ROYAL UNIVERSITY OF BHUTAN

SHERUBTSE COLLEGE
KANGLUNG: BHUTAN

Name: Phurba Samdrup Enrolment No: 07180535

Programme: BSc. Physics Semester: V Module:MPH302

Assignment No: I Due date: 5/10/2020 Submission date: 5/10/2020

Submitted to: Mr Persu Ram Sharma

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Academic Law, RUB, which is reproduced on the backside of this cover page. I hereby
declare that this assignment is written in my own words and the reading materials referred in
the text have been duly acknowledged. I understand that if found otherwise, my assignment is
likely to be cancelled.

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Contents
ABSTRACT..........................................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................................2
THE QUANTUM HARMONIC OSCILLATOR..............................................................................................2
QUANTUM HARMONIC OSCILLATOR: SCHRONDINGER EQUATION.......................................................4
QUANTUM HARMONIC OSCILLATOR: WAVE FUNCTIONS.....................................................................6
Comparison of classical and quantum probabilities..............................................................................7
THE CLASSICAL SIMPLE HARMONIC OSCILLATOR..................................................................................8
PROBABILITY DISTRIBUTIONS FOR THE QUANTUM OSCILLATOR..........................................................8
Probability Distributions for the Quantum Oscillator............................................................................9
COMPARISON OF CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM PROBABILITIES FOR HARMONIC OSCILLATOR...............9
CONCLUSION.......................................................................................................................................11
ABSTRACT
In this assignment, a very brief introduction of the quantum harmonic oscillator has been
provided. The understanding of the transition from a classically damped oscillator and the
quantum mechanical model of the latter is included via a clear mathematics involving simple
calculus. Only the one dimensional time dependent Schrodinger’s equation is being studied.
This paper is intended to simply provide an analytical description of the subject, there are no
advance calculations implying further suggestions in quantum theory.[ CITATION She95 \l
1033 ][ CITATION Mir04 \l 1033 ]
INTRODUCTION
The quantum harmonic oscillator is the quantum-mechanical analog of the classical harmonic
oscillator. Because an arbitrary smooth potential can usually be approximated as a harmonic
potential at the vicinity of a stable equilibrium point, it is one of the most important model
systems in quantum mechanics.[ CITATION Dav06 \l 1033 ]

A study of the simple harmonic oscillator is important in classical mechanics and in quantum
mechanics. The reason is that any particle that is in a position of stable equilibrium will
execute simple harmonic motion (SHM) if it is displaced by a small amount.[ CITATION
She95 \l 1033 ][ CITATION Ita97 \l 1033 ]

The key to understanding both the classical and quantum versions of harmonic motion is the
behavior of the particle potential energy as a function of position.

Why harmonic oscillators? This is because the latter are extremely interesting from both a
quantum mechanical and a classical point of view as well since they provide sets of general
solutions which contribute to the modeling and understanding of many oscillatory systems. A
simple example of such a system is the vibration motion prevailing between two atoms in a
diatomic molecule.[ CITATION Dav06 \l 1033 ][ CITATION Mir04 \l 1033 ][ CITATION She95 \l 1033 ]
THE QUANTUM HARMONIC OSCILLATOR

A diatomic molecule vibrates somewhat like two masses on a spring with a potential energy
that depends upon the square of the displacement from equilibrium. But the energy levels are
quantized at equally spaced values. [ CITATION Bor17 \l 1033 ][ CITATION Dav06 \l 1033 ]

The energy levels of the quantum harmonic oscillator are

( 12 ) ω n=0,1,2,3 …
En = n+

ω=2 π * frequency

and for a diatomic molecule the natural frequency is of the form

k
ω=
√ mr

where the reduced mass is given by

m1 m2
mr =
m1 +m2

This form of the frequency is the same as that for the classical simple harmonic oscillator.
The most surprising difference for the quantum case is the so-called "zero-point vibration" of
the n=0 ground state. This implies that molecules are not completely at rest, even at absolute
zero temperature. [ CITATION Dev19 \l 1033 ][ CITATION Dav06 \l 1033 ]

The quantum harmonic oscillator has implications far beyond the simple diatomic molecule.
It is the foundation for the understanding of complex modes of vibration in larger molecules,
the motion of atoms in a solid lattice, the theory of heat capacity, etc. In real systems, energy
spacing are equal only for the lowest levels where the potential is a good approximation of
the "mass on a spring" type harmonic potential. The an harmonic terms which appear in the
potential for a diatomic molecule are useful for mapping the detailed potential of such
systems.[ CITATION Dav06 \l 1033 ][ CITATION She95 \l 1033 ]
 Figure 1: The potential energy of form

QUANTUM HARMONIC OSCILLATOR: SCHRONDINGER EQUATION

The general equation which does give a mathematical sense to this system is the
Schrodinger's Equation. The latter was described by Schrodinger himself as an equation
which would described the microscopic objects like the equations of Newton does in our
everyday life. This is a good analogy but unlike the equations of Newton where the solutions
can be predicted with much accuracy, the solutions of the Schrodinger's Equation gives us the
PROBABILITY of finding a particle in a given quantum state in a region of space. This
makes the solutions of the Schrodinger's Equations probabilistic ones while these are the
equations of Newtons are deterministic ones. So it was probabilistic and the one who inferred
this idea at first was Max Born, an eminent physicist of the mid - twentieth century. This idea
was then accepted by the physicist but not by Schrodinger who did refute it. Unfortunately
for him it was the right interpretation. [ CITATION Ant10 \l 1033 ][ CITATION Bor17 \l 1033 ]
[ CITATION Mir04 \l 1033 ][ CITATION Umc01 \l 1033 ]
The Schrodinger equation for a harmonic oscillator may be obtained by using the classical
spring potential

The Schrodinger equation with this form of potential is

Since the derivative of the wave function must give back the square of x plus a constant times
the original function, the following form is suggested:[ CITATION Bor17 \l 1033 ][ CITATION
Dob19 \l 1033 ][ CITATION She95 \l 1033 ]

Note that this form (a Gaussian function) satisfies the requirement of going to zero at infinity,
making it possible to normalize the wave function.

Substituting this function into the Schrodinger equation and fitting the boundary conditions
leads to the ground state energy for the quantum harmonic oscillator:

While this process shows that this energy satisfies the Schrodinger equation, it does not
demonstrate that it is the lowest energy. One interesting way to show that is to demonstrate
that that it is the lowest energy allowed by the uncertainty principle.
The general solution to the
Schrodinger equation leads to
a sequence of evenly spaced
energy levels characterized by
a quantum number n.

The wave functions for the quantum harmonic oscillator contain the Gaussian form which
allows them to satisfy the necessary boundary conditions at infinity. In the wavefunction
associated with a given value of the quantum number n, the Gaussian is multiplied by a
polynomial of order n called a Hermite polynomial. The expressions are simplified by
making the substitution[ CITATION Dav06 \l 1033 ][ CITATION Dob19 \l 1033 ][ CITATION Mir04 \l
1033 ]

The general formula for the normalized wavefunctions is

= Hermite polynomial

The quantum harmonic oscillator is one of the foundation problems of quantum mechanics. It
can be applied rather directly to the explanation of the vibration spectra of diatomic
molecules, but has implications far beyond such simple systems. It is the foundation for the
understanding of complex modes of vibration in larger molecules, the motion of atoms in a
solid lattice, the theory of heat capacity, etc. In real systems, energy spacings are equal only
for the lowest levels where the potential is a good approximation of the "mass on a spring"
type harmonic potential. The anharmonic terms which appear in the potential for a diatomic
molecule are useful for mapping the detailed potential of such systems. [ CITATION Dav06 \l
1033 ][ CITATION Ita97 \l 1033 ][ CITATION Mir04 \l 1033 ]
QUANTUM HARMONIC OSCILLATOR: WAVE FUNCTIONS

The Schrodinger equation for a harmonic oscillator may be solved to give the wave functions
illustrated below.

Comparison of classical and quantum probabilities

The solution of the Schrodinger equation for

the first four energy states gives the
normalized wavefunctions at left. These
functions are plotted at left in the above
illustration. The probability of finding the
oscillator at any given value of x is the square
of the wavefunction, and those squares are
shown at right above. Note that the
wavefunctions for higher n have more
"humps" within the potential well. This
corresponds to a shorter wavelength and
therefore by the deBroglie relationship they
may be seen to have a higher momentum and
therefore higher energy.

The most probable value of position for the

lower states is very different from the classical
harmonic oscillator where it spends more time
near the end of its motion. But as the quantum
number increases, the probability distribution
becomes more like that of the classical
oscillator - this tendency to approach the
classical behavior for high quantum numbers
is called the correspondence principle.
 When the Schrodinger equation for the harmonic
oscillator is solved by a series method, the
solutions contain this set of polynomials, named
the Hermite polynomials.

The wave functions for the quantum harmonic oscillator contain the Gaussian form which
allows them to satisfy the necessary boundary conditions at infinity. In the wave function
associated with a given value of the quantum number n, the Gaussian is multiplied by a
polynomial of order n (the Hermite polynomials above) and the constants necessary to
normalize the wave functions. [ CITATION She95 \l 1033 ][ CITATION Umc01 \l 1033 ][ CITATION
Mir04 \l 1033 ]

THE CLASSICAL SIMPLE HARMONIC OSCILLATOR

The classical equation of motion for a onedimensional simple harmonic oscillator with a 
particle of mass m attached to a spring having spring constant K is :

d2 x
m =−kx
dt 2

The solution is

k
x=x 0 sin ( ωt+ δ ) , ω=
√ m
,

And the momentum p=mv has time dependence

p=m x 0 cos ( ωt+ δ )

The total energy

(1/2 m)( p2 +m2 ω2 x 2 )

It is often useful to picture the timedevelopment of a system in phase space, in this case a 
twodimensional plot with position on the xaxis, momentum on the yaxis.  Actually, to have (
x,y) coordinates with the same dimensions, we use ( mωx , p).

It is evident from the above expression for the total energythat in these variables the point rep
resenting the system in phase space moves clockwise around a circle of radius  √ 2 mE 
centered at the origin. [ CITATION Bor17 \l 1033 ][ CITATION Mir04 \l 1033 ][ CITATION She95 \l
1033 ]

PROBABILITY DISTRIBUTIONS FOR THE QUANTUM OSCILLATOR

[ CITATION She95 \l 1033 ]Probability Distributions for the Quantum

Oscillator

The solution of the Schrodinger equation for the quantum harmonic oscillator gives the
probability distributions for the quantum states of the oscillator.

The solution gives the

wavefunctions for the oscillator as
well as the energy levels. The
square of the wavefunction gives
the probability of finding the
oscillator at a particular value of x.
Note that there is a finite
probability that the oscillator will
be found outside the "potential
well" indicated by the smooth
curve. This is forbidden in classical
physics. [ CITATION Bor17 \l
1033 ]
COMPARISON OF CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM PROBABILITIES FOR
HARMONIC OSCILLATOR

The harmonic oscillator is an important problem in both the quantum and classical realm. It is
also a good example of how different quantum and classical results can be. One type of
comparison is that of the probability of finding the object which is oscillating at a given
distance x from the equilibrium position. For the classical case, the probability is greatest at
the ends of the motion since it is moving more slowly and comes to rest instantaneously at
the extremes of the motion. The relative probability of finding it in any interval x is just the
inverse of its average velocity over that interval. For the quantum mechanical case the
probability of finding the oscillator in an interval x is the square of the wave function, and
that is very different for the lower energy states. Note from the diagram for the ground state
(n=0) below that the maximum probability is at the equilibrium point x=0.
For the first few quantum energy levels, one can see little resemblance between the quantum
and classical probabilities, but when you reach the value n=10 there begins to be some
similarity. To be sure, they don't look the same, but they do agree that the probability is
greatest near the ends of the motion. As you proceed to very high n values, they become more
and more alike, and the oscillations of the quantum probability become so close together that
they are practically smeared together. The fact that the overall picture of probability of
finding the oscillator at a given value of x converges for the quantum and classical pictures is
called the correspondence principle.

Another thing to note about the classical and quantum probabilities above is that the classical
probability is strictly contained between the vertical lines which represent the classical limit.
The quantum probabilities do extend into the classically forbidden region, exponentially
decaying into that region. [ CITATION Bor17 \l 1033 ][ CITATION Mir04 \l 1033 ][ CITATION
Umc01 \l 1033 ]
CONCLUSION

The key to understanding both the classical and quantum versions of harmonic motion is the
behavior of the particle potential energy as a function of position. Quantum harmonic
oscillator (QHO) involves square law potential (x2) in the Schrodinger equation and is a
fundamental problem in quantum mechanics.[ CITATION Ant10 \l 1033 ][ CITATION Umc01 \l
1033 ]

We discussed about the quantum harmonic oscillator including the Schrodinger equation and
its probabilities. And comparison of classical and quantum probabilities.
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