Normalisable wave function

In quantum mechanics, wave functions which describe real particles must be

normalisable1: the probability of the particle to occupy any place must equal 1.
Mathematically, in one dimension this is expressed as

in which the integration parameters A and B indicate the interval in which the particle
must exist.

All wave functions which represent real particles must be normalisable, that is, they must
have a total probability of one - they must describe the probability of the particle existing
as 100%. This trait enables anyone who solves the Schrödinger equation for certain
boundary conditions to discard solutions which do not have a finite integral at a given
interval. For example, this disqualifies periodic functions as wave function solutions for
infinite intervals, while those functions can be solutions for finite intervals.

Contents
• 1 Derivation of normalisation
• 2 Example of normalisation
• 3 Proof that wave function normalisation doesn't change associated properties
• 4 Note
• 5 See also

• 6 External links

Derivation of normalisation
In general, ψ is a complex function. However,

is real, greater than or equal to zero, and is known as a probability density function.

This means that

where p(x) is the probability of finding the particle at x. Equation (1) is given by the
definition of a probability density function. Since the particle exists, its probability of
being anywhere in space must be equal to 1. Therefore we integrate over all space:

If the integral is finite, we can multiply the wave function, ψ, by a constant such that the
integral is equal to 1. Alternatively, if the wave function already contains an appropriate
arbitrary constant, we can solve equation (2) to find the value of this constant which
normalises the wave function.

Example of normalisation
A particle is restricted to a 1D region between x=0 and x=l; its wave function is:

To normalise the wave function we need to find the value of the arbitrary constant A, i.e.,
solve

to find A.

Substituting ψ into we get

so

therefore

The normalised wave function is:

Proof that wave function normalisation doesn't change

associated properties
If normalisation of a wave function changed the properties associated with the wave
function, the process becomes pointless as we still cannot yield any information about the
properties of the particle associated with the un-normalised wave function. It is therefore
important to establish that the properties associated with the wave function are not altered
by normalisation.

All properties of the particle such as probability distribution, momentum, energy,

expectation value of position etc. are derived from the Schrödinger wave equation. The
properties are therefore unchanged if the Schrödinger wave equation is invariant under
normalisation.

The Schrödinger wave equation is

If ψ is normalised and replaced with Aψ, then

and

The Schrödinger wave equation therefore becomes:

which is the original Schrödinger wave equation. That is to say, the Schrödinger wave
equation is invariant under normalisation, and consequently associated properties are
unchanged.

Note
Note 1: The spelling normalisable is a British variant spelling of normalizable.
See also
• Quantum mechanics
• Schrödinger equation
• Wave function

External links