QUANTUM PHYSICS: I SET OF EXERCISES

1) Oscillating wavepacket:
Consider the 1D harmonic oscillator with Hamiltonian
H=
Putting =

p2
1
+ m 2 x2 .
2m 2

p
m/
h, consider the initial wavefunction
1

(x, t = 0) = N0 e 2

(xa)2

having the center displaced from the origin. Compute the wavefunction
at time t, (x, t), and the corresponding density (x, t) = |(x, t)|2 . Comment the obtained results. Finally compute hHi: is (x, t) a state with
defined energy?
2) 3D square well:
Consider the 3D square well potential

V0
V (~r) =
0

| ~r |< a,
| ~r |> a

(1)

(V0 > 0). Determine the bound states for E < 0 and l = 0. Write the
equation giving the energy of the bound states for l = 1 and compare the
obtained findings with the previous results for l = 0. Write the expression
of the minimum value of V0 a2 giving a bound state for general l and provide an estimate of such value as a function of l.
3) Double well potential:
Consider the 1D double well square potential

| x |> L,
V0 | x |< a,
V (x) =

0
a <| x |< L

(2)

(V0 > 0). Write the equation for the ground and the first excited states
and determine their energies. Comment the obtained results and how the
difference of these two energies varies with V0 .
4) Rabi pulses:
Let consider a two-level system described by the Hamiltonian
H = H0 + V (t),

(3)

where H0 = S z and V (t) is a time dependent-perturbation chosen to

be V (t) = v0 sin
tS x . As usual, it is S = h2 , where ( = x, y, z)
1

are the Pauli matrices; the eigenfunctions of H0 will be denoted by .

Assuming that the system is initially described by the wavefunction ,
write the equations for the coefficients C (t) in the basis { } of the
time-dependent wavefunction (t). Discuss the properties of the differential equation system for the coefficient C (t): in particular, for what
value of the frequency
of the pulse the transfer from the state to the
state + is maximum?
The fidelity of the pulse can be defined as
F = |h(t)|+ i|.

(4)

Compute the fidelity of the pulse in the approximation (

)/  1
(called rotating wave approximation). For what time the fidelity is 1?

5*) From the ground to the first excited state:

Consider now a quantum particle in an harmonic potential subjected to a
sinusoidal perturbation, H = H0 +V (t), where H0 = p2 /2m+(1/2)m 2 x2
and V (t) = O sin
t: O is a generic operator. Suppose that the system
is at the time t = 0 in the ground-state 0 (x) of the harmonic oscillator,
and that we want to transfer the particle to the first excited state 1 (x).
The fidelity of the pulse is then defined as
F = |h(x, t)|1 (x)i|.

(5)

What operator O do you suggest to use to achieve the maximum fidelity?

Why?
Write (and discuss the properties of) the equations for the coefficients of
the wavefunction (x, t) on the harmonic oscillator basis. Restricting the
dynamics to the space spanned by 0 and 1 , compute the fidelity as a
function of time.