Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-theoretical-physics-ii-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2012/paper-1/4/c/solution

Write . Then and . The variational method guarantees , since the trial satisfies the wall condition and has finite energy. WKB gives no comparable upper-bound guarantee and is least controlled for the lowest state. The two estimates differ by about of the WKB value; their closeness is encouraging but does not prove that the exact energy lies between them.

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