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EP2210, Principles of Quantum Mechanics, JulyNovember 2014

Exercise sheet 7
Essential mathematical formalism II
1. A three-dimensional vector space: Consider a three-dimensional vector space spanned by the orthonormal basis |1i, |2i and |3i. Let two kets, say, |i and |i be given by
|i = i |1i 2 |2i i |3i

and

|i = i |1i + 2 |3i.

(a) Construct h| and h| in terms of the dual basis, i.e. h1|, h2| and h3|.

(b) Find h|i and h|i and show that h|i = h|i .
(c) Determine all the matrix elements of the operator A = |ih| in this basis and construct the
corresponding matrix. Is the matrix hermitian?
2. A two level system: The Hamiltonian operator of a certain two level system is given by


= E |1ih1| |2ih2| + |1ih2| + |2ih1| ,
H
where |1i and |2i form an orthonormal basis, while E is a number with the dimensions of energy.
(a) Find the eigen values and the normalized eigen vectors, i.e. as a linear combination of the basis
vectors |1i and |2i, of the above Hamiltonian operator.
in this basis?
(b) What is the matrix that represents the operator H
3. Matrix elements for the harmonic oscillator: Let |ni denote the orthonormal basis of energy eigen
states of the harmonic oscillator. Determine the matrix elements hn|
x|mi and hn|
px |mi in this basis.
4. Coherent states of the harmonic oscillator: Consider states, say, |i, which are eigen states of the
annihilation (or, more precisely, the lowering) operator, i.e.
a
|i = |i,
where is a complex number.
Note: The state |i is called the coherent state.
(a) Calculate the quantities h
xi, h
x2 i, h
px i and h
p2x i in the coherent state.

(b) Also, evaluate the quantities x and px in the state, and show that x px = ~/2.
(c) Like any other general state, the coherent state can be expanded in terms of the energy eigen
states |ni of the harmonic oscillator as follows:
|i =

n=0

cn |ni.

Show that the quantities cn are given by


n
cn = c0 .
n!
(d) Determine c0 by normalizing |i.

(e) Upon including the time dependence, show that the coherent state continues to be an eigen
state of the lowering operator a
with the eigen value evolving in time as
(t) = ei t .
Note: Therefore, a coherent state remains coherent, and continues to minimize the uncertainty.
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EP2210, Principles of Quantum Mechanics, JulyNovember 2014


(f) Is the ground state |0i itself a coherent state? If so, what is the eigen value?
5. A three level system: The Hamiltonian for a three level system is represented by the matrix

1 0 0
H = ~ 0 2 0 .
0 0 2
Two other observables, say, A and B, are represented by the matrices

0 1 0
2 0 0
A = 1 0 0
and
B = 0 0 1 ,
0 0 2
0 1 0
where , and are positive real numbers.
(a) Find the eigen values and normalized eigen vectors of H, A, and B.
(b) Suppose the system starts in the generic state

c1
|(t = 0)i = c2 ,
c3
with |c1 |2 + |c2 |2 + |c3 |2 = 1. Find the expectation values of H, A and B in the state at t = 0.

(c) What is |(t)i for t > 0? If you measure the energy of the state at a time t, what are the
values of energies that you will get and what would be the probability for obtaining each of
the values?
(d) Also, arrive at the corresponding answers for the quantities A and B.

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