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Quantum Mechanics: Two-State Solution

This document summarizes the general solution to the time-dependent Schrodinger equation for a two-state quantum system. The Hamiltonian is split into a time-independent and time-dependent part. The solution gives the probability amplitudes as functions of time that satisfy coupled differential equations. Perturbation theory is applied to solve for the probability amplitudes iteratively when the time-dependent part of the Hamiltonian is small. Expressions are given for the probability amplitudes to first and second order in perturbation theory.

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250 views2 pages

Quantum Mechanics: Two-State Solution

This document summarizes the general solution to the time-dependent Schrodinger equation for a two-state quantum system. The Hamiltonian is split into a time-independent and time-dependent part. The solution gives the probability amplitudes as functions of time that satisfy coupled differential equations. Perturbation theory is applied to solve for the probability amplitudes iteratively when the time-dependent part of the Hamiltonian is small. Expressions are given for the probability amplitudes to first and second order in perturbation theory.

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TIME-DEPENDENT PERTURBATION THEORY: GENERAL

TWO-STATE SOLUTION

Link to: physicspages home page.


To leave a comment or report an error, please use the auxiliary blog.
References: Griffiths, David J. (2005), Introduction to Quantum Mechan-
ics, 2nd Edition; Pearson Education - Problem 9.5.
Post date: 11 Aug 2014.
We’ve seen that we can solve the Schrödinger equation with a time-
dependent potential in a two-state system if we split the hamiltonian into
a time-independent part H 0 and a time-dependent part H 0 , so that the com-
plete hamiltonian is

H = H0 + H0 (1)
The solution is

Ψ (x, t) = ca (t) ψa (x) e−iEa t/h̄ + cb (t) ψb (x) e−iEb t/h̄ (2)

where ψa and ψb are the two eigenstates of H 0 and the coefficients are
solutions of the coupled ODEs

ih 0 0 −i(Eb −Ea )t/h̄


i
ċa = − ca Haa + cb Hab e (3)
h̄
ih 0 0 i(Eb −Ea )t/h̄
i
ċb = − cb Hbb + ca Hba e (4)
h̄

where

0
Hij ≡ hψi | H 0 |ψj i (5)
If we make the assumption that H 0 is small and that the diagonal elements
0 = H 0 = 0, then we can apply the iterative method of time-dependent
Haa bb
perturbation theory to work out the coefficients ca and cb in the general case
where the initial conditions are

ca (0) = a (6)
cb (0) = b (7)
1
TIME-DEPENDENT PERTURBATION THEORY: GENERAL TWO-STATE SOLUTION 2

These conditions form the zeroth-order solution, so we plug them into 3


and 4 with zero diagonal elements to get

(1) i 0 −i(Eb −Ea )t/h̄


ċa = − bHab e (8)
h̄
ˆ
(1) ib t 0 −i(Eb −Ea )t0 /h̄ 0
ca (t) = a − H e dt (9)
h̄ 0 ab
(1) i 0
t0 ei(Eb −Ea )t/h̄

ċb = − aHba (10)
h̄
ˆ
(1) ia t 0 0  i(Eb −Ea )t0 /h̄ 0
cb (t) = b − H t e dt (11)
h̄ 0 ba
Continuing to second order, we get
ˆ
ia t 0 0  i(Eb −Ea )t0 /h̄ 0
 
(2) i 0 −i(Eb −Ea )t/h̄
ċa =− b− Hba t e dt Hab e
h̄ h̄ 0
(12)
ˆ t
(2) ib 0 −i(Eb −Ea )t0 /h̄ 0
ca (t) = a − Hab e dt − (13)
h̄ 0
ˆ "ˆ 0 #
a t 0 0  −i(Eb −Ea )t0 /h̄ t
0 00 i(Eb −Ea )t00 /h̄ 00
dt dt0

2
Hab t e Hba t e
h̄ 0 0
 ˆ t 
(2) i ib 0 −i(Eb −Ea )t0 /h̄ 0 0
t0 ei(Eb −Ea )t/h̄

ċb = − a− Hab e dt Hba
h̄ h̄ 0
(14)
ˆ t
(2) ia 0 0
t0 ei(Eb −Ea )t /h̄ dt0 −

cb (t) = b − Hba (15)
h̄ 0
ˆ "ˆ 0 #
b t 0 0  i(Eb −Ea )t0 /h̄ t
0 00
t00 e−i(Eb −Ea )t /h̄ dt00 dt0

2
Hba t e Hab
h̄ 0 0

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