Gaussian perturbation of a quantum harmonic oscillator ($\Delta E_1/\Delta E_0={\alpha }^2/({\alpha }^2+{\beta }^2)$)

For perturbation $V_0{e}^{-{\beta }^2{x}^2}$ and oscillator inverse length $\alpha =\sqrt{m\omega /\hslash }$, direct Gaussian expectation values give $\Delta E_0=V_0\alpha /({\alpha }^2+{\beta }^2{)}^{1/2}$ and $\Delta E_1=V_0{\alpha }^3/({\alpha }^2+{\beta }^2{)}^{3/2}$. A narrow perturbation samples the odd state's node and suppresses its shift by two extra powers of $\alpha /\beta$. A broad perturbation approaches a constant energy offset for both states.