PH2101 Quantum Mechanics 1 (Solution) Tutorial # 10

Measurement and two-level systems practice

1.
(a) The eigenstates |±z⟩ and eigenvalues E±z of the hamiltonian read:
 
1 ℏω
|+z⟩ = , E+z = −
0 2
  (1)
0 ℏω
|−z⟩ = , E−z = + .
1 2

Here, we can express the state |χ⟩ in {|±z⟩} basis:

 
1 1 1 3
|χ⟩ = √ = √ |+z⟩ + √ |−z⟩ . (2)
10 3 10 10
Finally, we can write down the time evolution of this states based on the eigenvalues we have:
1 3
|χ(t)⟩ = √ e−iE+z t/ℏ |+z⟩ + √ e−iE−z t/ℏ |−z⟩
10 10
1 iωt/2 3 −iωt/2
=√ e |+z⟩ + √ e |−z⟩ (3)
10 10
 iωt/2 
1 e
=√ .
10 3e−iωt/2

(b) We first find the expectation value of Sbz with respect to time-dependent state |χ(t)⟩:

⟨Sbz ⟩ = ⟨χ(t)|Sbz |χ(t)⟩

(4)
   iωt/2 
ℏ −iωt/2 iωt/2

1 0 e 2ℏ
= e 3e −iωt/2 =− .
20 0 −1 e 5

Notice that the ⟨Sbz ⟩ is independent of time. For Sby and Sbx , we have:

⟨Sby ⟩ = ⟨χ(t)|Sby |χ(t)⟩

   iωt/2 
ℏ −iωt/2 iωt/2

0 −i e
= e 3e (5)
20 i 0 e−iωt/2
3ℏi iωt 3ℏ
= (e − e−iωt ) = − sin(ωt).
20 10

⟨Sbx ⟩ = ⟨χ(t)|Sbx |χ(t)⟩

   iωt/2 
ℏ −iωt/2 iωt/2

0 1 e
= e 3e (6)
20 1 0 e−iωt/2
3ℏ iωt 3ℏ
= (e + e−iωt ) = cos(ωt).
20 10
(c) At time t = 2π/(3ω), the time-dependent state becomes:
 iπ/3 
1 e
|χ⟩ = √ −iπ/3 . (7)
10 3e

1
  
1 1
If we make measurement on Sy , we could either measure +ℏ/2 (with eigenstates |+y⟩ = 2
b √ ) or −ℏ/2
i
 
1
(with eigenstates |+y⟩ = √12 ). The probability of obtaining +ℏ/2 and −ℏ/2 can be found via:
−i
   
ℏ 2 1 −iπ/3 iπ/3

1 2
P + = | ⟨χ| + y⟩ | = √ e 3e
2 20 i
1 −iπ/3 iπ/3
2 1  
= e + 3ie = 10 − 6 sin(2π/3) (8)
20 20
√ !
1 3 3
= 1− ≈ 0.240.
2 10
   
ℏ 1
1 2
P − = | ⟨χ| − y⟩ |2 = √ e −iπ/3 3e iπ/3
2 20 −i
1 −iπ/3 2 1  
= e − 3ieiπ/3 = 10 + 6 sin(2π/3) (9)
20 20
√ !
1 3 3
= 1+ ≈ 0.760.
2 10

2.
(a) For EL = ER = E0 , we can easily diagonlize the hamiltonian:
 
E0 −V0
H=
b . (10)
−V0 E0
We first solve for the eigenvalues:
 
E0 − λ −V
det(H − λ1) = 0 → det
b =0
−V E0 − λ (11)
E0 − λ = ±V → λ = E0 ± V.
Hence, the eigenvalues reads:
E− = E0 − V (bonding)
(12)
E+ = E0 + V (anti-bonding).
 
a
We now solve for the eigenstates. Conside E− = E0 − V , and suppose the eigenstates reads |B⟩ = ,
b
where a and b are yet to be determined, and the label ‘B’ denoted bonding state.
   
b a = E− a
H
b b
    (13)
E0 a − V b E0 a − V a
= .
−V a + E0 b E0 b − V b
Here, we can see that a = b, and hence the eigenstates (normalized) reads:
1

|B⟩ = √ |L⟩ + |R⟩ . (14)
2
 
a
Consider now E+ = E0 + V , and suppose its eigenstates reads |A⟩ = , where the label ‘A’ denotes
b
anti-bonding states. The matrix equations becomes:
   
a a
H
b = E+
b b
    (15)
E0 a − V b E0 a + V a
= ,
−V a + E0 b E0 b + V b
2
where we can see that a = −b. Hence the normalized eigenstates is:
1

|A⟩ = √ |L⟩ − |R⟩ . (16)
2

(b) From the two eigenstates we obtained in part (a), we can write down:
1

|L⟩ = √ |B⟩ + |A⟩ (17)
2
1

|R⟩ = √ |B⟩ − |A⟩ . (18)
2
(19)
At time t = 0, the state read:
1
|ψ(t = 0)⟩ = |L⟩ = √ (|B⟩ + |A⟩). (20)
2
As time evolve, we can write down the time-dependent part:
1  
|ψ(t)⟩ = √ e−iE− t/ℏ |B⟩ + e−iE+ t/ℏ |A⟩
2
(21)
1  −i(E0 −V )t/ℏ 
=√ e |B⟩ + e−i(E0 +V )t/ℏ |A⟩ .
2
To find the probability of electron at orbital |R⟩ at time t, we calculate:
2 1 h i 1 2
⟨ψ(t)|R⟩ = √ ⟨B| ei(E0 −V )t/ℏ + |A⟩ ei(E0 +V )t/ℏ √ [|B⟩ − |A⟩]
2 2
1  −i(E0 −V )t/ℏ  
= e − e−i(E0 +V )t/ℏ ei(E0 −V )t/ℏ − ei(E0 +V )t/ℏ (22)
4    
1h 2V t i 2 Vt
= 1 − cos = sin .
2 ℏ ℏ

3.
(a) We first express the states as:
|ψ⟩ = a |+z⟩ + b |−z⟩ , (23)
   
1 0
where a and b are complex coefficients, and |+z⟩ = and |−z⟩ = are the eigenstates of Sbz . We
0 1
are given that |a|2 = 3/4, and hence we know |b|2 = 1 − 3/4 = 1/4. Recall that the global phase does not
affect the probability of each eigenstates, only the relative phase matter. Hence, we are free to define:
√
3 1
a= , b = eiϕ , (24)
2 2
for some real number ϕ that are yet to be determined. Suppose |+x⟩ is the eigenstates of Sbx with eigenvalues
+ℏ/2. We know that we can express |+x⟩ as the |±z⟩ basis:
 
1 1 1
|+x⟩ = √ = √ (|+z⟩ + |−z⟩). (25)
2 1 2
We are given that the probability of obtaining sx = +ℏ/2 is 1/4:
2
P (sx = +ℏ/2) = ⟨ψ| + x⟩

1 2
= ⟨+z| a + ⟨−z| b √ (|+z⟩ + |−z⟩) (26)
2
1 1
= |a + b|2 = .
2 4
3
Plugging the value of a and b into above equation, we obtain:
√ 2
3 1 iϕ 1
+ e =
2 2 2
√
3 3 1 1
→ + cos(ϕ) + =
4 2 4 2 (27)
1
→ cos(ϕ) = − √
3
 
−1 1
→ ϕ = ± cos −√ .
3
We hence obtain the two possible states to be:
√ √   
3 1 1 3 −1 1
|ψ1 ⟩ = |+z⟩ + eiϕ1 |+z⟩ = iϕ , ϕ1 = cos −√ (28)
2 2 2 e 1 3
√ √   
3 1 1 3 −1 1
|ψ2 ⟩ = |+z⟩ + eiϕ2 |+z⟩ = iϕ , ϕ2 = − cos −√ (29)
2 2 2 e 2 3
(30)

(b) To fully determine the state with certainty, we need measurement that can detect the relative phase
ϕ (since there are more than one possible ϕ). This can be done by measuring the Sby . To see this, we
consider:
⟨Sby ⟩ = ⟨ψ|Sby |ψ⟩
  
ℏ ∗ ∗
0 −i a
= a b (31)
2 i 0 b
ℏ
= i(b∗ a − a∗ b) = −ℏ Im(b∗ a),
2
in which we can see that the relative phase (imaginary part) can be determined.