Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-quantum-theory-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2015/1/b/iv/solution

Write . On the first tangent branch, , the matching relations are equivalent to
The function is continuous and strictly increasing there:
The intermediate value theorem therefore gives a unique first-branch root for every . At this root and , so the energy eigenvalue
obeys . This proves the even bound state in every attractive square well result.
Figure 1.
Even-state matching in a finite square well: the rising tangent branch meets the decaying circle for shallow and deeper wells
. Details.
To verify all the requested properties, take the resulting even wavefunction with exterior tails written in terms of their boundary values:
The matching equation makes both the values and first derivatives agree at the endpoints. The exterior tails are square-integrable because , and the interior interval is finite. More explicitly,
so choosing as the positive inverse square root of the bracket gives wavefunction normalization. Thus an even, continuously differentiable, normalizable stationary solution always exists, however small the positive depth.

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