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Encyclopedia > Wave function

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A wave function is a mathematical tool that quantum mechanics uses to describe any physical system. It is a function from a space that consists of the possible states of the system into the complex numbers. The laws of quantum mechanics (i.e. the Schrödinger equation) describe how the wave function evolves over time. The values of the wave function are probability amplitudes — complex numbers — the squares of the absolute values of which, give the probability distribution that the system will be in any of the possible states. Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... Fig. ... Graph of example function, The mathematical concept of a function expresses the intuitive idea of deterministic dependence between two quantities, one of which is viewed as primary (the independent variable, argument of the function, or its input) and the other as secondary (the value of the function, or output). A... In mathematics, a complex number is a number of the form where a and b are real numbers, and i is the imaginary unit, with the property i 2 = âˆ’1. ... For a non-technical introduction to the topic, please see Introduction to quantum mechanics. ... In quantum mechanics, a probability amplitude is a complex-valued function that describes an uncertain or unknown quantity. ... In mathematics and statistics, a probability distribution is a function of the probabilities of a mutually exclusive and exhaustive set of events. ...

For example, in an atom with a single electron, such as hydrogen or ionized helium, the wave function of the electron provides a complete description of how the electrons behave. It can be decomposed into a series of atomic orbitals which form a basis for the possible wave functions. For atoms with more than one electron (or any system with multiple particles), the underlying space is the possible configurations of all the electrons and the wave function describes the probabilities of those configurations. General Name, Symbol, Number hydrogen, H, 1 Chemical series nonmetals Group, Period, Block 1, 1, s Appearance colorless Atomic mass 1. ... General Name, Symbol, Number helium, He, 2 Chemical series noble gases Group, Period, Block 18, 1, s Appearance colorless Standard atomic weight 4. ... In chemistry, an atomic orbital is the region in which an electron may be found around a single atom. ... In linear algebra, a basis is a minimum set of vectors that, when combined, can address every vector in a given space. ...

The electron probability density for the first few hydrogen atom electron orbitals shown as cross-sections. These orbitals form an orthonormal basis for the wave function of the electron.

1 Definition
2 Interpretation
3 Interpretation
4 Formalism
5 Ontology
6 Notes
7 See also
8 References

Image File history File links HAtomOrbitals. ... Image File history File links HAtomOrbitals. ... Depiction of a hydrogen atom showing the diameter as about twice the Bohr model radius. ... The term orbital has several meanings: In physics and chemistry it is used to describe an atomic electron configuration, see also molecular orbital and atomic orbital. ... In mathematics, an orthonormal basis of an inner product space V(i. ...

Definition

The modern usage of the term wave function refers to a complex vector or function, i.e. an element in a complex Hilbert space. Typically, a wave function is either: In mathematics, a vector space (or linear space) is a collection of objects (called vectors) that, informally speaking, may be scaled and added. ... Graph of example function, The mathematical concept of a function expresses the intuitive idea of deterministic dependence between two quantities, one of which is viewed as primary (the independent variable, argument of the function, or its input) and the other as secondary (the value of the function, or output). A... The mathematical concept of a Hilbert space (named after the German mathematician David Hilbert) generalizes the notion of Euclidean space in a way that extends methods of vector algebra from the plane and three-dimensional space to spaces of functions. ...

a complex vector with finitely many components

$vec psi = begin{bmatrix} c_1 vdots c_n end{bmatrix}$ ,

a complex vector with infinitely many components

$vec psi = begin{bmatrix} c_1 vdots c_n vdots end{bmatrix}$ ,

or a complex function of one or more real variables (a "continuously indexed" complex vector)

$psi(x_1, , ldots , x_n)$ .

In all cases, the wave function provides a complete description of the associated physical system. An element of a vector space can be expressed in different bases; the same applies to wave functions. The wave function describing the same physical state takes different forms depending on the basis being used. In mathematics, the real numbers may be described informally as numbers that can be given by an infinite decimal representation, such as 2. ...

Because the probabilities that the system is in each possible state should add up to 1, the norm of the wave function must be 1. In linear algebra, functional analysis and related areas of mathematics, a norm is a function which assigns a positive length or size to all vectors in a vector space, other than the zero vector. ...

Interpretation

The physical interpretation of the wave function is context dependent. Several examples are provided below, followed by a detailed discussion of the three cases described above.

One particle in one spatial dimension

The spatial wave function associated with a particle in one dimension is a complex function $psi(x),$ defined over the real line. The positive function $|psi|^2,$ is interpreted as the probability density associated with the particle's position. That is, the probability of a measurement of the particle's position yielding a value in the interval $[a, b]$ is given by The complex numbers are an extension of the real numbers, in which all non-constant polynomials have roots. ... Graph of example function, The mathematical concept of a function expresses the intuitive idea of deterministic dependence between two quantities, one of which is viewed as primary (the independent variable, argument of the function, or its input) and the other as secondary (the value of the function, or output). A... In mathematics, the real line is simply the set of real numbers. ...

$mathbf{P}_{ab} = int_{a}^{b} |psi(x)|^2, dx$ .

This leads to the normalization condition In quantum mechanics, wave functions which describe real particles must be normalisable: the probability of the particle to occupy any place must equal 1. ...

$int_{-infty}^{infty} |psi(x)|^2, dx = 1 quad$ .

since the probability of a measurement of the particle's position yielding a value in the range $(-infty, infty)$ is unity.

One particle in three spatial dimensions

The three dimensional case is analogous to the one dimensional case; the wave function is a complex function $psi(x, y, z),$ defined over three dimensional space, and its complex square is interpreted as a three dimensional probability density function: Dimension (from Latin measured out) is, in essence, the number of degrees of freedom available for movement in a space. ...

$mathbf{P}_R = int_R |psi(x, y, z)|^2 , dV$

The normalization condition is likewise

where the preceding integral is taken over all space.

Two distinguishable particles in three spatial dimensions

In this case, the wave function is a complex function of six spatial variables, $psi(x_1, y_1, z_1, x_2, y_2, z_2)$ , and $|psi|^2,$ is the joint probability density associated with the positions of both particles. Thus the probability that a measurement of the positions of both particles indicates particle one is in region $R$ and particle two is in region $S$ is

$mathbf{P}_{R,S} = int_R int_S |psi|^2 , dV_2 , dV_1$

where $d V 1 = d x 1 d y 1 d z 1$ , and similarly for $d V 2$ .

The normalization condition is then:

in which the preceding integral is taken over the full range of all six variables.

Given a wave function of ψ of a systems consisting of two (or more) particles, it is in general not possible to assign a definite wave function to a single-particle subsystem. In other words, the particles in the system can be entangled. It has been suggested that Quantum coherence be merged into this article or section. ...

One particle in one dimensional momentum space

The wave function for a one dimensional particle in momentum space is a complex function $psi(p),$ defined over the real line. The quantity $|psi|^2,$ is interpreted as a probability density function in momentum space: Frequency domain is a term used to describe the analysis of mathematical functions with respect to frequency. ...

$mathbf{P}_{ab} = int_{a}^{b} |psi(p)|^2, dp$

As in the position space case, this leads to the normalization condition:

$int_{-infty}^{infty} |psi(p)|^2, dp = 1 .$

Spin 1/2

The wave function for a spin 1/2 particle (ignoring its spatial degrees of freedom) is a column vector

$vec psi = begin{bmatrix} c_1 c_2 end{bmatrix}$ .

The meaning of the vector's components depends on the basis, but typically $c 1$ and $c 2$ are respectively the coefficients of spin up and spin down in the $z$ direction. In Dirac notation this is: Bra-ket notation is the standard notation for describing quantum states in the theory of quantum mechanics. ...

$| psi rangle = c_1 | uparrow_z rangle + c_2 | downarrow_z rangle$

The values $|c_1|^2 ,$ and $|c_2|^2 ,$ are then respectively interpreted as the probability of obtaining spin up or spin down in the z direction when a measurement of the particle's spin is performed. This leads to the normalization condition

$|c_1|^2 + |c_2|^2 = 1,$ .

Interpretation

A wave function describes the state of a physical system by expanding it in terms of other states of the same system. We shall denote the state of the system under consideration as $| psi rangle,$ and the states into which it is being expanded as $| phi_i rangle$ . Collectively the latter are referred to as a basis or representation. In what follows, all wave functions are assumed to be normalized.

Finite vectors

A wave function which is a vector $vec psi$ with $n$ components describes how to express the state of the physical system $| psi rangle$ as the linear combination of finitely many basis elements $| phi_i rangle$ , where $i$ runs from $1$ to $n$ . In particular the equation

$vec psi = begin{bmatrix} c_1 vdots c_n end{bmatrix}$ ,

which is a relation between column vectors, is equivalent to

$|psi rangle = sum_{i = 1}^n c_i | phi_i rangle$ ,

which is a relation between the states of a physical system. Note that to pass between these expressions one must know the basis in use, and hence, two column vectors with the same components can represent two different states of a system if their associated basis states are different. An example of a wave function which is a finite vector is furnished by the spin state of a spin-1/2 particle, as described above.

The physical meaning of the components of $vec psi$ is given by the wave function collapse postulate:

If the states $| phi_i rangle$ have distinct, definite values,

λ i

, of some dynamical variable (e.g. momentum, position, etc) and a measurement of that variable is performed on a system in the state

$|psi rangle = sum_i c_i | phi_i rangle$

then the probability of measuring

λ i

| c i | 2

, and if the measurement yields

λ i

, the system is left in the state $| phi_i rangle$ .

Infinite vectors

The case of an infinite vector with a discrete index is treated in the same manner a finite vector, except the sum is extended over all the basis elements. Hence

$vec psi = begin{bmatrix} c_1 vdots c_n vdots end{bmatrix}$

is equivalent to

$|psi rangle = sum_{i} c_i | psi_i rangle$ ,

where it is understood that the above sum includes all the components of $vec psi$ . The interpretation of the components is the same as the finite case (apply the collapse postulate).

Continuously indexed vectors (functions)

In the case of a continuous index, the sum is replaced by an integral; an example of this is the spatial wave function of a particle in one dimension, which expands the physical state of the particle, $| psi rangle$ , in terms of states with definite position, $| x rangle$ . Thus

$| psi rangle = int_{-infty}^{infty} psi(x) | x rangle,dx$ .

Note that $| psi rangle$ is not the same as $psi(x),$ . The former is the actual state of the particle, whereas the latter is simply a wave function describing how to express the former as a superposition of states with definite position. In this case the base states themselves can be expressed as

$| x_0 rangle = int_{-infty}^{infty} delta(x - x_0) | x rangle,dx$

and hence the spatial wave function associated with $| x_0 rangle$ is $delta(x - x_0),$ (where $delta(x - x_0),$ is the Dirac delta function). The Dirac delta or Diracs delta, often referred to as the unit impulse function and introduced by the British theoretical physicist Paul Dirac, can usually be informally thought of as a function Î´(x) that has the value of infinity for x = 0 and the value zero elsewhere. ...

Formalism

Given an isolated physical system, the allowed states of this system (i.e. the states the system could occupy without violating the laws of physics) are part of a Hilbert space $H$ . Some properties of such a space are The mathematical concept of a Hilbert space (named after the German mathematician David Hilbert) generalizes the notion of Euclidean space in a way that extends methods of vector algebra from the plane and three-dimensional space to spaces of functions. ...

1. If $| psi rangle$ and $| phi rangle$ are two allowed states, then

$a | psi rangle + b | phi rangle$

is also an allowed state, provided

| a | 2 + | b | 2 = 1

. (This condition is due to normalisation.)

2. There is always an orthonormal basis of allowed states of the vector space H.

The wave function associated with a particular state may be seen as an expansion of the state in a basis of $H$ . For example, In mathematics, an orthonormal basis of an inner product space V(i. ...

${ |uparrow_z rangle, |downarrow_z rangle }$

is a basis for the space associated with the spin of a spin-1/2 particle and consequently the spin state of any such particle can be written uniquely as

$a|uparrow_z rangle + b|downarrow_z rangle$ .

Sometimes it is useful to expand the state of a physical system in terms of states which are not allowed, and hence, not in $H$ . An example of this is the spacial wave function associated with a particle in one dimension which expands the state of the particle in terms of states with definite position.

Every Hilbert space $H$ is equipped with an inner product. Physically, the nature of the inner product is contingent upon the kind of basis in use. When the basis is a countable set ${ | phi_i rangle },$ , and orthonormal, i.e. In mathematics, an inner product space is a vector space with additional structure, an inner product (also called a scalar product), which allows us to introduce geometrical notions such as angles and lengths of vectors. ...

$langle phi_i | phi_j rangle = delta_{ij}.$

Then an arbitrary vector $| psi rangle$ can be expressed as

$| psi rangle = sum_i c_i | phi_i rangle$

where $c_i = langle phi_i | psi rangle.$

If one chooses a "continuous" basis as, for example, the position or coordinate basis consisting of all states of definite position ${ | x rangle }$ , the orthonormality condition holds similarly:

$langle x | x' rangle = delta(x - x').$

We have the analogous identity

$langle x | int psi(x') | x' rangle ,dx' = int psi(x') delta(x - x'),dx' = psi(x).$

Ontology

Whether the wave function is real, and what it represents, are major questions in the interpretation of quantum mechanics. Many famous physicists have puzzled over this problem, such as Schrödinger. Some approaches regard it as merely representing information in the mind of the observer. Others argue that it must be objective: It has been suggested that Quantum mechanics, philosophy and controversy be merged into this article or section. ...

"If we are to believe that any one thing in the formalism is 'actually' real for a quantum system, then I think it has to be the wavefunction or state vector that describes quantum reality."

^[1]

Notes

^ Penrose,R. Road To Reality, p508

References

Griffiths, David J. (2004). Introduction to Quantum Mechanics (2nd ed.). Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-805326-X.

Categories: Cleanup from July 2007 | Wikipedia articles needing style editing | Quantum mechanics | Fundamental physics concepts

Results from FactBites:

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Contents

Definition GA_googleFillSlot("encyclopedia_square");

Interpretation

One particle in one spatial dimension

One particle in three spatial dimensions

Two distinguishable particles in three spatial dimensions

One particle in one dimensional momentum space

Spin 1/2

Interpretation

Finite vectors

Infinite vectors

Continuously indexed vectors (functions)

Formalism

Ontology

Notes

See also

References

Definition