Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-short-options-paper-of-the-physics-prelims-of-the-university-of-oxford/2019/s3/3/a/solution
Past exam of the short options paper of the physics Prelims of the University of Oxford 2019 S3 3 a Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
Inside the infinite square well, , and the time-independent Schrödinger equation isFor , write and . The first Dirichlet boundary condition gives , and the second requires for a nonzero state. The case is identically zero; negative only changes an overall quantum phase. For a linear solution satisfying both walls is zero, and for the hyperbolic solutions likewise cannot satisfy both walls nontrivially.
Wavefunction normalization, , fixes . The orthonormal energy eigenstates and energy eigenvalues are thereforeEach state vanishes outside the well. Its stationary time-dependent form is . General states are normalized superpositions of these modes, rather than additional single energy eigenstates.
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