Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-quantum-mechanics-quantum-theory-and-quantum-computers-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2007/a/2/solution

Inside the box, the time-independent Schrödinger equation is . The zero endpoint values eliminate the cosine term and require . There is no nonzero zero-energy solution with both endpoints zero. Normalization uses , so
Insert the expansion into and take its inner product with . Orthonormality gives for each , and conversely these equations make every expansion coefficient of the residual zero. Thus in the usual Hilbert-space or strong-solution class appropriate to the expansion.
For the specified state,
The modes are real, so the interference term is a cosine of the energy difference. Writing ,
Its integral remains one because the cross term integrates to zero. The probabilities of the two energy outcomes are fixed at and , even though the position probability density oscillates.

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