3
votes
3answers
351 views

Can we have discontinuous wavefunctions in the Infinite Square well?

The energy eigenstates of the infinite square well problem look like the Fourier basis of L2 on the interval of the well. So then we should be able to for example make square waves that are an ...
1
vote
1answer
265 views

The Hermiticity of the Laplacian (and other operators)

Is the Laplacian operator, $\nabla^{2}$, a Hermitian operator? Alternatively: is the matrix representation of the Laplacian Hermitian? i.e. $$\langle \nabla^{2} x | y \rangle = \langle x | ...
6
votes
2answers
444 views

Why does iteratively solving the Hartree-Fock equations result in convergence?

[ Cross-posted to the Computational Science Stack Exchange: http://scicomp.stackexchange.com/questions/1297/why-does-iteratively-solving-the-hartree-fock-equations-result-in-convergence ] In the ...
1
vote
1answer
236 views

A quantum particle in a box (with a catch)

I am reading Shankar's Quantum Mechanics and I am looking at the case where there is one particle inside a box, where the potential is zero inside the wall and abruptly goes to infinity outside the ...
1
vote
1answer
255 views

Is it a total or an explicite time derivative in the Schrödinger equation?

I am always dubious when I need write Schrödinger equation: do I write $\partial / \partial t$ or $d/dt$ ? I suppose it depends on the space in which it is considered. How?
20
votes
4answers
756 views

In quantum mechanics, given certain energy spectrum can one generate the corresponding potential?

A typical problem in quantum mechanics is to calculate the spectrum that corresponds to a given potential. Is there a one to one correspondence between the potential and its spectrum? If the ...