Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematical-methods-i-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2017/8/b/iv/solution

Substituting and using the diagonalization gives
For and energy level one in the chosen units, its ellipse equation is
The major semiaxis has length along ; the minor semiaxis has length along . The full axis lengths are and . The original-coordinate curve is the same ellipse tilted by , elongated along ; an orthogonal coordinate change preserves lengths and does not change the ellipse itself.
Figure 1.
Principal axes of the rotational-energy ellipse
. Original plot at I0 equal to one and energy equal to one, showing the longer axis along the normalized (1,1) eigenvector and the shorter perpendicular axis. Details.

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