The parity operator acts by . For an even potential, differentiating twice and using proves on the parity-invariant domain of the Hamiltonian operator. Therefore each energy eigenspace is invariant under . The projectors and split it into even and odd subspaces, giving a basis of simultaneous eigenstates. An odd state obeys , hence .
The infinite walls impose , with the wavefunction zero outside. It is continuous at the central delta potential. Integrate the stationary Schrödinger equation over ; the energy integral tends to zero and the Dirac delta function contributes . This gives
For the given piecewise positive-energy form, . Replacing by swaps the two pieces and leaves their values unchanged, proving . The value at zero is , and the one-sided derivatives are and . The jump condition gives . The wall at gives , hence
For the undivided wall equation instead gives the usual free even roots. For , set and . In every interval there is exactly one root: writing gives , whose two sides are respectively strictly decreasing and increasing. These are all positive even roots; the quadratic form is nonnegative, so there are no negative eigenvalues. Thus and .
The printed limit of this absolute energy difference is false. The exact quantization equation gives , so but . Consequently
Thus the high-energy shift from a central delta barrier is a finite positive constant, not zero. The corrected vanishing statement is the relative shift , or the wave-number difference . Physically, highly energetic particles are weakly affected in relative terms by a fixed point barrier. The free even wavefunction normalized in has density at the origin, so the barrier's first-order expectation is , matching the exact limit.
Odd states vanish at zero, so the delta term and the derivative jump both vanish. Their normalized wavefunctions and energies are
with zero wavefunction outside. They do not depend on . These even and odd sectors describe the central delta barrier in a symmetric infinite well.