Coherent-state oscillator expectation values

ID: coherent-state-oscillator-expectation-values

A normalized oscillator coherent state obeys , so its mean occupation number is . Under the quantum harmonic oscillator Hamiltonian operator , its evolution is . Inserting and gives
These mean values obey the classical harmonic oscillator equations. The displacement amplitude is , whose classical orbit has energy . The full quantum mean energy has the additional zero-point energy . Indeed the variances are and , and their kinetic and potential contributions sum to .

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