Compact parabolic trial bound for the quantum harmonic oscillator (${\lambda }_0\le \sqrt{10/7}$)

For the dimensionless quantum harmonic oscillator $H=-d^2/d{x}^2+x^2$, the normalized compact trial function is ${\psi }_a=\sqrt{15/(16a^5)}(a^2-x^2)$ on $|x|\le a$ and zero elsewhere. Its kinetic and potential contributions to the energy quadratic form are $5/(2a^2)$ and $a^2/7$. Minimizing their sum gives $a^4=35/2$ and the displayed upper bound, approximately $1.19523$, compared with exact ground state eigenvalue $1$. The weak derivative is square-integrable because the trial is continuous at its endpoints. Jumps in the ordinary first derivative do not invalidate the Rayleigh-Ritz variational principle: it requires the energy form domain, rather than the smaller operator domain.