Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2015 / ii / Paper 1 / 31A (Principles of Quantum Mechanics)

Put $C=[A,B]$, which commutes with both operators by hypothesis. Differentiating $e^{\lambda A}B{e}^{-\lambda A}$ gives $C$, so this conjugate is $B+\lambda C$. Similarly the product $P=e^{\lambda A}{e}^{\lambda B}$ conjugates $A+B$ to itself: the two central commutator shifts cancel. HenceWith $F(0)=I$, the operator differential equation gives $F(\lambda )=e^{{\lambda }^{2}C/2}$. At $\lambda =1$ this proves the central-commutator Baker--Campbell--Hausdorff formulaThese formal manipulations apply on a suitable common domain, or to the oscillator exponentials below where the corresponding unitary identities are well defined.

The oscillator has $[a,a^{†}]=1$ and $H=\hslash \omega (a^{†}a+1/2)$. Its normalized states and energies areSince $\hat{x}=\sqrt{\hslash /(2m\omega )}(a+a^{†})$, put $\gamma =\mu \sqrt{\hslash /(2m\omega )}$. Taking $A=\pm i\gamma a^{†}$, $B=\pm i\gamma a$ gives $[A,B]={\gamma }^2$. The formula implies $e^{\pm i\mu \hat{x}}=e^{-{\gamma }^2/2}{e}^{\pm i\gamma a^{†}}{e}^{\pm i\gamma a}$. Averaging the two signs proves the requested normal ordering of the cosine.

Because $a|0⟩=0$, expansion of the remaining creation exponential givesOdd matrix elements vanish, the ground expectation is $e^{-{\gamma }^2/2}$, and the magnitude squared for $n=2p$ is $e^{-{\gamma }^2}{\gamma }^{4p}/(2p)!$. The nondegenerate second-order nondegenerate perturbation theory formula is $\Delta E_0=ϵV_{00}+{ϵ}^2{\sum }_{n>0}|V_{n0}{|}^2/(E_0-E_n)+O({ϵ}^3)$. ThereforeThe negative second-order sign comes from the higher unperturbed energies in every denominator.