HE 398: Quantum Mechanics III

Homework Assignment 2
5 September 2016
Due date: 15 September 2016

Retarded and Advanced Propagators

The Greens function for the simple harmonic oscillator was defined to be



d2
2
+

G(t t0 ) = i(t t0 ).
dt2

(1)

In class, we discussed three types of Greens functions, namely the retarded, advanced and time-ordered
propagators, based on the choice of boundary conditions. We also derived the expression for the timeordered propagator viz.
0

GF (t t0 ) = (t t0 )

ei(tt )
ei(t t)
+ (t0 t)
.
2
2

(2)

Complete the discussion by deriving the expressions for the retarded and advanced propagators GR (tt0 )
and GA (t t0 ).

Simple harmonic oscillator driven by a time-dependent force

Consider a simple harmonic oscillator driven by a time-dependent force J(t) viz.

L(x,
x) =

m 2
x + 2 x2 + J(t) x.
2

(3)

1. Show that the resulting kernel is given by (T tf ti )



K(xf , tf ; xi , ti ) =

1/2
m
eiScl /~ ,
2i~ sin T

where

Scl =


Z
2xf tf
m
dt J(t) sin (t ti )
(x2i + x2f ) cos T xi xf +
2 sin T
m ti

Z
Z tf
Z t
2xi tf
2
dt J(t) sin (tf t) 2 2
dt J(t)
ds J(s) sin (tf t) sin (s ti ) .
+
m ti
m ti
ti
(4)

2. Starting from the above expression, calculate the ratio


hxf , tf |
x(t)|xi , ti i 

hxf , tf | xi , ti i 

,
J=0

in the absence of the driving force and interpret your result.

Functional Determinants

In this problem, we will generalize the formula

Z

r
T

dx1 . . . dxn exp x A x =

n
,
det A

where x = (x1 , . . . , xn )T and A is a real symmetric n n matrix.

1. Start with the path integral expression for the simple harmonic oscillator
Z
K(xf , tf ; xi , ti ) =

Dx exp

 Z tb 
 
i
1
1
mx 2 m 2 x2 dt ,
~ ti
2
2

and show that this may be written as

K(xf , tf ; xi , ti ) = e

i
~ Scl

Z
D exp

m
2~


 
d2
2
d 2 + ,
d

(5)

where x(t) = xcl (t) + (t) and we have performed a Wick rotation in the last step. Calculate the

eigenfunctions n ( ) and eigenvalues n of the operator D d2 /d 2 + 2 with the appropriate

boundary conditions.

Q
2. The path integral in Eq. (5) is defined to be N/ det D where det D n n and N is a normalization
constant. Calculate this determinant and analytically continue back to proper time. Show that this
procedure reproduces the proper prefactor for the simple harmonic oscillator kernel provided N is
chosen appropriately.

Energy Levels of the Harmonic Oscillator

1. The trace of the evolution operator is given by (T tf ti ):

Tr (e

iHT /~

)=

dx hx|eiHT /~ |xi,

(6)

where H is the Hamiltonian. Show that this is equal to

eiEn T /~ , where En are the energy levels

of the system.
2. Derive the energy levels of the simple harmonic oscillator starting from its transition amplitude
K(xf , tf ; xi , ti ).