Coherent states of the harmonic oscillator

In these notes I will assume knowledge about the operator method for the
harmonic oscillator corresponding to sect. 2.3 i Modern Quantum Mechanics
by J.J. Sakurai. At a couple of places I refefer to this book, and I also use the
same notation, notably x and p are operators, while the correspondig eigenkets
are |x0 i etc.

1. What is a coherent state ?

Remember that the ground state |0i, being a gaussian, is a minimum uncertainty wavepacket:
Proof:
h

(a + a )2
2m
mh
=
(a a )2
2

x2 =
p2
Since

h0|(a + a )(a + a )|0i = h0|aa |0i = 1

h0|(a a )(a a )|0i = h0|aa |0i = 1

(1)
(2)

it follows that
hx2 i0 hp2 i0 =

h
2
h
2
1(1) =
4
4

and finally since hxi0 = hpi0 = 0, it follows that

h(x)2 i0 h(p)2 i0 =

h
2
4

(3)

We can now ask whether |ni is also a minimum uncertainty wave packet.
Corresponding to (1) and (2) we have
hn|(a + a )(a + a )|ni = hn|aa + a a|ni = hn|2a a + [a, a ]|ni = 2n + 1
and similarly
hn|(a a )(a a )|ni = (2n + 1)
which implies
h(x)2 in h(p)2 in =
1

h
2
(2n + 1)2
4

(4)

so |ni is not minimal !

Clearly a crucial part in |0i being a minimal wave packet was
a|0i = 0 h0|a a|0i = 0
this corresponds to a sharp eigenvalue for the non-Hermitian operator mx+ip
even though, as we saw, there was (minimal) dispersion in both x and p. It
is natural to expect other minimal wave-packets with non zero expectation
values for x and p but still eigenfunctons of a, i.e.
a|i = |i

(5)

which implies h|a a|i = ||2 . It is trivial to check that this indeed defines a
minimal wave-packet
h|(a + a )|i = ( + ? )
h|(a a )|i = ( ? )
h|(a + a )(a + a )|i = ( + ? )2 + 1
h|(a a )(a a )|i = ( ? )2 1
from which follows
h

2m
h
m
2
2
2
h(p) i = hp i hpi =
2

h(x)2 i = hx2 i hxi2 =

and accordingly
h(x)2 i h(p)2 i =

(6)

So the states |i, defined by (6), satisfies the minimum uncertainty relation.
They are called coherent states and we shall now proceed to study them in
detail.

2. Coherent states in the n-representation

In the |ni base the coherent state look like:
|i =

cn |ni =

|nihn|i

(7)

Since
(a )n
|ni = |0i
n!

(8)

n
hn|i = h0|i
n!

(9)

we have

and thus
|i = h0|i

n
|ni
n!
n=0

(10)

The constant h0|i is determined by normalization as follows:

1=

h|nhin|i = |h0|i|2

||2m
2
= |h0|i|2 e||
m=0 m!

solving for h0|i we get:

1

h0|i = e 2 ||

(11)

up to a phase factor. Substituting into (10) we obtain the final form:

1

|i = e 2 ||

n
|ni
n!
n=0

(12)

Obviously |i are not stationary states of the harmonic oscillator, but we

shall see that they are the appropriate states for taking the classical limit.
A very convenient expression can be derived by using the explicit expression
(8) for |ni:

X
n
n n

|ni =
(a ) |0i = ea |0i
n!
n=0
n=0 n!

which implies
1

|i = e 2 ||

2 +a

? a

|0i = ea
3

|0i

(13)

3. Orthogonality and completeness relations

We proceed to calculate the overlap between the coherent states using (12).
1

h|ni|i = e 2 ||

h|i =

2 1 ||2
2

X
n

(? )n
n!

1
1
= exp ( ||2 ||2 + ? )
2
2

(14)

and similarly
1
1
h|i = exp ( ||2 ||2 + ? )
2
2

(15)

so
|h|i|2 = h|ih|i = exp (||2 ||2 + ? + ? )
or
|h|i|2 = e||

(16)

Since h|i =
6 0 for 6= , we say that the set {|i} is overcomplete. There is
still, however, a closure relation:
Z

d |ih| =

||2

d e

(? )n m

|mihn|
n! m!
m,n
X

(17)

where the measure d2 means summing over all complex values of , i.e.
integrating over the whole complex plane. Now, writing in polar form:
= rei d2 = d dr r

(18)

we get
Z

||2

d e

? n

( ) =

dr re

r2 m+n

Z 2

d ei(mn)

1 Z 2 2 m r2
dr (r ) e
= m!m,n
= 2m,n
2 0
Using this we finally get:
Z

d2 |ih| =

|nihn| =

or equivalently
Z

d2
|ih| = 1

(19)

4. Coherent states in the x-representation

Remember that hx0 |0i is a minimal gaussian wave packet with hxi = hpi =
0. Since hx0 |i is also a minimal wave packet and
a + a
m
<() = h|
|i =
h|x|i
2
2h
a a
1
=() = h|
|i =
h|p|i
2i
2mh
r

(20)
(21)

or
q

2<()
hxi = m

hpi = m
h 2=()

(22)

it is natural to expect that hx0 |i is a displaced gaussian moving with velocity

v = p/m. We now proceed to show this. Using the previously derived form (13)
of the coherent states expressed in terms of the ground state of the harmonic
oscillator we get
m
ip
1
1
2

2
hx0 |i = hx0 |e 2 || +a |0i = e 2 || hx0 |e 2h (x m ) |0i
Acting from the left with hx0 | gives us 1 :
m 0 i
d
1
2
hx0 |i = e 2 || e 2h (x m (ih dx0 )) hx0 |0i
1

(x0 x2 d 0 )
0 dx
2

= N e 2 || e x0

12 ( xx )2

(23)

where we have used the explicit form of hx0 |0i and introduced the constants:

x0 =

N=

(24)
4

For notational simplicity we also put y 0 = x0 /x0 . With these substitutions

equation (23) will look like:
1

hx0 |i = N e 2 || e

(y 0 dy
0)
2

1 02

e 2 y

(25)

Using the commutator relation

1

eA+B = e 2 [A,B] eA eB
1

c.f. Sakurai p.93

(26)

which is valid if both A and B commute with [A, B], we get

e

(y 0 dy
0)
2

and thus, noting that e

d
a dy
0

hx0 |i = N e 2 ||

21 y 02

=e

||2
+ y 0
4
2

d
2 dy 0

1 02

e 2 y

(27)

, is a translation operator

2 1 y 02 1 2 +
2
2

2y 0

1
= N exp ( (y 0 2<())2 + i 2=()y 0 i=()<()) (28)
2
Using (22) the resulting expression for the wavefunction of the coherent state
is
m

hx0 |i = N e 2h (x hxi )

2 + i hpi x0 i hpi hxi

2
h

(29)

and since the last term is a constant phase it can be ignored and we finally get
(x0 ) = (

m 1/4 i hpi x0 m (x0 hxi )2

2
h
) e h
h

(30)

which is the promissed result.

5. Time evolution of coherent states

The time evolution of a state is given by the time evolution operator 2
U(t). Using what we know about this operator and what we have learned so
far about the coherent states we can write:
i

|, ti = U(t, 0)|(0)i = e h Ht |(0)i = e h Ht e 2 |(0)|

X
n

((0))n

|ni
n!

(31)

But the |ni:s are eigenstates of the hamiltonian so:

1

|, ti = e 2 |(0)|

X
n

((0))n i h(n+ 1 )t (a )n
2

|0i
e h
n!
n!

(32)

which is the same as

|, ti = e

21 |(0)|2 2i t

X
n

((0)eit a )n
|0i =
n!

1
i
exp ( |(0)|2 t + (0)eit a )|0i
2
2
2

c.f. Sakurai chapter 2.1

(33)

Comparing this expression with (13), it is obvious that the first and the third
term in the exponent, operating on the ground state, will give us a coherent
state with the time dependent eigenvalue eit (0) while the second term only
will contribute with a phase factor. Thus we have:
i

|, ti = e 2 t |eit (0)i = |(t)i

(34)

So the coherent state remains coherent under time evolution. Furthermore,

d
(t) = i(t)
dt

(t) = eit (0)

(35)

or in components
(

d
<()
dt
d
=()
dt

= =()
= <()

(36)

x(t) = h(t)|x|, ti
p(t) = h(t)|p|, ti

(37)

Defining the expectation values,

(

we get

d x(t)

d p(t)

dt
dt

h
h

2 d <() = 2m
2=() = p(t)
m
q2m dt
q
d
m
h
m
h
i
(2i) dt =() =
2<()
2
2

= m 2 x(t)

(38)

or in a more familiar form

(

p(t) = m dtd x(t) = mv(t)

d
p(t) = m 2 x(t)
dt

(39)

i.e. x(t) and p(t) satisfies the classical equations of motion, as expected from
Ehrenfests theorem.
In summary, we have seen that the coherent states are minimal uncertainty
wavepackets which remains minimal under time evolution. Furthermore, the
time dependant expectation values of x and p satifies the classical equations
of motion. From this point of view, the coherent states are very natural for
studying the classical limit of quantum mechanics. This will be explored in
the next part.