Free particle spectrum on a circle

ID: free-particle-spectrum-on-a-circle

For a particle on a circle with arc length and periodic boundary conditions, the Hamiltonian operator has orthonormal basis , , and energy eigenvalues . To see this, periodicity forces the wave number to be , and applying the momentum operator gives . The integral of over one turn is one. The zero energy eigenvalue is simple; each positive energy eigenvalue has quantum degeneracy two, from and .

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