Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-options-ii-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2005/j/2/solution

Set , choose for a negative bound-state energy, and write . Multiplying the radial equation by gives
For , its second derivative is . Substitution cancels the two terms and gives
For the physical hydrogen problem, the angular eigenvalue has a nonnegative integer. Regularity at the origin selects the Frobenius exponent , rather than the singular branch. Put
The equation for the series factor is , and coefficient comparison yields
The regular confluent-hypergeometric solution generically grows like in this series factor; after the extracted it is not normalizable. A bound state requires termination at some degree , namely . Thus is an integer greater than , and
Regularity, normalizability and the integer angular index are the physical conditions selecting this spectrum; the differential equation without those conditions would admit many other solutions.
For , necessarily and . With ,
A normalized spatial ground state is . In spherical coordinates the radial probability has weight . Constants and the angular integral cancel in the tail ratio. The supplied integral with gives

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