Schrödinger equation

The Schrödinger equation is one of the fundamental equations of quantum mechanics and describes the spatial and temporal behavior of quantum-mechanical systems. Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger first proposed the equation in early 1926.

Mathematically, the Schrödinger equation is an example of an eigenvalue problem whose eigenvectors are called "wavefunctions" or "quantum states" and whose eigenvalues correspond to energy levels. Built into the eigenvectors are the probabilities of measuring all values of all physical observables, meaning that a solution of the Schrödinger equation provides a complete physical description of a system. The equation can be written in terms of Hamiltonians for both classical and quantum mechanical systems; in the latter case, the Hamiltonian functions are replaced by Hamiltonian operators.

The Schrödinger wave equation

The wavefunction describes a wave of probability, the square of whose amplitude is equal to the probability of finding a particle at position x and time t. But what is the form of Schrödinger's equation, which describes the time and position evolution of the wavefunction?

We start by assuming that a beam of particles will have a wavefunction of the form

$\ \psi (x,t)=A\exp(i(kx-\omega t-\phi ))$

The square of this function (its probability amplitude) is a constant independent of position and time, which makes sense for a constant beam of particles: there is an equal probability of finding a particle at every point along the beam and any time. Using de Broglie's relations,

$\ p=\hbar /\lambda =\hbar k$

$\ E=\hbar \omega$

Based on the functional form of $\psi$, we see that

$\ p\psi =\hbar k\psi ={\frac {\hbar }{i}}{\frac {\partial \psi }{\partial x}}$

$E\psi =\hbar \omega \psi =-{\frac {\hbar }{i}}{\frac {\partial \psi }{\partial t}}=\hbar i{\frac {\partial \psi }{\partial t}}$

Using the classical relationship between energy and momentum,

$\ E\psi =[{\frac {p^{2}}{2m}}+V(x)]\psi$

Substituting for p and E yields the one-dimensional time-dependent Schrödinger wave equation,

$\hbar i{\frac {\partial \psi }{\partial t}}=-{\frac {\hbar ^{2}}{2m}}{\frac {\partial ^{2}\psi }{\partial x^{2}}}+V(x)\psi$

When the probability amplitude of the wavefunction is independent of time, it can be shown that energy is constant, and so the equation reduces to

$E\psi =-{\frac {\hbar ^{2}}{2m}}{\frac {\partial ^{2}\psi }{\partial x^{2}}}+V(x)\psi$

In three dimensions, the second derivative becomes the Laplacian:

$\hbar i{\frac {\partial \psi }{\partial t}}=-{\frac {\hbar ^{2}}{2m}}\nabla ^{2}\psi +V(x,y,z)\psi$

In spherical coordinates, the spherical definition of the Laplacian gives

$\hbar i{\frac {\partial \psi }{\partial t}}=-{\frac {\hbar ^{2}}{2\mu }}{\frac {1}{r^{2}\sin \theta }}\left[\sin \theta {\frac {\partial }{\partial r}}\left(r^{2}{\frac {\partial \psi }{\partial r}}\right)+{\frac {\partial }{\partial \theta }}\left(\sin \theta {\frac {\partial \psi }{\partial \theta }}\right)+{\frac {1}{\sin \theta }}{\frac {\partial ^{2}\psi }{\partial \phi ^{2}}}\right]+V(r,\theta ,\phi )\psi$

The Hamiltonian

The time-independent S.E. has the form

${\hat {H}}\psi =E\psi$

where

${\hat {H}}=-{\frac {\hbar ^{2}}{2m}}\nabla ^{2}+V(x,y,z)$

H is an example of a quantum-mechanical operator, the Hamiltonian (classical Hamiltonians also exist). It must be a self-adjoint operator because its eigenvalues E are the discrete, real energy levels of the system. Also, the various eigenfunctions $\psi _{n}$ must be linearly independent and in fact form a basis for the state space of the system. In other words, the state of any system is reducible to a linear combination of solutions of the Schrödinger equation for that system. The Hamiltonian essentially contains all of the energy "sources" of the system, and its eigenstates describe the possible state of the system entirely.

As an example, consider a particle in a one-dimensional box with infinite potential walls and a finite potential a inside the box. The Hamiltonian of this system is

${\hat {H}}=-{\frac {\hbar ^{2}}{2m}}\nabla ^{2}+a$

The first term of the Hamiltonian corresponds to the classical expression for kinetic energy, p²/2m (see above), and the second term is the potential energy as defined. No other sources of energy exist in the system as defined, and so the particle's state must be some linear combination of the eigenstates of H.

A more general formulation

Quantum state vectors

The eigenfunctions of the Schrödinger equation form a basis for the state space of the system. This means that any quantum state can be written as a column vector, each entry of which corresponds to one of the eigenfunctions of H. These vectors are called "state vectors," and using Dirac's bra-ket notation they are represented notationally as

$|\psi \rangle =[c_{1}\ c_{2}\ \dots \ c_{n}]^{T}$

In the Schrödinger formulation of quantum mechanics, this state vector would be represented as

$|\psi \rangle =c_{1}\psi _{1}+c_{2}\psi _{2}+\cdots +c_{n}\psi _{n}$

The generalized form

Using the abstract concept of a state vector we can define the time-independent Schrödinger equation as

$H|\psi \rangle =E|\psi \rangle$

and the time-dependent equation becomes

$H|\psi \rangle =i\hbar {\frac {\partial }{\partial t}}|\psi \rangle$

Physical consequences

Discrete energy levels

For all real physical systems, solutions to the Schrödinger equation yield a finite number of discrete energy levels and eigenfunctions. This runs contrary to the classical notion that the energy of a physical system is continuous. Experimentally, the discrete nature of energy levels has been verified by the spectra of atoms and molecules: absorption of light energy by an atom or molecule can only take place if the energy of the incident light corresponds to a gap between energy levels. These energy levels are solutions of the Schrödinger equation for the atomic or molecular system, and calculations that solve the Schrödinger equation can provide very accurate electronic, rotational, and vibrational spectra. See computational chemistry.

Uncertainty and probability

Even though for a given eigenstate we have an exact value for the energy of the system, it does not follow that all other observable properties of the system are also well defined. In fact, the values of two observables whose operators do not commute cannot be simultaneously well defined: precision in one observable induces uncertainty in the other (see the Heisenberg uncertainty principle). This concept is manifest in the popular idea of "Schrödinger's Cat," a cat whose "life status" does not "commute" with a precisely known observable. The uncertainty in the cat's life status means that until the cat is observed and its wavefunction "collapses," the cat is, in a sense, simultaneously alive and dead. The probabilities of the cat being alive and dead are non-zero.

Note that this does not mean that quantum systems like Schrödinger's Cat are completely and utterly unpredictable. Even though systems that are not in an eigenstate must be described probabilistically, the Schrödinger equation and related quantum eigenvalue equations provide a means to predict the probabilities of observing all possible measurements on the system. Measurement probabilities are known; what cannot be known in advance are the exact results of all possible measurements on the system.

Solutions of the Schrödinger equation

Analytical solutions of the time-independent Schrödinger equation can be obtained for a variety of relatively simple conditions. These solutions provide insight into the nature of quantum phenomena and sometimes provide a reasonable approximation of the behavior of more complex systems (e.g., in statistical mechanics, molecular vibrations are often approximated as harmonic oscillators). A more complex system even is the H₂ molecule where only approximations to the solutions can be obtained. Several of the more common analytical solutions include:

• The free particle
• The particle in a box
• The finite potential well
• The Delta function potential
• The particle in a ring or ring wave guide
• The particle in a spherically symmetric potential
• The quantum harmonic oscillator
• The linear rigid rotor
• The symmetric top
• The hydrogen atom or hydrogen-like atom
• The particle in a one-dimensional lattice (periodic potential)

For many systems, however, there is no analytic solution to the Schrödinger equation. In these cases, one must resort to approximate solutions. Some of the common techniques are:

• Perturbation theory
• The variational principle underpins many approximate methods (like the popular Hartree-Fock method which is the basis of the post Hartree-Fock methods)
• Quantum Monte Carlo methods
• Density functional theory
• The WKB approximation
• discrete delta-potential method

References

1. http://walet.phy.umist.ac.uk/QM/LectureNotes/
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schrodinger_equation