Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mphil-in-micro-and-nanotechnology-enterprise-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2020/paper-2/section-a-ii/16/iii/solution

The second infinite-well state has
Its maxima are at and , with nodes at the walls and center. The density is zero outside.
If the second bound state exists in a symmetric finite square well, odd parity preserves its central node and two equal lobes. However, the density is nonzero at the walls and has exterior tails proportional to . Normalization includes those tails, and internal peak positions and heights change. Finite barriers change penetration and energy; symmetry preserves the central node. The original wells figure compares the two normalized second-state densities.

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