Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2017 / ii / Paper 1 / 32C / Solution

Invert the operator definitions to obtain $a=\sqrt{m\omega /(2\hslash )}\hat{x}+i\hat{p}/\sqrt{2\hslash m\omega }$ and the adjoint formula for $a^{†}$. The canonical commutation relation yields $[a,a^{†}]=1$, with $[a,a]=[a^{†},a^{†}]=0$. Substitution givesWrite $N=a^{†}a\ge 0$. Since $[N,a]=-a$ and $[N,a^{†}]=a^{†}$, these are lowering and raising operators. Applying $a$ to a ground state would lower its energy unless it vanishes, so $a|0⟩=0$. From the normalized unique ground state constructThe commutator gives the factorial normalization and $a|n⟩=\sqrt{n}|n-1⟩$. For any energy eigenstate, repeated lowering cannot pass below $N=0$; positivity of each lowered norm forces its $N$ eigenvalue to be a nonnegative integer and lowering eventually reaches the ground state. Its uniqueness then yields the entire eigenstate ladder. The usual oscillator on the real line has discrete complete spectrum because its potential is confining, so these states span its Hilbert space.

For the perturbation $\lambda W$ with $W=\hslash \omega (a^2+a^{†2})$, nondegenerate time-independent perturbation theory gives $E_n^{\prime }=E_n+\lambda W_{nn}+{\lambda }^2{\sum }_{m\ne n}|W_{mn}{|}^2/(E_n-E_m)+O({\lambda }^3)$. The first-order term vanishes. Only $m=n-2,n+2$ contribute, with squared matrix elements $(\hslash \omega {)}^{2}n(n-1)$ and $(\hslash \omega {)}^2(n+1)(n+2)$ respectively. ThusThe absent downward transition for $n=0,1$ is automatically represented by $n(n-1)=0$. Direct substitution also givesFor $|\lambda |<1/2$ this is another oscillator with mass $m^{\prime }=m/(1-2\lambda )$ and frequency ${\omega }^{\prime }=\omega \sqrt{1-4{\lambda }^2}$. ThereforeIts expansion is $E_n[1-2{\lambda }^2+O({\lambda }^4)]$, agreeing with the perturbative result and sharpening its remainder. At the excluded endpoints confinement is lost; beyond them the quadratic Hamiltonian is not bounded below.