Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
A free particle with mass in non-relativistic quantum mechanics is described by the free Schrödinger equation: (,) = (,) where ψ is the wavefunction of the particle at position r and time t . The solution for a particle with momentum p or wave vector k , at angular frequency ω or energy E , is given by a complex plane wave :
The Klein–Gordon equation, + =, was the first such equation to be obtained, even before the nonrelativistic one-particle Schrödinger equation, and applies to massive spinless particles. Historically, Dirac obtained the Dirac equation by seeking a differential equation that would be first-order in both time and space, a desirable property for ...
and this is the Schrödinger equation. Note that the normalization of the path integral needs to be fixed in exactly the same way as in the free particle case. An arbitrary continuous potential does not affect the normalization, although singular potentials require careful treatment.
In the general time-independent case, the dynamics of a particle in a spherically symmetric potential are governed by a Hamiltonian of the following form: ^ = ^ + Here, is the mass of the particle, ^ is the momentum operator, and the potential () depends only on the vector magnitude of the position vector, that is, the radial distance from the ...
The wave function of an initially very localized free particle. In quantum physics, a wave function (or wavefunction) is a mathematical description of the quantum state of an isolated quantum system. The most common symbols for a wave function are the Greek letters ψ and Ψ (lower-case and capital psi, respectively). Wave functions are complex ...
In quantum mechanics a free particle has as state function a plane wave function, which is a non-square-integrable function of well-defined momentum. The kinetic energy of this particle can take any positive value. The position of the COM is uniformly probable everywhere, in agreement with the Heisenberg uncertainty principle.
In quantum mechanics, the case of a particle in a one-dimensional ring is similar to the particle in a box. The Schrödinger equation for a free particle which is restricted to a ring (technically, whose configuration space is the circle S 1 {\displaystyle S^{1}} ) is
Re-arranging the equation leads to =, where the energy factor E is a scalar value, the energy the particle has and the value that is measured. The partial derivative is a linear operator so this expression is the operator for energy: E ^ = i ℏ ∂ ∂ t . {\displaystyle {\hat {E}}=i\hbar {\frac {\partial }{\partial t}}.}