Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-physics-a-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2014/paper-1/section-b/b7/solution

In spherical coordinates, the angular Laplacian has spherical harmonics as eigenfunctions, and . Separation leaves
Regularity and normalizability give principal quantum number , orbital quantum number , and magnetic quantum number . Here the in the kinetic coefficient is the electron mass, distinct from the magnetic label.
For the proposed angular factor, , so and magnetic quantum number zero. Direct differentiation gives . The term in the Schrödinger equation vanishes when . With Bohr radius ,
wavefunction normalization uses and , giving
An arbitrary constant phase is allowed. This is the state. Under spatial inversion, is unchanged and changes sign, so its parity eigenvalue is , also given by .
Rotational invariance means rotated states have the same energy; it does not require each member of a degenerate energy eigenspace to be invariant. rotations mix the three magnetic substates. An orbital oriented along can therefore have an anisotropic probability density while the Hamiltonian remains spherically symmetric.

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