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Consider a particle of massm in the n th stationary state of the harmonic oscillator (angular frequency Ó¬ ).

(a) Find the turning point, x2 .
(b) How far (d) could you go above the turning point before the error in the linearized potential reaches 1%? That is, if V(x2+d)-VIin(x2+d)V(x2)=0.01 what is ?
(c) The asymptotic form of Ai(z) is accurate to 1% as long as localid="1656047781997" z≥5. For the din part (b), determine the smallest nsuch thatαd≥5 . (For any n larger than this there exists an overlap region in which the liberalized potential is good to 1% and the large-z form of the Airy function is good to 1% .)

Short Answer

Expert verified
  1. The turning point isx2=2n-1ħmӬ .
  2. The distance is d=0.12n-1ħmӬ .
  3. The smallest value of nmin=126.

Step by step solution

01

(a)To find the turning point.

Theexact potential is given by:

Vx=12mÓ¬2x2 …â¶Ä¦â¶Ä¦â¶Ä¦â¶Ä¦â¶Ä¦â¶Ä¦(1)

Let x2be the turning point, the values of the potential and the energy function must equal, therefore we can find x2by setting the exact potential equal to the energy at x2and then solve for x2, as:

En=12mӬ2x22x2=1Ӭ2EnmTheenergyoftheharmonicoscillatorisgivenby:En=n-12ħӬn=1,2,3,....Thus,x2=2n-1ħmӬ

02

(b) To find the distance value.

The liberalized potential at is the energy at turning point (or the exact potential, since both have the same value at the turning point) plus the derivative of the potential at turning point multiplied by thex-x2where is the point, so we can write the liberalized potential at as:

Vlinx=vx2+dvdxx-x2x-x2 …â¶Ä¦â¶Ä¦â¶Ä¦â¶Ä¦..(2)

from equation (1) we can write the two term of the liberalized potential as:

Vx2=12mÓ¬2x22dvdxx-x2=mÓ¬2x2

substitute into equation (2), so we get:

Vlinx2+d=12mÓ¬2x22+mÓ¬2x2d

the liberalized potential at pointx=x2+dis therefore:

Vlinx2+d=12mÓ¬2x22+mÓ¬2x2d

we need to find the point, which is the distance that we can go above the turning point before the error in the liberalized potential reaches 1% . Mathematically:

Vx2+d-Vlinx2+dVx2=0.01substitutewiththevaluesofVlinx2+d,Vx2+dandVx2,soweget:Vx2+d-Vlinx2+dVx2=12mӬ2x2+d2-12mӬ2x22-mӬ2x2d12mӬ2x22Vx2+d-Vlinx2+dVx2=x22+2x2d+d2-x22-2x2dx22Vx2+d-Vlinx2+dVx2=dx22=0.01Consequently:d=0.1x2=0.12n-1ħmӬd=0.12n-1ħmӬ

03

To determine the smallest n values.

The patching wave function in this region is given by the Airy function, that is:

Aiz=Aiαx-x2Aiz=Aiαd

The asymptotic form of Ai(z) is accurate to 1% as long as z=αd≥5. From equation 8.34 , we have:

α=2mħ2dVdxx-x21/3Thus,α=2mħ22n-1ħmÓ¬31/3Therefore,α»å=0.12mħ22n-1ħmÓ¬31/32n-1ħmӬα»å=0.121/32n-1Theconditionrequireα»å≥5,so:0.121/32n-12/3≥52n-1≥250n≥125.5Thus,theminimumnsuchthattheasymptoticformofAi(z)isaccurateto1%is:nmin=126

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