Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-physics-course-of-the-year-1-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2024/paper-1/section-b/9/a/solution

is the particle's potential energy as a function of position, and is its total energy eigenvalue in this time-independent Schrödinger equation. Solving it with the boundary conditions determines the allowed stationary states and energy levels.
The wavefunction is a probability amplitude: the Born rule gives position probability density , normalized to unit integral for one particle. itself need not be real or positive and is not a classical matter-density profile. The full stationary-state time dependence is , leaving time independent.

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