EPGY Summer Institute, Singapore

Quantum Mechanics: Problems Lecture 1

Quantum Mechanics 2009
Questions on probability

Problem 1.1
Consider a six-sided die.
a) What is hN i, the average (or mean) number that comes up?

X
6 X
6
1
E(N ) =< N > = = ni p(N = ni ) = ni (1)
i=1 i=1
6
1 1 1 1 1 1
= 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 = 3.5 (2)
6 6 6 6 6 6

Consider a “loaded” die, one in which has been altered (shaved) so that the distribution of numbers is skewed (to
the cheaters favor).
b) The shaved die has the following probability distribution,
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
p1 = − , p2 = , p3 = , p4 = , p5 = , p6 = + .
6 25 6 6 6 6 6 25
where pi is the probability for the number i to come up. Find the average number hN i that comes up for one
and two of these shaved dice.
X
6
E(N ) =< N > = = ni p(N = ni ) (3)
i=1
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
= 1( − ) + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6( + ) = 3.7 (4)
6 25 6 6 6 6 6 25

c) What is the general formula for the average number hN i, for an n-sided (not loaded) die.
1
The probability for any one side to come up is n.

X
6 X
6
1
E(N ) =< N > = = ni p(N = ni ) = ni (5)
i=1 i=1
n
1 1 1 1 n1 (n + 1)
= 1 + 2 + · · · + (n − 1) + n = (n + 1) = (6)
n n n n 2n 2

To emphasize that an overly intuitive notion of probability can lead you astray examine the next two problems.

Problem 1.2
Consider the following game between two players. Player 1 can choose one of 3 rows (A,B, or C) at random from
the following table,

row A : 2 7 6
row B : 9 5 1 (7)
row C : 4 3 8

You are player 2 and can choose either of the remaining two rows. Once chosen, then a number from each row is
drawn at random. The player with the lower number is the winner. A rather simple game.
Now analyze the probability for success in this game. First consider the case where player 1 chooses row A and
you (player 2) chooses row B. Determine the probability to win in this case (remember that the probability to choose
any number is equal (i.e. equal to 31 ) label this probability PAB . Then find the probability when 1 chooses B and 2
chooses C, PBC .
a) You should find that your probability to win is greater than player 1 in both cases.? Answer the following:
5
What is the probability in the first case? I.e. what is PAB ? 9
5
What is the probability in the second case? What is PBC ? 9

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 b) Before doing any more calculations, state whether you think (based on your results above) you would be more
likely to win if player 1 chooses A and 2 chooses C. That is, if 1 chooses A and you choose B you have a better
chance of winning and if 1 chooses B and you choose C you have a better chance of winning, do you have a higher
probability of winning if player 1 chooses A and you choose C? There is no real correct answer here but it is worded
so as to lead you to believe that the probability will be greater to win in this case. That is, people often think that
probabilities are transitive, i.e. if PAB > PBC then PAC > PBC , however by calculating the probability in the next
case you see it is not always true.
c) Calculate PAC and see whether you were correct. 49

Problem 1.3: Monty Hall problem

This is a rather famous problem in probability that you have probably heard about (especially if you saw the movie,
21).
The old U.S. game show “Let’s Make a Deal” (with host Monty Hall) had at its climax the day’s winner given
a choice of winning a car by choosing the correct door out of three possibilities. Behind the other two doors was
a useless prize (sometimes a goat). Clearly the probability of winning with a simple choice is 31 . The story gets
interesting with the following twist.
Once the contestant has chosen her door (let’s call them 1,2, and 3) and before revealing whether she has won or
not, Monty offers a deal. He reveals one of the two losing doors and asks the contestant whether she wants to change
her choice or not. The question is: is there any advantage in exploiting this deal to increase your odds of winning?
You may have heard the answer before but analyze the situation carefully by examining the probabilities for
whether she changes her answer or not. Give the best explanation to convince someone that may not be knowledgeable
in probability.
This problem does have some import into quantum mechanics, mainly in the interpretation of probability.
If you just carry out the individual probabilities you can clearly convince yourself.
The initial probability for success is 13 . Upon receiving information about one of the other losing doors it may
change the probability.

keep choice In this case nothing has changed, the information does not pertain to the initial choice and the
probability remains 31 for success. Another way to think about this is if Monty told the audience but not the
contestant and did not allow the contestant to switch doors. It should be clear that this situation is identical
to the initial choice. The initial base set was three doors and remains so regardless of Monty says.
change choice In this case if you initially pick the correct door (probability = 31 ) and you change your choice
you automatically lose. I.e. you lose 31 of the time. If you initially pick the wrong door (probability = 32 ) and
later switch away from the wrong door you automatically win. Thus you win with probability 23 .

Problem 1.4
Consider a series of measurements of some quantity W that takes on values over some range. The histogram of the
number of measurements for each value is given below for four different runs of an experiment. The statistics for
each run is computed.
A B C D
Largest mean value of W . Largest variance. Points lie far from Smallest variance.
Most points lie to the left. average, hW i, which is near center Points all close to average.
number

number

number

number

W W W W
a) Which of the data sets has the largest mean (expectation value) hW i? B
b) Which of the data sets has the largest variance, var(W )? C
c) Which of the data sets has the smallest variance, var(W )? D

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Problem 1.5
Now there are two quantities, W and V , measured in a series of measurements and the resulting value of each mea-
surement is plotted against each other (labeled by o) . The statistics are computed for this multivariate distribution.
The values for these sets shown in the diagrams are estimates, based on taking both quantities to range from 1 to
10.
A o hW i ∼ 5.07 B hW i ∼ 5.96 oo C hW i ∼ 4.76 D hW i ∼ 4.71
o hV i ∼ 4.53 hV i ∼ 5.96 o hV i ∼ 5.17 oo hV i ∼ 5.29
o o o
cov(W, V ) ∼ −0.26 cov(W, V ) ∼ 9.2 o cov(W, V ) ∼ −1.5 cov(W, V ) ∼ −7.5
var(W ) ∼ 0.18o var(W ) ∼ 10.5 var(W ) ∼ 9.2 o o o
o o
var(V ) ∼ 7.7 o var(V ) ∼ 11.2 var(V ) ∼ 6.9 o
o o o oo
V

V
V

V
o o
o o o o o o o
o
o o o var(W ) ∼ 7.7 o oo
o o
o o o var(V ) ∼ 7.8
o o o
W W W W
a) Which of the data sets has the largest positive covariance cov(W, V )? B
b) Which of the data sets has the largest negative covariance cov(W, V )? D
c) Which of the data sets has the smallest (in magnitude) covariance, cov(W, V )? A or C is ok
d) For data set A, which is larger var(W ) or var(V )? var(V )

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Problem 1.6: Three spin 2
objects
Considering the case of three two state variables X, Y , and Z (with outcomes ±1 , in physics parlance they are called
spin 1/2 objects, a coin with two sides is an example). Determine whether a joint probability distribution exists for
the following two cases. Give an explicit state (list out the jpd, the probability for every potential outcome) if one
exists and state clearly why one does not exists if so.
System 1) corr(XY ) = corr(XZ) = corr(Y Z) = +1.
System 2) corr(XY ) = corr(XZ) = +1, corr(Y Z) = −1.
You can do this problem by inspection, that is, write down the jpd that must satisfy the three conditions. It is
highly recommended to use your own 2 state variables, like coins, to see what outcomes that satisfy the conditions
above for the two systems.
If you try this with three coins it should be obvious that a joint probability distribution satisfying the three
correlations in system can not exist.
The fact that system 2 does not admit a jpd is grounded in the idea that there can be no common cause for the
outcomes of the measurements. There may be coincidences that such a state is observed but no theoretical cause
can be attributed to it. In the case of the coins It is also possible that the system is contextual, that is, the outcome
of the experiment is dependent on which two r.v.s are measured (the context of the question). However, when we
think of flipping three coins and revealing only two, our classical way of thinking tells us that the act of revealing
two of the coins can not affect the outcome – all three coins are in definite states and measuring two is just revealing
the underlying state. If, somehow, the coins were contextual then to satisfy these correlations, the act of measuring
two of them would affect the system, the coins values would change depending on which two were chosen. You can
‘fake’ this by having a friend control the measurement: you call out which two you want to reveal and your friend
adjusts the coins so as to satisfy the correlations. Of course this seems unnatural but is key to understanding the
fundamental mystery of quantum mechanics, for we will see that systems like this (not as simple) do exist in nature,
where certain states can not be described by a joint probability distribution – no classical theoretical model can
describe the outcomes.
Questions on calculus

Problem 1.7: Some basic derivatives

What are the following derivatives? for this problem you may enter your answers on this sheet.
de−x
1. dx = −e−x

3
 d2 e−x d d −x
2. dx2 = dx ( dx e ) = e−x
de−ix
3. dx = −ie−ix
d2 e−ix d d −ix
4. dx2 = dx ( dx e ) = −e−ix
d cos x
5. dx = − sin x
d2 cos x d d
6. dx2 = dx ( dx cos x) = − cos x
d sin x
7. dx = cos x
d2 sin x d d
8. dx2 = dx ( dx sin x) = − sin x
Partial derivatives
Partial derivatives are derivatives applied to multivariable functions, (e.g. f (x, t)). For single variable functions
∂ d
the partial derivative is equivalent to an ordinary derivative, ( ∂x f (x) = dx f (x))
These are often used when the function is multivariable (in the case above y = y(x, t)). Partial derivatives are
easy to take, all you do is treat the other variable not being differentiated as a constant. For example, consider the
function f (x, t) = x2 t3 + xt + t4 . The partial derivative, with respect to x is,

∂f
= 2xt3 + t
∂x
. We only took the derivative w.r.t. x and treated t as a constant (thus the last term, t4 , vanishes).

Problem 1.8
To get familiar with partial derivatives evaluate the following. The later questions are cases that we will be using
shortly.
3 2 2ct
a) ∂
∂x (x t + ct
x2 ) = 3x2 t2 − x3
∂ ∂ 3 2 ct 2c
b) ∂t ∂x (x t + x2 ) = 6x2 t − x3
∂
c) ∂t sin(kx − ωt) = −ω cos(kx − ωt)
∂2
d) ∂x2 sin(kx − ωt) = −k 2 sin(kx − ωt)
∂ i(kx−ωt)
e) ∂t e = −iωei(kx−ωt)
∂ 2 i(kx−ωt)
f) ∂t2 e = −ω 2 ei(kx−ωt)