Jordan University of Science and Technology

Physics Department-Midterm exam-Quantum Mechanics (Phys. 751) 2020-2021

Prof. Fedda Alzoubi

Q1) In the following expressions where A is an operator, specify whether the expression is an operator,
scalar, bra, or ket and find its conjugate. (8 points)
a)  A  b) A   c)  A    A d)  A    iA 

Q2) In a three-dimensional vector space, consider the operator whose matrix in the orthonormal basis

0 0 1
 
A   0 1 0
1 0 0 
 

a) Is A Hermitian? (1 points)
b) Calculate eigenvalues and corresponding normalized eigenvectors. (6 points)
c) Calculate the matrices representing the projection operators for the two nondegenerate
eigenvectors found in (b). (2 points)

Q3) The initial state of a system is given in terms of four orthonormal energy eigenfunctions 1 ,  2 ,

 3 and  4 as follows

1 1 1 1
 (t  0)  1  2  3   4
3 2 6 2

a) If 1 ,  2 ,  3 and  4 are eigenvectors to the Hamiltonian H with energies E1, E2, E3 and

E4 respectively, find the state  (t ) at any later time. (2 points)

b) What are the possible values of measuring the energy and with what probabilities? (2 points)
c) Find the expectation value of the system’s Hamiltonian at t = 0. (3 points)

Q4) Consider a system whose state vector  (t ) and two observables A and B are given by:

  1  0 1 0 1 0 0 
  1    
 (t )   2  A 1 0 1  B  0 0 0 
 1 2   0 0  1
   0 1 0  

If we perform a measurement where A is measured first and B is immediately measured after A. Find the
probability of obtaining a value of 1 for A and a value of 0 for B. (6 points)