Harmonic-oscillator electric polarizability (${\alpha }_{\mathrm{el}}=q^2/k$)

A bound charge in a harmonic restoring potential has induced electric dipole moment $d=(q^2/k)E$. Completing the square proves this for every static field within the strictly harmonic model. First-order nondegenerate perturbation theory gives the same coefficient because the position operator connects the unperturbed ground state only to the first excited state. This exact response coefficient does not make its two-state wavefunction approximation exact.