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authorPrefetch2026-09-14 18:11:38 +0200
committerPrefetch2026-09-14 18:11:38 +0200
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treed719cf6ad60f559fcc0c2042907a2c4d8cd62977 /source/know/concept/ehrenfests-theorem
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-rw-r--r--source/know/concept/ehrenfests-theorem/index.md75
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diff --git a/source/know/concept/ehrenfests-theorem/index.md b/source/know/concept/ehrenfests-theorem/index.md
index fba0192..14d17fa 100644
--- a/source/know/concept/ehrenfests-theorem/index.md
+++ b/source/know/concept/ehrenfests-theorem/index.md
@@ -8,20 +8,19 @@ categories:
layout: "concept"
---
-In quantum mechanics, **Ehrenfest's theorem** gives a general expression for the
-time evolution of an observable's expectation value $$\expval{\hat{L}}$$.
-
-The time-dependent Schrödinger equation is as follows,
+In quantum mechanics, **Ehrenfest's theorem** gives a general expression
+for the time evolution of an observable's expectation value $$\expval{\hat{L}}$$.
+Recall the time-dependent Schrödinger equation,
where prime denotes differentiation with respect to time $$t$$:
$$\begin{aligned}
\Ket{\psi'} = \frac{1}{i \hbar} \hat{H} \Ket{\psi}
- \qquad
+ \qquad \qquad
\Bra{\psi'} = - \frac{1}{i \hbar} \Bra{\psi} \hat{H}
\end{aligned}$$
Given an observable operator $$\hat{L}$$ and a state $$\Ket{\psi}$$,
-the time-derivative of the expectation value $$\expval{\hat{L}}$$ is as follows
+the $$t$$-derivative of the expectation value $$\expval{\hat{L}}$$ is as follows
(due to the product rule of differentiation):
$$\begin{aligned}
@@ -43,28 +42,26 @@ $$\begin{aligned}
}
\end{aligned}$$
-In practice, since most operators are time-independent,
-the last term often vanishes.
-
-As a interesting side note, in the [Heisenberg picture](/know/concept/heisenberg-picture/),
-this relation proves itself,
-when one simply wraps all terms in $$\Bra{\psi}$$ and $$\Ket{\psi}$$.
+In practice, since most operators are time-independent, the last term often vanishes.
+Note that this relation is trivial to prove
+in the [Heisenberg picture](/know/concept/heisenberg-picture/),
+by wrapping all terms in $$\Bra{\psi}$$ and $$\Ket{\psi}$$.
-Two observables of particular interest are the position $$\hat{X}$$ and momentum $$\hat{P}$$.
-Applying the above theorem to $$\hat{X}$$ yields the following,
-which we reduce using the fact that $$\hat{X}$$ commutes
-with the potential $$V(\hat{X})$$,
-because one is a function of the other:
+Two observables of particular interest
+are position $$\hat{X}$$ and momentum $$\hat{P}$$.
+Applying the theorem to $$\hat{X}$$ yields the following,
+using $$\hat{H} = \hat{P}^2 / (2 m) + V(\hat{X})$$
+and a few basic properties of commutators:
$$\begin{aligned}
\dv{\expval{\hat{X}}}{t}
&= \frac{1}{i \hbar} \Expval{[\hat{X}, \hat{H}]}
- = \frac{1}{2 i \hbar m} \Expval{[\hat{X}, \hat{P}^2] + 2 m [\hat{X}, V(\hat{X})]}
- = \frac{1}{2 i \hbar m} \Expval{[\hat{X}, \hat{P}^2]}
+ \\
+ &= \frac{1}{2 i \hbar m} \Expval{[\hat{X}, \hat{P}^2] + 2 m [\hat{X}, V(\hat{X})]}
\\
&= \frac{1}{2 i \hbar m} \Expval{\hat{P} [\hat{X}, \hat{P}] + [\hat{X}, \hat{P}] \hat{P}}
- = \frac{2 i \hbar}{2 i \hbar m} \expval{\hat{P}}
- = \frac{\expval{\hat{P}}}{m}
+ \\
+ &= \frac{2 i \hbar}{2 i \hbar m} \expval{\hat{P}}
\end{aligned}$$
This is the first part of the "original" form of Ehrenfest's theorem,
@@ -72,7 +69,8 @@ which is reminiscent of classical Newtonian mechanics:
$$\begin{gathered}
\boxed{
- \dv{\expval{\hat{X}}}{t} = \frac{\expval{\hat{P}}}{m}
+ \dv{\expval{\hat{X}}}{t}
+ = \frac{\expval{\hat{P}}}{m}
}
\end{gathered}$$
@@ -82,33 +80,32 @@ gives us:
$$\begin{aligned}
\dv{\expval{\hat{P}}}{t}
&= \frac{1}{i \hbar} \Expval{[\hat{P}, \hat{H}]}
- = \frac{1}{2 i \hbar m} \Expval{[\hat{P}, \hat{P}^2] + 2 m [\hat{P}, V(\hat{X})]}
- = \frac{1}{i \hbar} \Expval{[\hat{P}, V(\hat{X})]}
+ \\
+ &= \frac{1}{2 i \hbar m} \Expval{[\hat{P}, \hat{P}^2] + 2 m [\hat{P}, V(\hat{X})]}
+ \\
+ &= \frac{1}{i \hbar} \Expval{[\hat{P}, V(\hat{X})]}
\end{aligned}$$
-To find the commutator, we go to the $$\hat{X}$$-basis and use a test
-function $$f(x)$$:
+To evaluate the commutator,
+we go to the $$\hat{X}$$-basis and use a test function $$f(x)$$:
$$\begin{aligned}
\Comm{- i \hbar \dv{}{x}}{V(x)} \: f(x)
+ &= - i \hbar \dv{}{x} \Big( V(x) \: f(x) \Big) - V(x) \Big( \!-\! i \hbar \dv{}{x} \Big) f(x)
+ \\
&= - i \hbar \frac{dV}{dx} f(x) - i \hbar V(x) \frac{df}{dx} + i \hbar V(x) \frac{df}{dx}
- = - i \hbar \frac{dV}{dx} f(x)
-\end{aligned}$$
-
-By inserting this result back into the previous equation, we find the following:
-
-$$\begin{aligned}
- \dv{\expval{\hat{P}}}{t}
- &= - \frac{i \hbar}{i \hbar} \Expval{\frac{d V}{d \hat{X}}}
- = - \Expval{\frac{d V}{d \hat{X}}}
+ \\
+ &= - i \hbar \frac{dV}{dx} f(x)
\end{aligned}$$
-This is the second part of Ehrenfest's theorem,
-which is also similar to Newtonian mechanics:
+By inserting this result back into the previous equation,
+we find the second part of Ehrenfest's original theorem,
+which is again reminiscent Newtonian mechanics:
$$\begin{gathered}
\boxed{
- \dv{\expval{\hat{P}}}{t} = - \Expval{\pdv{V}{\hat{X}}}
+ \dv{\expval{\hat{P}}}{t}
+ = - \Expval{\pdv{V}{\hat{X}}}
}
\end{gathered}$$
@@ -121,7 +118,7 @@ $$\begin{gathered}
\Expval{\pdv{\hat{H}}{\hat{P}}}
= \dv{\expval{\hat{X}}}{t}
}
- \qquad \quad
+ \qquad \qquad
\boxed{
- \Expval{\pdv{\hat{H}}{\hat{X}}}
= \dv{\expval{\hat{P}}}{t}