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Quantum tunnelling is transmission through a finite classically forbidden region, where $E<V(x)$. The stationary Schrödinger equation permits an evanescent wavefunction inside such a barrier rather than forcing it to vanish at its entrance. Matching to propagating states beyond a barrier of finite width gives a nonzero transmitted probability current.

For a rectangular barrier of height $V_0$ and width $a$, with equal exterior potentials and $0<E<V_0$, write $\kappa =\sqrt{2m(V_0-E)}/\hslash$. The exact rectangular-barrier tunnelling probability isFor an opaque barrier its dominant dependence is $e^{-2\kappa a}$. For a slowly varying barrier, the WKB approximation generalizes this to $T\sim \exp [-(2/\hslash ){\int }_{x_1}^{x_2}\sqrt{2m(V(x)-E)}dx]$, apart from matching prefactors. Barrier width, particle mass and energy therefore have a strong influence. Energy is conserved in a static barrier: tunnelling does not require the particle to borrow energy or acquire a classical path with negative kinetic energy.

In alpha decay, a nuclear alpha-particle configuration is confined by the short-range nuclear interaction but separated from the exterior by a Coulomb barrier. Its energy can be positive relative to infinity while still lying below the barrier maximum. Escape by tunnelling produces alpha particles at that conserved energy, with an exponentially small decay probability per nuclear encounter. The pronounced dependence of half-life on alpha energy is a characteristic consequence of the barrier exponent, unlike a simple classical escape threshold.

In scanning tunneling microscopy, a conducting tip is brought within a nanometer-scale vacuum gap of a conducting surface and biased weakly. Electron tunnelling gives a current that depends approximately exponentially on separation, $I\propto V{e}^{-2\kappa s}$ in a simple low-bias model. Feedback adjusts the tip height to keep current fixed while scanning, producing a surface map sensitive to both geometry and electronic states. Finite current through the non-contact gap, and its steep dependence on separation, are the direct tunnelling signatures; current is not a direct measurement of topographic height alone.

A Josephson junction provides a collective superconducting example. Two superconductors separated by a thin barrier can carry a coherent pair current $I=I_c\sin \phi$ even at zero voltage. At constant voltage the AC Josephson effect gives $d\phi /dt=2eV/\hslash$ and oscillation frequency $2eV/h$. The coupled condensate quantum phases and pair transfer distinguish this from independent normal-electron transmission. These examples involve different microscopic barriers, but all require quantum coupling across a region that suppresses classical passage. Comparing weak-temperature tunnelling behavior with thermally activated escape helps distinguish the mechanisms experimentally.

At normal incidence between lossless media with real positive acoustic impedances $Z_1,Z_2$, continuity of pressure and normal particle velocity gives the pressure transmission amplitude $t_p=2Z_2/(Z_1+Z_2)$. Since the mean acoustic intensity is $|p{|}^2/(2Z)$, the fraction of incident energy transmitted isThis is acoustic reflection and transmission at an interface. With the supplied acoustic impedances,A thin water-based gel layer excludes air gaps and approximately matches the body's acoustic impedance. About $99.90\%$ of incident energy would otherwise reflect at the air-body interface. The coupling is also needed on the return journey, so it strongly improves the detectable echo. These figures concern interface transmission, before absorption within tissue; the gel is approximated by the stated water value.

The original diagram is a series RLC circuit, so the same electric current $i=\dot{q}$ passes through all three elements. Choose capacitor electric charge $q$ positive on the plate into which positive $i$ enters. Kirchhoff's voltage law givesDividing by inductance $L$ givesThe correspondence to the forced harmonic oscillator is $m\leftrightarrow L$, $b\leftrightarrow R$, $k\leftrightarrow 1/C$, and $x\leftrightarrow q$. The stored energy is $L{i}^2/2+q^2/(2C)$; its balance is $\dot{E}=Vi-R{i}^2$, confirming the damping sign.

The reflected and transmitted mean-power fractions areFor strictly positive finite linear mass densities, $\mathcal{T}>0$; a finite density step cannot produce exact total reflection. The ideal limits areThe first behaves as a fixed end; the second as a free end. In the free-end limit the transmitted displacement tends to $2A$, but its mechanical impedance tends to zero, so it carries vanishing power. Thus total reflected energy does not require a vanishing boundary displacement. “Entirely reflected” at a merely large density contrast is an approximation.

Impose periodic boundary conditions on a large cubic box. The allowed wavevectors occupy a lattice of cell volume $(2\pi {)}^3/V$ in wavevector space. Including the two spin states, the number of states with magnitude at most $k$ isUsing $k=\sqrt{2m_eϵ}/\hslash$ and differentiating gives the total, spin-summed three-dimensional free-electron density of states,It counts states per unit energy; divide by $V$ for states per unit volume per unit energy. At zero temperature, the Fermi-Dirac distribution fills all states up to the Fermi energy, givingWriting $n=N/V$ givesThe energy zero is the bottom of the free-electron band. The electron Fermi temperature is $T_F=E_F/k_B$.

The occupation probability of an individual one-electron state is the Fermi-Dirac distribution,At $T=0$, it is a step: one below $E_F$ and zero above it. Heating rounds the step over an energy range of order a few $k_{B}T$, creating empty states below and occupied states above the chemical potential. At every positive temperature, $f(\mu ,T)=1/2$.

For fixed $N,V$ in the three-dimensional free electron model, the chemical potential is determined by $N=\int g(ϵ)f(ϵ,T)dϵ$; it is not exactly constant. In the degenerate regime $T\ll T_F$, the Sommerfeld expansion givesIt is therefore reasonable in a simple low-temperature sketch to set $\mu \simeq E_F$, provided this approximation is stated. The figure includes the leading small shift. At much higher temperature the fixed-$E_F$ approximation fails and the distribution approaches the classical dilute limit. The plotted occupation is $f$, rather than the energy distribution $gf$.

Only a shell of energy width of order $k_{B}T$ near the Fermi energy can change occupation: much lower states are blocked by the Pauli exclusion principle. The thermal-shell estimate of electronic heat capacity countsTo recover the rough coefficient requested in the paper, assign each of these active particles an excitation energy of order $3k_{B}T/2$. ThenThe differentiation matters: the active shell itself widens as temperature rises. This argument explains the small linear-in-$T$ electronic heat capacity; its shell width and average excitation energy are heuristic, so it does not establish a precise numerical prefactor.

A controlled calculation from the Fermi-Dirac distribution gives a nearby but different result. At fixed particle number, the Sommerfeld expansion yieldsThus $9/2$ is a rough estimate of the exact free-electron coefficient ${\pi }^2/2\simeq 4.935$, not an exact consequence of the stated density of states. Both require $T\ll T_F$.

Choose the two real energy eigenstates in part (a) and take their coefficients to be in phase initially. A different initial relative phase only shifts the oscillation in time. The normalized quantum superposition isOrthogonality removes the cross terms in the energy expectation value, soFor position, the diagonal matrix elements equal $L/2$ by reflection symmetry, but the off-diagonal element is nonzero. Using the product-to-sum identity and ${\int }_0^{L}x\cos (j\pi x/L)dx=L^2[(-1{)}^j-1]/(j^2{\pi }^2)$ givesTherefore the equal superposition of the first two box states hasThe amplitude is $\boxed{16L/(9{\pi }^2)\simeq 0.1801L}$, and the ordinary frequency is $\boxed{f=\Omega /(2\pi )=3h/(8m{L}^2)}$. The motion of the mean position is an interference effect between distinct energies, while their populations, and hence the mean energy, remain fixed.

The boundary force in an infinite square well is obtained from the kinetic momentum flux at each wall. With $C_1={\hslash }^2{\pi }^2/(2m{L}^3)=E_1/L$, the derivatives of the state in part (c) areThe outward force magnitudes are $P_j=({\hslash }^2/2m)|{\Psi }^{\prime }(x_j,t){|}^2$. Taking positive force to mean rightwards, the forces exerted by the particle on the walls areBoth point outwards at all times, but their magnitudes oscillate out of phase. This force formula follows directly by differentiating the mean particle momentum and integrating the interior Schrödinger equation by parts: $d⟨p⟩/dt=({\hslash }^2/2m)(|{\Psi }^{\prime }(0){|}^2-|{\Psi }^{\prime }(L){|}^2)$. As a check, the net force on the particle is $8C_1\cos \Omega t=m{d}^2⟨x⟩/d{t}^2$, the opposite of the net force on the two walls.

A classical particle of energy $E=⟨E⟩$ transfers momentum $2mv$ in each collision with a particular wall, and returns to that wall after $2L/v$. Its mean outward force on that wall isThus the time averages agree separately at each wall, although the classical force consists of collision impulses and the quantum expectation varies continuously. Constant mean energy alone does not make the instantaneous quantum wall forces constant; their unequal instantaneous values supply the oscillation of $⟨x⟩$.

A localized quantum particle is described by a wave packet: a coherent quantum superposition of momentum components, rather than a single delocalized plane wave. The Born rule assigns the position probability density $|\psi (x,t){|}^2$. A useful normalized initial Gaussian wave packet isIts mean position and momentum are $x_0$ and $p_0$, and its standard deviations satisfy ${\sigma }_x(0)={\sigma }_0$, ${\sigma }_p=\hslash /(2{\sigma }_0)$. This unchirped initial state saturates the Heisenberg uncertainty relation.

For a free particle, the momentum-space Schrödinger equation multiplies each amplitude by $e^{-i{p}^{2}t/(2m\hslash )}$. The inverse Fourier transform is a Gaussian integral, giving the free Gaussian wave packet evolutionOne way to obtain this expression explicitly is to write the initial momentum amplitude as proportional to $\exp [-{\sigma }_0^2(p-p_0{)}^2/{\hslash }^2-ip{x}_0/\hslash ]$, multiply by the free evolution phase and complete the square in $p$. Taking the modulus squared removes the position-dependent phase and leavesThe expectation value follows uniform classical motion while the density spreads. A narrower initial packet needs a wider momentum distribution and therefore spreads more rapidly. At long times its width grows linearly with $|t|$; its variance grows quadratically, unlike the linear variance growth of ordinary diffusion. The probability continuity equation preserves total probability despite the decreasing peak height. The mean momentum and the mean energy $(p_0^2+{\sigma }_p^2)/(2m)$ remain constant, since the momentum populations do not change.

The same result has a wave interpretation. For a free nonrelativistic particle $\omega (k)=\hslash k^2/(2m)$, so the group velocity is $d\omega /dk=\hslash k/m$, equal to $p_0/m$ at the packet center. The curvature $d^2\omega /d{k}^2=\hslash /m$ makes different momentum components travel with different group velocities, producing dispersion. The phase velocity is $\omega /k=\hslash k/(2m)$ for this energy convention and does not describe the motion of the envelope. The evolving quadratic spatial phase is essential to the spreading; a density snapshot alone does not specify the full quantum state.

A freely spreading Gaussian wave packet remains a pure Gaussian state but develops position-momentum correlations. Its symmetrized covariance is $C_{xp}=⟨\{x-⟨x⟩,p-⟨p⟩\}⟩/2=t{\sigma }_p^2/m$. ConsequentlyEquality in the Robertson-Schrödinger uncertainty relation survives at every time, whereas the simpler product ${\sigma }_x{\sigma }_p$ equals $\hslash /2$ only initially. A chirped Gaussian wave packet can already have $C_{xp}(0)\ne 0$. More generally, $x(t)=x(0)+p(0)t/m$ gives ${\sigma }_x(t{)}^2={\sigma }_x(0{)}^2+2t{C}_{xp}(0)/m+t^2{\sigma }_p(0{)}^2/m^2$. A sufficiently negative initial covariance permits initial contraction before subsequent spreading.

A potential energy changes this behavior. A quadratic potential preserves the Gaussian form because the evolution of position and momentum is linear. For a quantum harmonic oscillator, the Gaussian covariance in a harmonic potential isA coherent state has ${\sigma }_x^2=\hslash /(2m\omega )$, ${\sigma }_p^2=m\hslash \omega /2$ and zero centered covariance. Its width is constant, and its center follows $x_c(t)=x_0\cos \omega t+p_0\sin \omega t/(m\omega )$. In oscillator notation its coherent state label rotates as $\alpha (t)=\alpha (0)e^{-i\omega t}$, apart from the common ground-energy phase of the state vector. A squeezed coherent state generally has a width that breathes at $2\omega$. Thus being Gaussian does not imply either free spreading or constant width; the Hamiltonian operator and initial covariance determine the result.

For a general nonquadratic potential, different parts of the packet experience different nonlinear forces, and an initially Gaussian profile need not remain Gaussian. Ehrenfest theorem gives the exact relations $d⟨x⟩/dt=⟨p⟩/m$ and $d⟨p⟩/dt=-⟨V^{\prime }(x)⟩$. Replacing the last mean by $-V^{\prime }(⟨x⟩)$ is exact for a quadratic potential and approximate for a packet narrow compared with the scale on which the force varies. This connects packet motion to the correspondence principle without treating a quantum state as a definite classical path. Scattering can split a packet into reflected and transmitted components, while confinement can produce oscillations and interference between discrete energy eigenstates. Their relative phases evolve even when their populations remain constant. Localization, spreading and coherent motion all follow from the same linear unitary time evolution.

The orbital angular momentum of a particle is the operator $\mathbf{L}=\mathbf{r}\times \mathbf{p}$, with $\mathbf{p}=-i\hslash \nabla$ in the position representation. Its angular momentum commutation relations areThus one may specify $L^2$ and one component, conventionally $L_z$, simultaneously. One generally cannot assign sharp values to all three components, because they do not commute. The common angular eigenfunctions are the spherical harmonics:For a scalar orbital wavefunction, single-valuedness in the azimuthal angle gives integer $m$, and regularity on the sphere and termination of the ladder give integer $l\ge |m|$. Half-integer angular momenta describe intrinsic spin rather than scalar orbital motion.

The ladder operators $L_{\pm }=L_x\pm i{L}_y$ obey $[L_z,L_{\pm }]=\pm \hslash L_{\pm }$. Their normalized action isThe coefficient vanishes at the top or bottom of the multiplet. Its squared magnitude follows from $L_{\mp }{L}_{\pm }=L^2-L_z^2\mp \hslash L_z$, and positivity of the resulting norm constrains the allowed $m$ values.

For a central potential, the Hamiltonian commutes with $L^2$ and every component of $\mathbf{L}$. Stationary states can be separated as $R_{nl}(r)Y_l^m(\theta ,\varphi )$, and rotational symmetry makes the energy independent of $m$, giving a $2l+1$ quantum degeneracy at fixed radial label and $l$. Additional degeneracy between distinct $l$ values requires additional structure, as in the Coulomb potential. The parity of $Y_l^m$ is $(-1{)}^l$. These results organize atomic orbitals and their selection rules. They describe quantized rotation and symmetry, without assigning the electron a classical orbit or a simultaneously definite three-component angular momentum vector.

A waveguide confines the transverse structure of a wave while permitting propagation along a chosen route. It can deliver energy to a distant receiver without the same geometric spreading as an unguided beam, protect a signal from unwanted coupling, and select transverse normal modes. It also makes propagation paths and coupling to devices more controllable. Confinement does not eliminate wave absorption or scattering loss, and it can introduce wave dispersion and cutoff frequencies of a membrane waveguide or corresponding cutoffs for other wave types.

Two examples are an optical fiber, which guides light by its core-and-cladding refractive index structure, and a hollow electromagnetic waveguide used to carry microwaves between a source and an antenna. A duct for acoustic waves is a further example. Each uses different material and boundary conditions, but the common idea is controlled transverse confinement.

Between delta barriers, $V=0$ and the Schrödinger equation gives ${\psi }^{\prime \prime }+k^2\psi =0$, with $k^2=2mE/{\hslash }^2$ for positive energy. Write the state and derivative as a two-component vector $\mathbf{v}=(\psi ,{\psi }^{\prime }{)}^T$. Free propagation across one interval of length $a$ isThe wavefunction is continuous at a delta barrier, while its derivative jumps by $g\psi$, with $g=2m\alpha /{\hslash }^2$. Thus the barrier matrix isBloch's theorem requires $\mathbf{v}(a^{+})=e^{i\varphi a}\mathbf{v}(0^{+})$. Both $D$ and $P$ have determinant one, so the two eigenvalues of $M$ are $e^{i\varphi a}$ and $e^{-i\varphi a}$. Taking its trace givesTherefore the Floquet discriminant of the delta-comb Kronig-Penney model yieldsThis trace argument is the one-cell transfer method for the Kronig-Penney model. The loop imposes the additional discrete values of $\varphi$ derived in part (b). Real $\varphi$ requires the right-hand side to lie in $[-1,1]$, giving allowed energy bands; values outside this range are band gaps. The strength $\alpha$ has units of energy times length, because a Dirac delta distribution has units of inverse length.

With length measured in units of $a=1$, plot the real functionOnly the portions with $|f(k)|\le 1$ can equal $\cos \varphi$, so the strip between the horizontal lines $+1$ and $-1$ identifies allowed energy bands. The band edges of a repulsive delta-comb potential have the following approximate first intervals:Each interval corresponds to energy $E={\hslash }^2{k}^2/(2m)$; the intervening intervals are forbidden. The exact upper endpoints follow from $f(j\pi )=(-1{)}^j$. The lower endpoints solve $f(k)=(-1{)}^{j-1}$ inside $((j-1)\pi ,j\pi )$. The divergence suggested by $\sin k/k$ at the origin is removable, and $f(0)=11>1$, so there is no zero-energy state in the repulsive model.

The periodic barriers produce separated energy bands and band gaps, unlike the continuous free-particle spectrum. A finite $N$-atom loop has discrete states within these bands. Whether the material conducts still depends on band filling: one electron per primitive cell half-fills a spin-degenerate band, while two electrons per cell can fill the first band and place the Fermi energy in a gap. Band gaps alone do not establish that every filling is insulating. At high $k$, the perturbing term $10\sin k/k$ becomes relatively small and the spectrum approaches free-electron behaviour in relative terms.

A wave propagates an organized disturbance through space. What oscillates depends on the medium: displacement in a string or solid, pressure and density in a fluid, electric fields and magnetic fields in an electromagnetic wave, or a quantum wavefunction. The propagation law follows from the restoring mechanism, inertia and relevant boundary conditions. A common linear equation is $u_{tt}=c^2{\nabla }^{2}u$, whose plane waves obey $\omega =c|\mathbf{k}|$. The resulting phase velocity and group velocity coincide, so a narrow wave packet can travel without dispersive spreading. More generally the material supplies a dispersion relation $\omega (\mathbf{k})$; the envelope velocity is ${\nabla }_{\mathbf{k}}\omega$, while constant phase surfaces move at the corresponding phase velocity.

Mechanical waves make the balance of restoring force and inertia particularly visible. A flexible stretched string has $c=\sqrt{T/\mu }$: greater tension stiffens the string, whereas greater linear mass density slows its transverse motion. Small-amplitude acoustic waves in a uniform fluid are longitudinal, with $c_s=\sqrt{K_s/\rho }$, where $K_s$ is the adiabatic bulk modulus. For an ideal gas, $c_s=\sqrt{\gamma p/\rho }$. Pressure changes in rapid sound oscillations are approximately adiabatic because little heat crosses a wavelength in one period. Fluids do not support ordinary bulk shear waves, whereas an elastic solid supports both longitudinal and transverse waves. In an isotropic solid their speeds are $c_L=\sqrt{(K+4G/3)/\rho }$ and $c_T=\sqrt{G/\rho }$, where $G$ is the shear modulus.

A material can be dispersive even when its equilibrium properties are uniform. In a liquid with a free surface, gravity and surface tension act as restoring mechanisms. A simple inviscid capillary-gravity wave haswhere $h$ is depth and ${\gamma }_s$ is surface tension. Long shallow gravity waves have approximately constant speed $\sqrt{gh}$; deep-water gravity waves have $\omega =\sqrt{gk}$ and group velocity half their phase velocity. Short capillary waves have a different dispersion dominated by surface tension. Bending stiffness similarly changes short-wavelength propagation in a string or plate, giving a contribution proportional to $k^4$ in ${\omega }^2$. Different restoring mechanisms can therefore control different wavelength ranges of the same medium.

Electromagnetic waves propagate in vacuum without material displacement, because Maxwell equations couple changing electric and magnetic fields. They are transverse and travel at $c=1/\sqrt{{ϵ}_0{\mu }_0}$. In a simple transparent isotropic material, the phase speed is $1/\sqrt{ϵ\mu }=c/n$, where $n$ is the refractive index. Real material polarization depends on frequency. A Lorentz oscillator model for bound charges explains why permittivity and refractive index become strongly frequency dependent near material resonances, accompanied by absorption. In a birefringent medium, different field polarizations have different propagation constants, permitting wave plates and mode-dependent delays. A electrical conductor additionally supports dissipative currents; its complex wavenumber gives attenuation and, for a good conductor, a skin depth approximately $\sqrt{2/(\mu \sigma \omega )}$. Energy removed from the wave becomes heat rather than disappearing.

At an interface, frequency is conserved for stationary media, and tangential wave phase must match. These conditions give Snell's law for refraction and constrain reflected and transmitted directions. Amplitudes follow from continuity of the appropriate fields or mechanical forces. On strings the relevant mechanical impedance is $\sqrt{T\mu }$; for sound it is related to $\rho c_s$, and for electromagnetic waves to $\sqrt{\mu /ϵ}$. A mismatch gives wave reflection, and a lossless boundary conserves the total incident, reflected and transmitted power. Multiple reflections can reinforce or cancel, as in a Fabry–Pérot etalon. Total internal reflection and other boundary conditions confine waves in waveguides. Transverse modes then become discrete, and even an otherwise nondispersive material develops longitudinal cutoffs and wave dispersion. A membrane strip, for example, obeys ${\omega }_n^2=c_m^2[k^2+(n\pi /a{)}^2]$.

Propagation also involves transport and loss. The Poynting vector gives electromagnetic energy flux; mechanical energy transport is force or pressure times velocity, averaged over a cycle. Wave absorption, viscosity, electrical resistance and imperfect boundaries dissipate energy. Scattering redistributes energy into other directions and modes, while geometric spreading reduces local intensity without necessarily dissipating anything. These mechanisms should be distinguished when interpreting a decreasing measured amplitude. In strongly absorbing or rapidly varying dispersive regimes, the derivative called group velocity is not automatically the speed of a sharp signal front; pulse reshaping and the medium's causal response must be considered.

Finally, quantum matter waves illustrate how the same propagation mathematics can describe a different physical quantity. For a free nonrelativistic particle, $\omega =\hslash k^2/(2m)$, so the group velocity $\hslash k/m$ equals its particle velocity and differs from the phase speed $\hslash k/(2m)$. In a periodic crystal, Bloch's theorem replaces the free dispersion by energy bands. Their slope controls wave-packet velocity, $v_g={\hslash }^{-1}dE/dk$, and their curvature gives band effective mass. Thus mechanical confinement, material response and microscopic periodicity all reshape propagation through their allowed modes and dispersion, while the physical interpretation of the wave and its transported quantities remains essential.

Model the room's decaying acoustic waves as a weakly damped resonator. The quality factor from ringdown is related to stored energy $E$ bywhere $A$ is the pressure wave amplitude and $\omega =2\pi f$. The measured frequency $f=440\mathrm{Hz}$ gives $\omega \simeq 2.76\times 10^3{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$. If the stated $5\mathrm{s}$ is interpreted as an approximate wave amplitude exponential relaxation time,an estimate of order $10^4$. Taking $5\mathrm{s}$ as an energy exponential relaxation time instead gives $Q\simeq 1.4\times 10^4$.

There is a real convention ambiguity: “heard to die away” gives neither an initial sound level nor an audibility threshold, so it does not determine either exponential relaxation time. More generally, if the energy falls by a factor $E(0)/E(t_d)$ in $t_d$,In room acoustics, a reverberation time $T_{60}$ usually denotes a decibel drop of $60\mathrm{dB}$, or an energy factor $10^6$. If $5\mathrm{s}$ means $T_{60}$, the corresponding estimate is instead $\boxed{Q\simeq 2\pi (440)(5)/(6\ln 10)\simeq 1.0\times 10^3}$. The simple decay-time estimate and the conventional reverberation time estimate should not be silently equated.

Choose the Fourier series conventionFor a real potential energy, $V_{-1}=V_1^{\ast }$. The symbol $V(G_1)$ means the Fourier coefficient $V_1$, with units of energy, rather than the pointwise value of $V(x)$ at a position $G_1$.

Retain the two plane waves $|1⟩=L^{-1/2}{e}^{ikx}$ and $|2⟩=L^{-1/2}{e}^{i(k-G_1)x}$ in the nearly-free electron model. Their kinetic energies are ${ϵ}_1={\hslash }^2{k}^2/(2m)$ and ${ϵ}_2={\hslash }^2(k-G_1{)}^2/(2m)$. The matrix representation of a linear map for the Quantum Hamiltonian projected onto this two-dimensional basis isThus $\det (H-EI)=0$ givesSolving this quadratic equation yieldsChoosing the zero of potential energy so that its spatial average is $V_0=0$ reproduces the requested expression. If that average has not been removed, both energy bands are shifted by $V_0$; no band gap, group velocity or effective mass is changed by this constant shift.

The two kinetic energies coincide at $k=G_1/2$. Their coupling gives an avoided crossing with band gap $2|V_1|$. The result is exact within the projected two-wave Quantum Hamiltonian. It is an approximation to the full crystal problem, appropriate near this crossing for a weak periodic potential whose other Fourier coefficients do not cause strong mixing with remote plane waves. Small $|V_1|$ alone would not justify ignoring arbitrarily large other Fourier coefficients.

Set $G=G_1$, $\kappa =\Delta k$, $U=|V_1|>0$ and $E_B={\hslash }^2{G}^2/(8m)$. The two kinetic energies satisfyConsequently the nearly-free electron dispersion near a one-dimensional band gap becomesThe Taylor expansion $\sqrt{U^2+s^2}=U+s^2/(2U)+O(s^4/U^3)$ givesFor the paper's energy convention, set $V_0=0$. There is no linear or cubic term because each branch is an even function of displacement from the crossing in this two-wave approximation. Each coefficient multiplying $(\Delta k{)}^2$ has units of energy times length squared, as required.

The expansion requiresa more restrictive condition than merely $|\Delta k|\ll G$ when the band gap is small. If $U=0$, the square root is proportional to $|\Delta k|$ and this analytic expansion of the energy-ordered branches is unavailable.

The Debye model approximates a three-dimensional crystal as an elastic continuum supporting quantized normal modes, or phonons. At long wavelengths, the acoustic phonon branches have approximately linear dispersion relations ${\omega }_s(k)=v_{s}k$: one longitudinal branch and two transverse branches. Replace their complicated actual spectra by these linear forms, then introduce a cutoff chosen to preserve the total $3N$ vibrational degrees of freedom for $N$ atoms. This is an approximation to the spectrum, not a claim that a real crystal has no non-acoustic branches.

For periodic boundary conditions in volume $V$, each allowed wavevector occupies $(2\pi {)}^3/V$ in the space of wavevectors. Counting a spherical shell for each branch gives the density of states per unit angular frequencyAn effective speed of sound $v_D$ can be defined by $3/v_D^3=1/v_l^3+2/v_t^3$. In the single-speed Debye model, choose ${\omega }_D=v_D{k}_D$ so thatThus the Debye wavevector, Debye frequency and Debye temperature satisfyHere $g$ has units of seconds when angular frequency is measured in ${\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$; its integral is the dimensionless number of normal modes. The spherical cutoff replaces the real Brillouin zone by an equal-count continuum construction.

Each phonon mode is a quantum harmonic oscillator. Since phonon number is not conserved at thermal equilibrium, the chemical potential is zero and its Bose-Einstein distribution gives mean thermal energy $\hslash \omega /[e^{\hslash \omega /(k_{B}T)}-1]$. The zero-point energy is independent of temperature in the harmonic, fixed-volume approximation and does not contribute to the heat capacity at constant volume. Excluding that constant term,Differentiating the first integral at fixed volume avoids losing the temperature-dependent upper limit in the second one. The resulting Debye heat capacity isFor $T\ll {\Theta }_D$, extend the upper limit to infinity. Expanding $1/(e^x-1)={\sum }_{r\ge 1}{e}^{-rx}$ and integrating term by term gives ${\int }_0^{\infty }{x}^3/(e^x-1)dx=6\zeta (4)={\pi }^4/15$. ThereforeThis $T^3$ law follows from the three-dimensional ${\omega }^2$ density of states and the availability only of low-frequency modes at low temperature. It is a central success of the Debye model.

For $T\gg {\Theta }_D$, the Bose-Einstein distribution reduces to the classical equipartition theorem: every mode contributes thermal energy $k_{B}T$. Consequentlythe Dulong-Petit law, or $3R$ per mole of atoms. The simple model omits detailed phonon dispersion relation, distinct optical phonon branches, and anharmonic effects such as thermal expansion. In a metal, the low-temperature total heat capacity additionally contains a term approximately proportional to $T$ from electrons, so the lattice $T^3$ term should not be mistaken for the whole measurement.

Let the infinite outer walls be at $x=0,D$, the finite steps at $x=a,b$, and the three potential energy values be $V_L,V_B,V_R$. The original drawing specifies the orderingThe energy eigenstates can be chosen real. The Dirichlet boundary conditions are $\psi (0)=\psi (D)=0$; wavefunction matching at a finite potential step requires both $\psi$ and ${\psi }^{\prime }$ to be continuous at $a,b$. In particular, neither finite step acts as an additional hard wall.

The time-independent Schrödinger equation givesThus a wavefunction is sinusoidal in a classically allowed region, with wavenumber $k=\sqrt{2m(E-V)}/\hslash$, and a linear combination of exponential functions in a classically forbidden region, with inverse decay length $q=\sqrt{2m(V-E)}/\hslash$. Its curvature changes sign relative to $\psi$ at a step crossing $E$; its slope does not jump.

By the Sturm oscillation theorem, the three energy eigenstates have exactly zero, one, and two interior nodes, respectively. Choose their global phases so that their slopes at the left wall are positive:

For $E_0,E_1$, the right-hand piece is proportional to $\sinh [q_R(D-x)]$, rather than a pure decaying exponential: this enforces the finite-distance hard wall exactly. The barrier pieces likewise contain both exponential solutions. Their small tails are an instance of quantum tunnelling.

This is an original illustrative calculation, with vertical lines marking only the region boundaries. It uses $D=1$, $a=0.4$, $b=0.6$, $V_L=0$, $V_R=0.62$, $V_B=0.82$, and ${\hslash }^2/(2m{D}^2)=0.002$ in arbitrary energy units. Its lowest energy eigenvalues are approximately $0.098,0.384,0.696$, so it has exactly the required ordering. Here both nodes of the third wavefunction happen to lie towards the left; its dominant lobe is on the right. These precise positions and relative amplitudes are illustrative: the original drawing supplies no numerical lengths, barrier heights, or mass, so it does not determine a unique quantitative wavefunction. The required sketch features are the matching, curvature, hard-wall zeros, and ordered node counts.