Friday, May 24, 2019

quantum mechanics - Complex energy eigenstates of the harmonic oscillator


Given the Hamiltonian for the the harmonic oscillator (HO) as ˆH=ˆP22m+m2ω2ˆx2,

the Schroedinger equation can be reduced to: [d2dz2(z24+a)]Ψ=0 ,
where a=Eω, z=2mω. Now, the two independent solutions to this equation are the Wittaker's functions (Abramowitz section 19.3., or Gradshteyn at the beginning, where he defines the Wittaker's functions) Da1/2(z) and Da1/2(z). Apparently, there is no constraint on the values for a. In Abramowitz, especially, there is written "both variable z and a can take on general complex values".


Therefore my first question is: Let us fix a=i and let us therefore take the Wittaker's function Di1/2(z). This functions is solution of the time independent Schroedinger equation, and, therefore, is an eigenfunction of the ho hamiltonian. Since its value for the parameter a is i, it follows that its eigenvalue E must be E=iω. However, this result is contradictory, since the hamiltonian must have only real eigenvalues, since it is hermitian. What do I do wrong?


My second question is: Since the functions Dn(z) form a complete set for n positive integer with zero, I can expand my function Di1/2(z) onto the basis set Dn(z). Di1/2(z)=nCnDn(z) .

But, evidently, if Di1/2(z) is itself an eigenfunction with a different eigenvalue with respect to any of the Dn(z), the expansion above does not make sense. This question is somewhat correlated to the previous one. So, I believe I do something wrong which is in common to both of them.




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