Lecture 3: The Wave Function

Sofia Shriver

October 10 2018

Introduction

Comment one lecture 2

We know a given EM wave will have a wavelength λ [m] and angular frequency ω [rad/s]. The photoelectric
effect tells us that in addition to having a specific λ and ω, a given EM wave carries an energy E [J]
proportional to ω by a factor h = 6.626 · 10−26 [J s].

E = h̄ω = hν (1)

Where h denotes Planck’s constant, h̄ = h/2π denotes Planck’s reduced constant, ω = 2πν, and ν [Hz]
denotes frequency. In other words, the energy associated with a given EM wave is linearly proportional to
the wave frequency ν by a factor of h.
The photoelectric effect also says that the momentum ρ associated with an EM wave is inversely properotional
to its wavelength λ by a factor of h.
h
ρ = h̄k = (2)
λ
Where k = 2π/λ denotes the wavenumber of the wave [rad/m]

0.0.1 Basic equations for light: deBroglie relations

E = h̄ω (3)
ρ = h̄k (4)

The claim of the photoelectric effect: For a given EM wave (which we assume has a given frequency and
wavelength), both its energy and momentum are quantized. These wave-like properties are coupled to the
corpuscle-like properties via energy-frequency and momentum-wavelength relations

Overview for next few lectures

Now that we have some experimental incentive to take an interest in quantum mechanics, we are going to
accept a set of postulates defining QM and working through their consequences. The rest of the semester
will involve studying examples to develop an understanding of what the postulates of quantum mechanics
actually implicates.

1
Classical definition of systems

Before completely scrapping classical mechanics, lets use it as a guide to define a system.

The simplest system considered in classical mechanics is a single point particle. In CM, we specify the
configuration/state of this system in terms of its position and momentum, denoted {~x, ρ
~}.
• Importantly, from a classical mechanical PoV, this information for a system defined as a point particle
gives you all information about that system.
• e.g., you can determine its energy E(~x, ρ ~ x, ρ
~) or angular momentum L(~ ~)
Conundrum: In QM (and real world for that matter), we know there exists an uncertainty relation between
a particle’s position and momentum.
• From the last lecture, we can conclude that the uncertainty in a particle’s position ∆x and the uncer-
tainty in its momentum ∆ρ are somehow proportional to the reduced Planck constant:

∆x∆ρ ∝ h̄ (5)

• Due to this uncertainty relation, you can’t truly specify (i.e., define the state of a system with 100%
certainly) a system defined in terms of classical mechanics.
• Moreover, we need a new way to specify the state/configuration of a system (first postulate in QM)

Postulate 1
The configuration/state of a quantum object is completely specified by a wave function Ψ(x) where Ψ is a
complex function and x denotes position.

Postulate 2
The wave function described in the first postulate can be interpreted in terms of the probability of measuring
a particle’s position at position x. This specific relation is mathematically defined as follows:

P(x) = |Ψ(x)|2 (6)

Specifically, P(x) denotes the probability density that an object of interest in a state given by Ψ(x) will be
located at position x.
• Note: A probability density refers to the probability of our object being located somewhere between x
and x + dx:
P(x, x + dx) = P(x) dx = |Ψ(x)|2 dx (7)

Aside: If our wave function isn’t normalized, we can use the following relation to obtain our probability
distribution (Note: D denotes the domain of x).

|Ψ(x)|2
P(x) = R (8)
|Ψ(x)|2 dx
D

2
Postulate 3*
Given two possible states/configurations of a quantum system corresponding to two distinct wave functions
Ψ1 (x) and Ψ2 (x), the system can also be in a superposition of Ψ1 (x) and Ψ2 (x):

Ψ(x) = αΨ1 (x) + βΨ2 (x) where α, β ∈ C (9)

In other words, for any two possible configurations of the system, there is also an allowed configuration of
the system corresponding to being in an arbitrary superposition of them.

***This is the ”beating soul” of quantum mechanics - i.e., its the most important postulate.

Source
Allan Adams, Matthew Evans, and Barton Zwiebach. 8.04 Quantum Physics I. Spring 2013. Massachusetts
Institute of Technology: MIT OpenCourseWare, https://ocw.mit.edu. License: Creative Commons BY-NC-
SA.