1.1 Mb MPEG movie of an electron moving in a constant force field
When watching the movie, note how the packet behaves like you might expect from classical mechanics. The packet initially moves to negative x; its speed slows with time until it stops; after this it accelerates to positive x with its speed increasing with time. This is how a classical particle behaves when it experiences a constant force in the positive x direction. In fact, it is possible to show that the packet moves exactly the same as a classical distribution (if they have the same position and momentum distribution at t=0). (Hints for showing this are given below.) You should notice how the packet's height decreases and width increases with time. Again this is from dispersion of the packet caused by the high energy components of the packet moving faster than the lower energy components; also the higher energy components can move to smaller x than the lower energy components. A peculiar aspect from launching the packet up potential is that the high energy components are at the back of the packet after it begins moving to positive x; this should make sense by analogy with classical mechanics. The higher the initial velocity the longer it takes the particle to return to the initial position. Finally, you should ask yourself if the movie is roughly consistent with the information I've given. For example, to how small an x could a classical electron travel if it starts with a velocity of -1 at x=100 atomic unit and how does this compare with the smallest x that the peak of the packet reaches.
There is one final feature you might want to ponder. On the
previous page, the packet
showed an interference type of structure while reflecting from
the infinite wall. Why is this interference missing for the
packet reflecting from the linear potential? Don't you still have
the interference between the parts of the packet with positive
and negative velocity?
There are bunch of methods for obtaining the time dependent wave function
for a linear potential. One method is to use momentum space wave functions;
instead of using p=-i hbar d/dx in Schrodinger's equation use x=i hbar
d/dp. Another method is to guess that if you start the wave function as
a Gaussian it will stay a Gaussian for all times. So you guess psi(x,t)
= exp[ a_2(t) x^2 + a_1(t) x + a_0(t)] and substitute this
into Schrodinger's equation; the time dependent coefficients a_2, a_1, a_0
are then the solution of first order,
nonlinear differential equations. You might also
guess that the Gaussian moves like a classical particle and try psi(x,t)
= exp{ b_2(t) [x-x_cl(t)]^2 + b_1(t) [x-x_cl(t)] +b_0(t)] where the
x_cl(t) is the classical trajectory of a particle with the initial position
and momentum (maxima) from the initial packet.
To show that the quantum distribution moves exactly like the classical distribution, show that the differential equation for the time dependence of the probability distribution and current distribution is equivalent to the differential equations for the corresponding classical quantities. If the differential equations are the same and the initial conditions are the same then they must be equivalent for all time.