Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2006/ib/paper-3/16b/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 ib Paper 3 16B Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
For a normalized state and an observable , define and . Suppose first that the position and momentum variances are finite and the state has the regularity needed for the usual position-momentum quadratic forms. Put , , and . The Cauchy-Schwarz inequality givesThe term involving has zero imaginary part. Integration by parts givesConsequently , andThis proves the Heisenberg uncertainty relation. For smooth rapidly decaying states the boundary terms vanish directly. The same proof extends to and weak derivative using smooth cutoffs and taking their radius to infinity; the necessary mixed products are integrable by Cauchy-Schwarz. Normalization alone need not give finite variances or an operator-domain momentum expectation. A state with infinite spread is interpreted through the corresponding extended bound, rather than assigning a finite uncertainty to an undefined expression.
For the specified Gaussian wave packet, write and . Its probability density isIt is a normalized centered normal distribution with variance . Symmetry gives , and henceAlso , so and by oddness. Integration by parts, or directly taking the squared norm, givesThusThe packet saturates the bound at and has a larger position-momentum uncertainty product at every nonzero time. Its spatial spreading does not change the momentum distribution.
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