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The expression below is the square modulus of the wave function of a harmonic potential ($V=\frac{1}{2}m\omega^2 x^2$) in which it's stated that the probability of finding the particle in the $\psi_0$ state is half as that of finding the particle in the $\psi_1$ state.

$$=\frac13|\psi_0(x)|^2+\frac23|\psi_1(x)|^2+\frac{2\sqrt2}3\psi_0(x)\,\psi_1(x)\,\cos(\omega t)$$

What would be the physical interpretation of each term? I guess that the first two terms would be the probability of finding the particle in the state $\psi_0$ (or $\psi_1$ for the second term) at a given $x$. But the third one seems out of place... What does it mean? And if both the 1st and 2nd term are invariant with time, then how is it possible that the modulus squared is always equal to 1?

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    $\begingroup$ Where did you get this expression in the first place? $\endgroup$
    – Triatticus
    Commented Jun 25 at 18:10
  • $\begingroup$ @Triatticus I guess that from squaring $\sqrt{\frac{1}{3}}\psi_0 + \sqrt{\frac{2}{3}}\psi_1$, as is said in "in which it's stated that the probability of finding the particle in the $\psi_0$ state is half as that of finding the particle in the $\psi_0$ state". But I don't think that's really relevant for the question (?). $\endgroup$ Commented Jun 25 at 18:23
  • $\begingroup$ Probably not but context is better when supplied anyways, otherwise the question looks incomplete, at least to me. $\endgroup$
    – Triatticus
    Commented Jun 25 at 18:26
  • $\begingroup$ Please don't use images. Use MathJax instead. $\endgroup$ Commented Jun 25 at 18:36
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    $\begingroup$ @R.Romero mixed is the wrong wording here, though. $\endgroup$ Commented Jun 25 at 22:11

2 Answers 2

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1 - The cross term $\psi_0\psi_1\cos(\omega t)$ can be interpreted as an interference term of the states $\psi_0$ and $\psi_0$, which importantly depends on time, as these states have different energies.

2 - The integral of the square modulus over all of space is equal to $1$, as $\psi_0$ and $\psi_1$ are orthonormal, so the last term vanishes once integrated.

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You should be careful not to confuse probabilities and probability densities. Let's start with the wavefunction corresponding to your example: $$\psi(x)=\sqrt{\tfrac 1 3}\psi_0(x)+\sqrt{\tfrac 2 3}\psi_1(x)$$ We can now ask two kinds of questions (we can ask many more questions, but let's focus on these two):

  1. When I measure the energy of this particle, what is the probability of getting $E_0$ or $E_1$?
  2. What is the probability (density) of finding the particle at a certain location?

Probability of finding $E_0$ or $E_1$

To answers question 1 we can make use of the orthogonality of the wavefunctions. The inner product between two wavefunctions is defined as $$\langle \psi|\phi\rangle=\int\mathrm d x\, \psi^*(x)\phi(x).$$ The energy eigenstates form an orthonormal basis$^\dagger$, so \begin{align} \langle \psi_0|\psi_0\rangle=1\\ \langle \psi_1|\psi_1\rangle=1\\ \langle \psi_0|\psi_1\rangle=0 \end{align}

The probability of measuring energy $E_0$ is now given by \begin{align} p(E_0) &= \left|\langle \psi_0|\psi\rangle\right|^2\\ &=\left|\sqrt{\tfrac 1 3}\underbrace{\langle \psi_0|\psi_0\rangle}_{1} + \sqrt{\tfrac 2 3}\underbrace{ \langle \psi_0|\psi_1\rangle }_{0}\right|^2\\ &=\frac 1 3 \end{align} Similarly, $p(E_1)=\frac 2 3$.

Probability density of $\psi_0 + \psi_1$

Now what does the expression $|\psi(x)|^2$ mean before we integrate? The interpretation is that $|\psi(x)|^2$ tells you how likely it is to find a particle at $x$. Well, the probability of finding it at $x$ is always zero, but if you integrate over a small region you get

$$p(a\leq x\leq b)=\int\mathrm d x\,|\psi(x)|^2.$$

If you are confused as to why the probability at location $x$ is zero, you are not alone. Search on google for 'probability density' to find nice explanations.

When you add two eigenstates together, the probability density functions are modified. This is called interference. The probability density of the superposition of two functions is not simply the sum of the probability densities. As you showed, $|\psi|^2$ is given by $$|\psi|^2=\tfrac 1 3|\psi_0|^2+\tfrac 2 3|\psi_1|^2+\tfrac {2\sqrt 2} 3\text{Re}\left[\psi_0^*(x)\psi_1(x)\right]$$ The terms $|\psi_0|^2$ and $|\psi_1|^2$ are just the probabilities densities added together, as you would expect naively. The term involving $\psi_0\psi_1$ is an interference term. It can be negative and it is the root cause of interference patterns like in the double slit experiment.

Here is an example of how that would look like.

enter image description here

$\dagger$ The reason that these states are orthonormal is because they are the eigenstates of a Hermitian operator. To see this for yourself, you can create a random matrix $M$ in Mathematica/Matlab/Python, then create a Hermitian matrix using $H=M+M^\dagger$. If you calculate the eigenvectors, they will all be orthogonal with respect to each other. They might even be normalized if your solver is nice.

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