Past exam of the physics A course of the University of Cambridge 2010 Paper 2 Section B B7 Solution 2026-10-20
Writing , where and , the canonical commutation relation givesConsequently and . If were nonzero, this commutator would make it an energy eigenstate with energy , contradicting the lowest-energy property. Therefore .
The commutator product rule and induction giveActing on the vacuum and shifting the sum then shows that the unnormalized bosonic coherent state satisfies .
The displayed series lacks its wavefunction normalization factor. Since , its squared norm is . The normalized coherent state needed for the stated expectation values isUse , , and . For , ,The displacement changes the mean position but not its ground-state uncertainty. Unnormalized bras and kets give the same physical expectation values only after division by their squared norm.
Past exam of the physics A course of the University of Cambridge 2011 Paper 2 Section A 3 Solution 2026-10-20
The canonical commutation relation is . Applying the commutator product rule on a common operator domain,Equivalently, applying both sides to a twice differentiable test function gives , the same result.
Past exam of the physics A course of the University of Cambridge 2016 Paper 1 Section B B7 Solution 2026-10-20
Differentiating the expectation value and using and givesThe second term means explicit operator time dependence, distinct from the state's evolution.
The commutator product rule follows by adding and subtracting :For the mathematical induction step, let and use . The case is immediate. If , thenThus the claimed identity holds for every positive integer. Commutation of with is not needed for this particular step. This is the central-commutator differentiation rule. Termwise application to a convergent power series, on a common domain where the operations are justified, gives
For position and momentum, . Hence , and . Substitution gives Ehrenfest theorem:The mean momentum changes by the mean force. It does not follow for a general nonlinear Potential energy that : a closed classical trajectory for the mean position requires an additional condition, such as a quadratic Potential energy or a sufficiently localized wave packet.