Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2008 / ii / Paper 1 / 32D / b / Solution

The spatial translation operator is $U(\alpha )=e^{-i\alpha \hat{p}/\hslash }$. From $[\hat{x},\hat{p}]=i\hslash$ and the preceding central-commutator result,Thus $\hat{x}U|x⟩=U\hat{x}|x⟩+\alpha U|x⟩=(x+\alpha )U|x⟩$, consistent with $U|x⟩=|x+\alpha ⟩$. Since $⟨x|U=⟨x-\alpha |$, the translated wavefunction is $\boxed{\psi (x-\alpha )}$.

For the quantum harmonic oscillator, the creation and annihilation operators give $\hat{p}=i\sqrt{m\hslash \omega /2}(a^{†}-a)$. Put $s=\alpha \sqrt{m\omega /(2\hslash )}$. The central commutator of $s{a}^{†}$ and $-sa$ is $s^2$, soAs $a|0⟩=0$ and $(a^{†}{)}^n|0⟩=\sqrt{n!}|n⟩$,Taking position wavefunctions provesThe coefficient squares sum to $e^{-s^2}{\sum }_n{s}^{2n}/n!=1$, checking normalization of this coherent state.