SCHOOL OF DISTANCE EDUCATION

UNIVERSITI SAINS MALAYSIA

JIF 318 – QUANTUM MECHANICS

ACADEMIC SESSION 2010/2011

ASSIGNMENT 2

ASSOC. PROF. SAW KIM GUAN

INSTRUCTIONS:
i. Answer all questions.
ii. The deadline of the submission is on 31 January 2011.

1. (a) What is an operator? Write down the expression for <x> and <p>.

(b) Prove that the operators for position x̂ and momentum Pˆx are Hermitian.

2. (a) In classical mechanics, the angular momentum of a particle (with respect to

the origin) can be expressed as L = r × p. Write down the corresponding
quantum operators Lx, Ly and Lz.

(b) Show that

(i) the square of the total angular momentum L2 commutes with Lx

(ii) Lx and Ly do not commute.

(Hint: provide a test function)

(iii) for spherical coordinates

h ∂ ∂ 
Lx =  − sin O − cos O cot θ
i  ∂θ ∂O 

h ∂ ∂ 
Ly =  − cos O − sin O cot θ
i  ∂θ ∂O 

h ∂
Lz =
i ∂O

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3. Given L± = Lx ± iLy , show that [ Lz , L± ] = ± h L±

4. (a) Consider a finite square potential barrier as shown in Figure 1 where

V -a< x < a 
V( x) =  0 
0 1×1³ a 

Determine the transmission coefficient for E <V0 .

V(x)
V0

x = −a 0 x=a

Figure 1

(b) A 30 eV electron is incident on a square barrier of height 40 eV. What is the

probability that the electron will tunnel through the barrier if its width is 0.1 nm?

(c) A step function potential is as follows

 0, for x ≤ 0
V ( x) = 
V0 , for x > 0
Find the reflection coefficient for (i) E < V0, (ii) E > V0

5. Suppose a wave function is expressed as

1
 k  4  kx 2 
ψ ( x) =   exp  − 
 π hw   2hw 
Find

(i) <x >

(ii) <x 2 >

(iii) <Px >

(iv) <H >

- ooo0ooo -

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Assg.2-JIF 318
02/06/10