a
2m( E  U ( x)) dx 
2
.

e)  U ( x)  0 for 0  x  L with classical turning points at x  0 and x  L. So,

b L L

a
2m( E  U ( x )) dx  
0
2mE dx  2mE  dx 
0
2mE L. So, from part ( d ),
2
hn 1  hn  h2n2
2mE L  E   
2 2m  2 L  8mL2 .
f) Since U ( x)  0 in the region between the turning points at x  0 and x  L, the
results is the same as part (e). The height U 0 never enters the calculation. WKB is best
used with smoothly varying potentials U ( x).