Gaussian evolution in an inverted harmonic oscillator Created 2026-10-14 Updated 2026-10-18
For the Hamiltonian , a Gaussian wave packet satisfies and . The displayed solution is normalizable for real exactly when ; its second moments of a complex Gaussian wave packet are
Both grow as , while their difference and hence the mean energy remain constant.
Write with . Normalization of the Gaussian wave packet gives , hence . The supplied Gaussian integral ratio then gives
The momentum operator obeys , and direct second differentiation gives . Taking the expectation value and substituting the first result gives
since . These are the second moments of a complex Gaussian wave packet.
For the solution in part (b), the trigonometric identity
gives, writing ,
Thus normalizability requires , and the exact expectation values are
Since ,
Their difference is the constant , so the mean energy stays constant despite exponential spreading in both observables.
Normalizability requires . Since
the given Gaussian integral gives
Also , so integration by parts yields
Therefore
These are the second moments of a complex Gaussian wave packet.