Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-quantum-mechanics-quantum-theory-and-quantum-computers-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2008/a/1/solution
Past exam of the quantum mechanics quantum theory and quantum computers course of the University of Oxford 2008 A 1 Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
Use periodic plane waves on the ring. For ,They are orthonormal on one circumference and complete by Fourier series. Thus , with degeneracy : the two signs of nonzero angular momentum have the same energy. Equivalently one may use normalized sine and cosine eigenfunctions for each positive .
For the position measurement put . Direct integration givesThe energy measurement requires projection onto whole degenerate eigenspaces, rather than just onto one traveling wave. The expansion coefficients areFor instance the imaginary integral vanishes by reflection about , and the product-to-sum identity evaluates the real integral as . ConsequentlyEvery numerator is positive and no integer makes a denominator zero, so every energy has nonzero probability. Parseval's identity guarantees that these probabilities sum to one. The supplied state is a valid normalized periodic state; its derivative need not obey the operator-domain periodic condition for the spectral probabilities to be defined.
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