Friday, December 14, 2018

quantum mechanics - Wave function of a particle in a gravitational field



Suppose we have a particle with mass $m$ and energy $E$ in a gravitational field $V(z)=-mgz$. How can I find the wave function $\psi(z)$?




It should have an integral form on $dp$. Any help would be appreciated.


What I've tried


One way to solve the problem is use of change of variable
$$ x~:=~\left(\frac{\hbar^2}{2m^2g}\right)^{2/3}\frac{2m}{\hbar^2}(mgz-E) $$


we can reduce Schroedinger equation to


$$ \frac{d^2\phi}{dx^2}-x\phi(x)~=~0 $$


This is a standard equation, its solution is given by $$\phi(x)~=~B~\text{Ai}(x)$$ where $\text{Ai}$ is the Airy function. But my solution should be (not exactly) like this:


$$ \psi(z)= N\int_{-\infty}^\infty dp \exp\left[\left(\frac{E}{mg}+z\right)p-\frac{p^3}{6m^2g} \right] $$



Answer




$$ \left[\frac{p^2}{2m}+V(i\hbar\frac{d}{dp})\right]\phi(p)=E\phi(p) $$ $$ \left[\frac{p^2}{2m}+(-mg)(i\hbar\frac{d}{dp})\right]\phi(p)=E\phi(p) $$ $$ \frac{1}{i\hbar mg}(\frac{p^2}{2m}-E)\phi(p)=\frac{\phi(p)}{dp} $$ When integrate we have: $$ \frac{i}{\hbar mg}(Ep-\frac{p^3}{6m})=Ln\frac{\phi(p)}{\phi(p_{o})} $$ $$ \phi(p)=\phi(p_{0})e^{\frac{E}{mg}p-\frac{p^3}{6m^2g}} $$ $$ \psi(z)=\int dp e^{ipz/\hbar} \phi(p) $$ $$ \psi(z)=\phi(p_{0})\int_{-\infty}^\infty dp e^{i/\hbar \left[ (\frac{E}{mg}+z)p-\frac{p^3}{6m^2g}\right]} $$


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