HOMEWORK

#7 PROBLEM SET DUE: Wednesday, November 16th

1. Suppose that you have an electron in a one-dimensional infinite (square) well and it
could be measured while in its ground state. (a.) What would be the probability of finding it
somewhere in the region 0 < x < L/4? (b.) What would be the probability of finding it in a
very narrow region ∆x = 0.01*L-wide, centered at x = 5L/8? Assume the well is x = 0 to L.

2. (a.) Find <p> and <p2> for the ground-state wave function of the infinite square well
potential. (b.) What do you think the results should have been, using logic alone, plain and
simple?

3. A beam of electrons, each with energy E = 0.1 * V0, are incident on a potential step with
V0 = 2 eV. (This is of the order of magnitude of the work function for electrons at the
surface of metals.) Graph the relative probability |Ψ|^2 of particles penetrating the step up
to a distance x = 1 nm (or, roughly five atomic diameters).

4. Normalize the wave function for the second excited state of the quantum SHO (simple
harmonic oscillator). Note that the second excited state is n = 2, since n = 0 is the ground state
in this case.

5. Determine the expectation value of p2 for a particle in an infinite square well for the third
excited state. (a.) Use the operator method and (b.) the energy equation. Note, that the third
excited state means n = 4 (because n = 1 is ground state; n = 0 means no wavefunction).

1. (a.) The wavefunction for the n = 1 level, the ground state, is given by the equation from
class as Ψ1(x) = √(2/L) * sin ( π*x / L )






a.












b.
You are of course also allowed to do part b. the long way, integrating over ( 5L/8 ) ± 0.01*L

2.





a.
















a.




(b.) The particle is equally likely to be moving in the –x as in the +x direction, so its
AVERAGE momentum is zero; BUT, its average p^2 should be related to E, since E= p^2/2m
(KE, assuming no potential) as 2*m*E and we knew E already from class and text examples.

3. We can write the wavefunction for a particle on the inside of a barrier as a real
exponential as learned during lecture. If we call the region before the step at left I and the
region within the step at right II then ΨII(x) = C * e –k * x, where kII = √[2*m*(V0–E)]/h-bar.
II

(We chose only the negative exponential version not positive or sum including positive
term so that ΨII -> 0 as x -> ∞.) This makes ΨII a decreasing exponential towards the right.
So, the particle density in region II is proportional to |ΨII|^2 = |C|^2 * e –2 * k * x so now we
II

just need to solve for C using boundary conditions, continuity, smoothness, and
normalization. Alternatively, we can recognize that this equation already gets us the
general shape. The picture follows on the next page. It is NOT necessary to get the x- and y-
values exactly right, just the correct shape, plus the transmission coefficient for out to 1 nm,
either indicated in the plot or written down separately. Now, for transmission probability
we consider T = 1 / [ 1 + V0^2 * sinh^2(kII * L) / ( 4 * E * ( V0 – E ) ) ]
kII = √[2*(9.1 x 10^-31 kg)*(3.2 x 10^-19 – 3.2 x 10^-20 J)]/[6.6 x 10^-34 J-s/(2*π)] => T=
1 / [ 1 + (2 eV)^2 * sinh^2(6.87 x 10^9 m^-1 * 10^-9 m) / (4*2eV*(2-0.2 eV))] = 1.5 x 10-5










Full credit also for using an approximation for T for a case of E << V0 (opposite of class)

4. Y2 = A * (2 * a * x^2 – 1) * exp (- a * x^2 / 2), using the second Hermite polynomial. The
integral from –∞ to +∞ of Y2 ^2 must be 1.0
Integral from –∞ to +∞ of A^2 * (2 * a * x^2 – 1) ^ 2 * exp ( - a * x^2 ) or A^2 *
[4 * a^2 * x^4 * exp ( - a * x^2 ) – 4 * a * x^2 * exp ( - a * x^2 ) + exp ( - a * x^2 )]. Using the
integral tables (more specifically both equation A6.2 and page A-11, Appendix 6) it’s A^2 *
[8 * a^2 * 3 / (8*a^2) * √ ( π/a ) – 4 *a*(2 / 4a)*√ ( π/a ) + (2/2) * √ ( π/a ) ] = (3 – 2 + 1) *
√ ( π / a ) * A ^ 2
So, A^2 * 2 * √ ( π/a ) = 1 and A^2 = √ ( a / π) / 2 => A = (a / π) ^ (1/4) * (1/√2), which is
perfectly consistent with p. 224 in Chapter 6, top right.

5. (a.) Repeat the procedure from pages (21) through (23) of the Chapter 6 Lecture Notes
which I emailed out this week, except now for n = 4, not n = 2.
(b.) E_n = n^2 * π^2 * h-bar^2 / ( 2 * m * L^2 ) = n^2 * h^2 / ( 8 * m * L^2)
=> E_4 = 8 * π^2 * h-bar^2 / ( m * L^2 ) OR 2 * h^2 / ( m * L^2 )