Monday, July 18, 2016

Quantum state where uncertainty in kinetic energy is zero?



While reading Shankar's book on Quantum Mechanics, I encountered an interesting problem:



Compute $\Delta T\cdot\Delta X$, where $T = P^2/2m$.



I found several solutions online which arrive at the result $\Delta T\cdot\Delta X \ge 0$.


My question is: does there exist a state $|{\psi}\rangle$ which saturates this inequality, i.e. for which $\Delta T\cdot\Delta X = 0$? We know $\Delta X\ne 0$ (from the uncertainty relation between $X$ and $P$), so then we must surely have that $\Delta T = 0$. But I'm struggling to imagine a physical state with a well-defined kinetic energy! If it is indeed possible, please provide an example of such a state. Thanks!




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